The Lincoln Project is out with a stark new ad on Portland, Trump's 'shadowy' thugs, and your city

DHS troops in Portland
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Lincoln Project)

A dystopia is an imagined place, and the latest Lincoln Project ad, released Sunday night, rolls out like the trailer for a film about such a dark state. But, of course, Portland, Oregon, is a very real place, and the ad is based on a very real story unfurling right now, rendered in black and white and red with a pulp-noir sensibility.

"This is how it starts: A president out of control as polls forecast his downfall," the narrator begins over an image of President Trump and a typically bad poll. "This is how it starts: In a small city far from the Beltway, shadowy men — no badges, no ID, deputized by a rogue attorney general — snatch so-called 'enemies of the state' off the streets. This is how it starts: Without a warning or a warrant, heavily armed paramilitary units shove their targets into unmarked vans and race away."

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Is the ad a little over-the-top? Maybe.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.