JOEL KOTKIN: The far-Left is devastating Portland. Its childless hipster residents couldn’t care less.

As recently as a decade ago, Portland was widely seen as a model American city, a European wannabe built around dense apartments, mass transit and every conceivable form of political correctness. Now it is the latest place to be invaded by Donald Trump’s National Guard, and of course the political establishment is screaming its head off.

Yet whatever you think of Trump’s over-the-top move, Portland probably had it coming. No city better epitomises the increasingly radical spirit of the progressive Left. This has devastated its once vibrant downtown; liberal long-time Congressman for the area, Earl Blumenauer, has suggested that parts of it look “like Dresden in World War II”. In 2023, downtown Portland suffered the highest office vacancy rate in the nation.

This year that honour goes to Seattle, which suffers from many of the same pathologies. These cities are increasingly out of sync with the more conservative mood in the country. . . . Attempts to harass federal immigration agents (these are “sanctuary cities”) by Antifa activists are a key reason behind Trump’s moves in Portland and could also be employed in Seattle, another major Antifa centre. The ICE raids are fodder for violent groups like Antifa, deemed by the extremists as justification to attack law enforcement.

It will only get worse for these cities, and for their political establishments.