What did Donald Trump do today?

He* doubled down on his attempts to send troops to a city that he appears to genuinely believe is "burning."

Trump appeared in front of cameras for the first time since last Tuesday this morning, and immediately reiterated his false claim that Portland was overrun with "insurrectionists" who were terrorizing local officials into supporting them, and that the city was "burning to the ground," and that "all you have to do is look at the TV and read your newspapers."

Portland is not burning to the ground, but Trump "looking at the TV" appears to be part of the problem.

Trump became visibly confused last week when Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek gently pushed back on his claim that the city was burning. It became apparent he'd been watching TV coverage of the George Floyd protests five years ago, when there really was violence between protestors, counter-protestors, and police. Notably, a right-wing extremist set a Minneapolis police station on fire in an attempt to discredit protestors and escalate police violence against them.

Trump himself recounted the story of that call to reporters, describing how he plaintively asked, "Am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening?"

But regardless of whether he understands what is happening in Portland in the current year, Trump—or someone exercising power on his behalf—escalated federal agents' attacks on protestors outside of the Portland ICE compound last night, in an apparent attempt to provoke enough unrest to justify a military invasion of the city.

Meanwhile, Trump (or someone exercising his authority) also tried to make an end-run around yesterday's temporary restraining order prohibiting him from federalizing the Oregon National Guard and deploying them against Portlanders. California Gov. Gavin Newsom told the press this morning that previously federalized California National Guard troops were being redeployed today to Oregon.

Why does this matter?

• Presidents who cannot clearly and reliably understand what is happening around them should be removed from office, not used as a puppet for unelected officials. 

• Legal backflips don't change the fact that in a democracy, the military is not deployed against its own citizens in places where law and order are being maintained. 

• An authoritarian government that wants to fight its own people will usually find a way to make that happen.