How Liberal Portland Became America’s Most Politically Violent City

With POLITICO Magazine, I traced how Portland has devolved into the most politically violent city of the Trump era: 

But now, for antifa, it’s not enough to simply out-scream their opposition; rather, those far-right forces must, in a bizarre nod to the Bush Doctrine, be preemptively denied a voice from the outset. “We are unapologetic about the reality that fighting fascism at points requires physical militancy,” Rose City Antifa’s Facebook page reads. “Anti-fascism is, by nature, a form of self-defense: the goal of fascism is to exterminate the vast majority of human beings.” The group does not specify what physical militancy means, but their page makes clear that the definition includes “any means necessary.”

Meanwhile, with Quartz, I tried to unpack what it means to have a hate crime - and a pair of the most heinous killings Portland has seen in a generation - take place a few blocks from your home:

Portland’s far-right groups, even with Christian’s arrest, aren’t going anywhere. And no amount of hipster shops or pop culture memes is going to change the reality of our city, either. Only Portland can decide whether or not it will honor the legacy of a new trio of heroes by working to stamp out extremism and white supremacy—or whether it will do little more than wait for the next tragedy to arrive on its doorstep.

And in a different reveal, I took to The Diplomat to look at how Trump nearly saw his name rise - literally - as the tallest thing in Central Asia: 

As it is, Astana declined the Trump Organization proposal in favor of the 75-story Abu Dhabi Plaza, set for completion next year. But one wonders how much Astana is rueing an opportunity missed, now that Trump has ascended to the American presidency.