Gaza to Portland: A System in Crisis

The Israeli government has waged the latest campaign of its effort to wipe out and destroy the Palestinian people entirely for over two years now, with the full financial, diplomatic and military backing of the United States government. Using a conservative estimate of 66,600 deaths, the toll from Gaza since October 7, 2023, represents 14% of all conflicts worldwide in that time period according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. As the Trump administration puts forward a supposed deal and applies massive pressure to the Palestinian resistance to accept it, protests around the world have taken the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, Israel continues to attack Lebanon as members of the Israeli cabinet urge Netanyahu to increase the terror even further.

And in the United States, the Trump administration renewed its consideration of using the Insurrection Act after multiple judges have issued rulings fully or temporarily blocking his deployments of National Guard troops to cities like Portland. Over the past two weeks, the Trump administration has intensified its domestic deployment of military and federal forces, waging what many are calling Trump’s “war from within.”

In Portland, the White House sought to federalize the Oregon National Guard under the pretext of protecting federal property. That move was blocked by a Trump-appointed federal judge, who declared, “This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law,” warning that the administration’s arguments risk “blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation.” In response, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accused Judge Immergut of staging a “legal insurrection,” and Trump has since pressed ahead with alternative avenues to deploy the National Guard to Portland.

The multiple global crises all point to a system in crisis, where social constructs and agreements that have held the the national and global order together have been so fractured that they cannot hold.

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