16 False and Misleading Claims by Trump About Urban Unrest in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C. and New York
Here are 16 of Donald Trump’s false or misleading claims about so-called urban unrest in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York. He’s made tens of thousands of other false or misleading statements about every topic you can imagine, and you can dig into them using the resources linked below.
False Statement #1: Trump claimed that Portland is “war-ravaged” and under siege, necessitating troops to protect federal sites.
Facts: Oregon officials (Portland mayor and state governor) state, and local imagery confirms, that Portland is not engulfed in chaos; protests in 2025 have been small and localized, not a citywide disaster.
False Statement #2: Trump asserted he was “authorizing Full Force, if necessary” to combat “domestic terrorists” and defend ICE/ federal buildings in Portland.
Facts: That militarized framing exaggerates the scale of unrest; local authorities report that disturbances have not overwhelmed law enforcement, and Portland has maintained daily civic functions.
False Statement #3: Trump told reporters he would “wipe out” protesters in Portland, basing his decision on video he believed showed current violent unrest.
Facts: The video he cited mostly derived from earlier protests (not recent ones) and misled him about the magnitude of protest activity—2025 protests have been modest in size.
False Statement #4: Trump claimed that the protests at Portland’s ICE facility were attacks on federal employees “night after night,” justifying the deployment of troops.
Facts: While there have been demonstrations at the ICE site, there is no evidence of sustained nightly assaults or attacks; many protests were peaceful or involved minor confrontation.
False Statement #5: He said his decision to send troops was based on local officials’ inability to handle Portland’s unrest, implying a breakdown of municipal control.
Facts: Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, and local law enforcement all pushed back, stating that the city was “doing just fine” and does not require federal military intervention.
False Statement #6: Trump said in his Fort Bragg speech: “Los Angeles is being overrun — a foreign invasion, agitators, paid troublemakers carrying foreign flags.”
Facts: There is no credible evidence that protests in L.A. were orchestrated by foreign groups or that participants carried foreign flags in any coordinated invasion. The claim was debunked by fact-checkers as a conspiracy theory with no basis.
False Statement #7: Trump claimed that “bricks were being planted in Los Angeles to incite violence” against law enforcement.
Facts: The false “planted bricks” narrative was recycled from earlier protests and has been debunked; fact-checkers show that many of the bricks cited were unrelated (e.g. from construction or unrelated sources) and no proof exists of an intentional planting operation in 2025.
False Statement #8: He accused California officials of “paying protesters in Los Angeles to attack federal officers.”
Facts: No documentary or financial evidence supports this claim. Officials denied it, and independent investigations found no trace of payments or inducements.
False Statement #9: Trump said that “without federal intervention, Los Angeles would burn to the ground” and that the city was “under siege.”
Facts: Local reporting and law enforcement statements show that disturbances were restricted to limited districts, not the entire city. The city was not collapsing, and no credible media or official narrative supports the “burn to the ground” scenario.
False Statement #10: He told crowds that “New York is now being looted nightly, Fifth Avenue is boarded up — you can’t walk the streets.”
Facts: While New York has had occasional property crimes or shoplifting, there is no evidence of nightly mass looting of entire blocks or sustained terrorizing of streets. The scale he describes is unsupported by NYPD data and press reporting.
False Statement #11: Trump asserted “Chicago is completely lawless — cops won’t go into neighborhoods, entire districts controlled by gangs.”
Facts: Although some Chicago neighborhoods see higher crime, the city’s law enforcement still operate in those areas, respond to calls, and maintain order. The exaggeration of total abandonment is false.
False Statement #12: He claimed that business owners in Los Angeles were “abandoning stores by the hundreds” during the protests.
Facts: While a few boarded up storefronts appeared, widespread mass abandonment did not occur, and many businesses remained open. The “by the hundreds” phrasing misstates the actual situation.
False Statement #13: Trump said that the Los Angeles protests involved “hundreds of felonies every single night.”
Facts: Court filings and police reports show that many arrests were for misdemeanors or nonviolent offenses; felony charges filed were relatively few, and not remotely in the “hundreds nightly” range.
False Statement #14: He claimed “New York businesses are shutting permanently because of nightly riots across Manhattan.”
Facts: While some small businesses closed or struggled (as in many urban environments), there is no wave of mass permanent closure directly tied to nightly riots—most businesses remained open and operating. Closures had more to do with Trump’s tariffs and economic policies than anything else.
False Statement #15: Trump stated that “Chicago’s entire downtown is paralyzed by nightly mob violence — tourism is dead, streets deserted.”
Facts: Chicago’s downtown (Loop, Magnificent Mile, etc.) remained active, with foot traffic, commerce, and public transport functioning. There is no evidence of citywide paralysis due to riots.
False Statement #16: Trump said that Washington, D.C. “is becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness.”
Facts: Fact-checkers and local crime data show that while D.C. faces crime challenges, it is not in collapse. Local residents know this too. PolitiFact flagged his claim as exaggerated, noting that many of the crime trends he cited are flat or improving.
Final Thoughts
Trump isn’t just running his mouth when he spreads these lies about chaos in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C., and New York, he’s running a playbook. He’s targeting democratic strongholds and sanctuary cities on purpose, painting them as war zones so he can justify unleashing military force against American citizens.
He wants you to think troops on our streets is normal. He wants to sell control through fear, to make disruption and division the new status quo. This is all about manipulation and it’s dangerous. Everything he’s doing is designed to weaken democracy while propping up his own power.
Mitch Jackson, Esq.
Resources
2025 (new and ongoing)
PolitiFact continues to update its searchable online database with the latest false claims by Trump in 2025.
First Term
The Washington Post created a searchable online database cataloging over 30,000 false or misleading statements by Donald Trump during his first term as president.
Wikipedia also does a good job of sharing Trump’s false and misleading lies and statements for his entire career up to and including the present.
