Katie Daviscourt, a Post Millennial reporter, says she was violently struck in the face with a flagpole while covering nightly protests outside the ICE facility in Portland, leaving her with a bruised eye and concussion. Her account — and the pictures she posted afterward — have become emblematic of what conservatives call the new permissiveness for violent left-wing mobs in Democrat-run cities.
Daviscourt detailed how the assailant swung the pole “like a baseball bat,” then vanished into a nearby encampment as she pursued the suspect and begged officers to intervene. Multiple conservative outlets and her own on-the-ground reporting say Portland police failed to detain the attacker even after she identified the person to officers, a failure that has outraged law‑and‑order Americans who watch these episodes happen over and over.
As if the assault itself weren’t bad enough, publicly released Portland police communications have reportedly characterized Daviscourt and other conservatives at the scene as “counter-protesters” who provoke confrontations — an astonishing bit of bureaucratic victim-blaming when a journalist ends up with a concussion. That official posture has only intensified calls for federal oversight, and the Justice Department’s civil rights division is now said to be scrutinizing police conduct in the matter.
President Trump invited Daviscourt to speak at his White House roundtable on Antifa, where conservative voices laid out how left-wing street mobs have turned entire blocks into no-go zones for law‑abiding citizens. The administration’s hardline stance — including threats to treat Antifa as a domestic terrorist problem deserving of federal tools and resources — is exactly the kind of leadership cities like Portland desperately need but refuse to provide.
This is not an abstract policy debate; it’s a simple choice between enforcing the law and surrendering public safety to ideological thugs. When city officials and police spin narrative over facts, ordinary Americans pay with their safety and basic freedoms, and brave reporters like Daviscourt end up as the canaries in the coal mine.
Conservatives should squarely demand accountability: prosecute the attackers, protect the journalists, and stop letting radical activists treat public streets as their personal playgrounds for violence. If federal and state authorities do not act, this country risks normalizing the very lawlessness that will eventually touch every neighborhood and family.
