Trump’s False Claims About Portland “Burning Down” Contradicted by Evidence

President Donald Trump continues to make inflammatory statements about Portland, Oregon, falsely claiming multiple times that the city is “burning down.” These assertions, repeated during a White House press briefing on Tuesday, stand in stark contrast to the reality on the ground in Oregon’s largest city.

“I looked at Portland over the weekend. The place is burning down, just burning down,” Trump told reporters. He referenced a recent appeals court decision that overturned one of two rulings temporarily blocking his attempt to deploy National Guard troops to the city.

However, evidence from the weekend shows Portland was functioning normally throughout most of its 145 square miles. A peaceful “No Kings” protest attracted tens of thousands of participants on Saturday without major incident, and photographs from across the city reveal an intact urban landscape largely unaffected by fire.

Portland city spokesperson Cody Bowman confirmed the fire department wasn’t dispatched to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building that has been the focal point of recent protests. According to Bowman, the department responded to approximately nine fires daily from Friday to Monday—significantly fewer than during the same period last year. About half were merely trash fires.

Local newspaper The Oregonian investigated Trump’s claims and reported only small, short-lived fires near the ICE facility on Saturday night. These minor blazes reportedly started after federal agents deployed tear gas and smoke devices against demonstrators. “Federal agents used tear gas against the crowd and sparks from canisters set several small fires, but rain and a lack of fuel quickly extinguished them,” the newspaper reported.

The only significant fire incident over the weekend involved an RV parked next to a business on Friday afternoon. The blaze was handled by a single fire engine and was treated as a minor local story, not evidence of widespread destruction.

This pattern of exaggeration isn’t new for the president. Throughout September and October, Trump has repeatedly characterized Portland in apocalyptic terms, claiming it has been “burning to the ground” and “on fire for years.” He has falsely stated that stores no longer exist in the city and that windows have been universally replaced with plywood. He has even used the phrase “war ravaged” to describe Portland.

When pressed about these characterizations, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt encouraged reporters to visit Portland themselves. CNN correspondent Shimon Prokupecz did exactly that, reporting from the city that Trump’s descriptions were disconnected from reality.

“Keep in mind, this is all happening on less than a single block, not even in the city center,” Prokupecz explained, referring to the protest activities near the ICE building. “The rest of Portland is not in chaos. The streetcars are running, guitarists play outside the famed Powell’s bookstore, and there’s a guided tour in Pioneer Courthouse Square.”

Portland residents and Oregon officials—including the police chief, mayor, and governor—have repeatedly attempted to correct the president’s misleading narrative about their city.

The discrepancy between Trump’s statements and the actual conditions in Portland highlights concerns about the president’s characterization of events in major American cities. For a metropolis covering 145 square miles with more than 630,000 residents, the suggestion that isolated incidents constitute a city “burning down” significantly misrepresents the situation.

Live video feeds from Portland continue to show a functioning city, with normal activities occurring throughout most neighborhoods—a stark contrast to the devastation depicted in the president’s statements.