(Dobbs) "I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland."

Anyone who assumed when Donald Trump came back to office that his bark would be worse than his bite was wrong.

It would be refreshing if this weekend post— declaring war on an American city— were the first thing from the Trump Reich to really scare us.

Despicably, it’s not. But it definitely is scary. Just like the indictment two days earlier of former FBI director James Comey, because that’s about a whole lot more than just Comey.

But first, the president’s post.

Think about what he’s saying here: “I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”

Then he asked for our attention. By declaring war on a city, he got it.

If Portland isn’t war-ravaged yet— and by all accounts except the government’s, it’s not— it might be when the troops come in. Protesters who for months have been camped out outside an ICE detention center a couple of miles from downtown already have had a taste of it. According to one, when ICE agents come out to break up their protests, they use “tear gas, batons, bear spray, rubber bullets, shields.”

Let’s be clear: that’s what the feds use against the protesters, not the other way around. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that “rioters in Portland, Oregon have repeatedly attacked and laid siege” to the building rented by ICE. At a news conference earlier this month, a fear-mongering and fact-free Donald Trump took it to even more hyperbolic heights: “They’ve ruined that city. It’s like living in hell.”

When you read through other reports, that’s not what they say. Like this one from the Oregon Capital Chronicle:

“On Monday mornings since January, an interdenominational religious group organized in part by local Quakers stands on the sidewalk in front of the building and holds up protesting signs. They are quiet… and peaceful; most are seniors. About 30 were there this week… Around noon, they packed up their signs and later other groups, at least one of them Buddhist, took their place.”

The Chronicle writes that rowdier protestors show up some nights, but nothing like the foreboding figment of the president’s gullible imagination. Nothing that makes the people of Portland feel like they’re “living in hell.” Oregon’s governor has told the president, “There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security. We do not need or want federal troops in Oregon.” The state’s senior senator Ron Wyden said in a post, “We don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.” Portland’s police chief put it plainly: “We’re certainly not on fire.”

But why would Trump listen to them when he’s got demagogic liars in his employ almost 3,000 miles away who tell a different story?

To the contrary, Portland is one of those American cities where crime has dropped. But President Trump and his true believers can’t let facts get in the way. His cold-blooded deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller rejoiced in the announcement that the feds are going to pacify Oregon’s biggest city: “Assets mobilizing. This campaign of terrorism will be brought down.”

This “campaign of terrorism?” Apparently that’s news to the people of Portland.

I go with the analysis from Oregon’s other senator, Jeff Merkley. His take is that Trump is concocting a self-fulfilling prophecy: “The president has sent agents here to create chaos and riots here in Portland, to induce a reaction. To induce protests. To induce conflicts. His goal is to make Portland look as he was describing it as.”

That’s what’s so scary. Not just the troops, authorized to use “full force,” but the pretext.

But it’s not the only scary piece of news from over the weekend. The other is the indictment of James Comey. Remember when Trump told crowds during his campaign, “I am your warrior, I am your justice, I am your retribution?” What the indictment tells us is, he is kicking his vitriolic vow into high gear.

Of course he denies that it’s about retribution. Friday morning after the indictment came down, he told reporters on the White House lawn, “It’s about justice, not revenge. It’s about justice.” He said the case against Comey is for “a serious and far reaching lie.”

Then why is all the “justice” aimed at Trump’s rivals? It was only a few days ago that he posted a veiled order to Attorney General Pam Bondi on his website: “Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff (who led the first impeachment trial against Trump), Letitia (James, the attorney general of New York)??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Just one week later, Comey’s indictment came down. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked if Trump’s transparent post was pressuring his department? Blanche lied like the rest of this gang: “I don’t take that as pressure.”

For the record, the president also has threatened Jack Smith, who was the justice department’s special counsel in the case of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And, as of this weekend, the Atlanta district attorney, Fani Willis, is under investigation. Her case of election interference had Trump up against the wall. Remember his call to Georgia’s secretary of state:? “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

Is it just coincidence that everyone he’s going after is someone who went after him? If they’re “guilty as hell,” that’s what they’re guilty of.

Back during his first term, Trump defined justice differently. He pardoned a lot of the people close to him— political associates like Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Steve Bannon were freed from the penalty of their crimes.

He pardoned military officers convicted of war crimes. He pardoned seven Republican former congressmen who had criminal convictions. He even pardoned Ivana Trump’s father-in-law Charles Kushner, convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering and subsequently disbarred in three states, and made him America’s ambassador to France and Monaco.

For Trump’s friends, justice means freedom. For his adversaries, it means the opposite.

It’s worth noting that of the 23 members of the grand jury that indicted James Comey, 14 voted to bring him to trial. That barely cleared the legal threshold for an indictment. It’s also worth noting, every one of Donald Trump’s grand jury indictments last year— every one of them— was unanimous.

In addition, it’s worth noting that this president who claims to love America undermines its system of justice relentlessly when it serves his purpose. Because the judge randomly assigned through a blind selection system to oversee the Comey case was appointed to the bench by Joe Biden, Trump wrote in that post shown at the top, “He was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start.” It’s also worth noting that last year when the same selection system placed a Trump-appointed judge to preside over the case of the secret documents he stashed at Mar-a-Lago, there was no complaint.

Scary? You bet it is. Anyone who assumed when Donald Trump came back to office that his bark would be worse than his bite was wrong. His bite is worse. He is abusing the powers of his office, he is moving from angry threats to authoritarian combat, and no one so far, no matter how hard they try, is stopping him.

Over more than five decades Greg Dobbs has been a correspondent for two television networks including ABC News, a political columnist for The Denver Post and syndicated columnist for Scripps newspapers, a moderator on Rocky Mountain PBS, and author of two books, including one about the life of a foreign correspondent called “Life in the Wrong Lane.” He also co-authored a book about the seminal year for baby boomers, called “1969: Are You Still Listening?” He has covered presidencies, politics, and the U.S. space program at home, and wars, natural disasters, and other crises around the globe, from Afghanistan to South Africa, from Iran to Egypt, from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia, from Nicaragua to Namibia, from Vietnam to Venezuela, from Libya to Liberia, from Panama to Poland. Dobbs has won three Emmys, the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and as a 39-year resident of Colorado, a place in the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame.

You can learn more at GregDobbs.net