When two drunk idiots start mouthing off, you count on there being an adult in the room to jump in and separate them.

When two groups of idiots start provoking each other, you hope the bar has good security, or someone is prepared to dial 911.

When a city full of idiots starts fighting, provoked by an oblivious mayor, a moronic president, and a news media that wants nothing more but to fuel the flames, you are truly in for a disaster. And that’s what keeps happening in Portland, Oregon. However, rather than wake up, sore and hungover, ready to make serious changes in their lives, the participants on both sides are given a pat on the back and primed for the next fight.

On August 17th, 2019, about 400 right-wing protesters and 800 counter protesters marched in downtown Portland. While police tried hard to keep the two groups separated, members of each did eventually clash, leading to 13 arrests, six injuries, and numerous weapons seized by the police. It was never clarified if the weapons belonged to right-wing or left-wing demonstrators.

The right-wing protesters were represented mainly by The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, while the counter-protesters were represented by a range of left-wing groups, including the loosely organized, militia-esque group known as Antifa. The mayor of Portland slammed the right-wingers, President Trump blasted Antifa, and beyond that, what happened in Portland largely depends on what publication you read.

If you read The New York Times, the first thing you saw was an image of the left-wing camp that looked like a music festival: demonstrators in brightly colored clothing with festive displays, many smiling or strolling nonchalantly. The rally was “largely uneventful,” in their words, save a few isolated fights that broke out after the main crowds had dispersed.

Featured Image on The New York Times (Credit: Ruth Fremson)

If you read Breitbart, you saw the words “ANARCHY AND CHAOS” in all caps, with an image of a demonstrator laying on the ground being treated by a medic. Below that were several videos of black-clad Antifa attacking a bus with hammers, shattering the windows, and attempting to remove passengers sitting inside (who were presumably from one of the right-wing groups).

Featured Image on Breitbart (Credit: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

If you stumbled on The Washington Post, you read multiple interviews referring to the demonstrators as “white nationalist,” including one from Portland’s mayor Ted Wheeler. The only problem is that neither of the right-wing groups, the Proud Boys or Patriot Prayer, are in fact white nationalist. The Proud Boys’ website states that they are a “Western chauvinist” organization “includes all races, religions, and sexual preferences.” Patriot Prayer, meanwhile, is libertarian group whose main issues are free speech and gun rights.

If you read the New York Post, you got a much more detailed description of the Antifa-led violence, including a video of the Andy Ngo beating earlier this summer, which prompted this latest demonstration. What you did not see, however, were Proud Boy’s tweets asking its members to bring their guns and declaring “DEATH TO ANTIFA.”

Nobody on the right wants to acknowledge that the organizers behind the right-wing rally were immature provocateurs, and that the city of Portland had a genuine reason to fear hundreds of armed demonstrators descending upon its streets.

Nobody on the left wants to acknowledge that Antifa is capable of real violence, or that the beating of Andy Ngo was a setback for journalists across the political spectrum. Nor is it possible, in their eyes, to have a right-wing rally without it being white supremacist. It’s easier to paint them all with one broad brush.

If the grown-ups in this situation (say, Mayor Wheeler) could acknowledge the nuance, and condemn both the attacks from Antifa and the armed provocateurs, it could do a lot to dissipate the violence. The right wing groups have promised to return every month as long as Antifa demonstrators are still around. Wheeler certainly doesn’t need to go on the offense against Antifa, but simply stating that Antifa is unlawful, which he has yet to do, would quell much of the rallying cry for the right.

Trump isn’t helping much either, but to his credit, nobody considers him the adult in the room.