• On Sunday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced that Trump “is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States,” a move that came soon after the administration attempted to deploy “300 California National Guard personnel into Oregon.” Pritzker referred to the move as “Trump’s invasion” and said, “No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s actions as well, saying, “We are taking this fight back to court. The public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States.” [The Hill, 10/5/25]
• U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked the president’s attempt to deploy Oregon National Guard personnel within Oregon on Saturday, then “broadened her restraining order to cover ... ‘members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia’” in an emergency hearing Sunday night. In a separate ruling, a federal judge in Illinois said she was “very troubled by the lack of answers” from the administration on the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, but declined to immediately block the move, giving them “until midnight Wednesday to respond.” [The New York Times, 10/5/25, 10/6/25; Chicago Sun Times, 10/6/25]
• CBS News reported that a former Illinois National Guard commander, Richard Hayes, said he’s “never seen” National Guard members federalized and moved from one state to another. Hayes told CBS, “In my 34 years, I've never seen that." He also stated: ”It would still be well within the rights of the National Guard to protect and defend unarmed personnel, but if it's part of a law enforcement operation I think that would cross the boundaries.” [CBS News, 10/6/25]
• After at least one judge blocked guard deployment, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, saying, “We have an Insurrection Act for a reason.” He added, “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that.” Right-wing media figures previously urged the president to invoke the Insurrection Act in June against protesters demonstrating in LA. [Axios, 10/7/25; Reuters, 10/8/25, 10/7/25; Media Matters, 6/12/25]

• Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany said, “President Trump is absolutely within his right to say, ‘I’m protecting federal property.’ That's what he did in Portland in 2020; it’s what he’s doing in Chicago now.” McEnany explained, “Congress also has the power to stop an insurrection and call up the militia. They delegated part of that power to the president of the United States via the Insurrection Act. So I think the White House is going to say, we’re dealing with rebellion here in Portland.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 9/29/25]
• Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey declared, “Donald Trump is exactly right to bring in the National Guard to Oregon.” Fahey continued, “I would suggest he should do this because it's time for this nonsense to stop, and it's time to enforce the law, and people obstructing ICE and hurting the agents should get locked up, and that should be the end of it.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 9/29/25]
• Right-leaning podcast host Patrick Bet-David, responding to JB Pritzker: “Your people are begging for leadership and you’re not providing it. If you were able to do the job, the President wouldn’t need to step in.” [Twitter/X, 10/5/25; Media Matters, 3/14/25]
• After Immergut blocked Trump’s guard deployment to Oregon, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh called on the president to “openly defy” the order. Walsh also posted, “Ignore her and deploy them. It’s time for a showdown with these activist judges.” [Twitter/X, 10/6/25]
• Phil Labonte, co-host on the right-leaning Timcast IRL podcast, shared Walsh’s post, adding that he was “exactly correct.” Labonte added that “the POTUS is the only elected official elected by the whole of the people and has an obligation to do what he campaigned on. deporting illegals was one of his main campaign promises.” [Twitter/X, 10/6/25; Media Matters, 3/14/25; Apple Podcasts, 9/19/25; Revolver Magazine, 1/27/25]

• Fox host Jesse Watters said that the National Guard is “on the way to do the job Portland police won't do” and claimed that “Portland has been under siege by antifa for four months.” Watters added, “A Portland police rep posted a picture of a sunrise with the caption, ‘“War-ravaged” Portland full of “domestic terrorists.”’ Well, the sun rises in Gaza, too. I don’t want to live there.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/1/25]
• The Five co-host Harold Ford Jr.: “I've wished that we were able to send not only the National Guard, but ATF, and FBI, and other agencies in addition to ICE to help police departments combat crime. I've even taken it a step further. I think we need a national crime bill because you can't sustain the National Guard being on the ground and all these federal resources.” Fellow co-host Kellyanne Conway added, “The people who are representing the people are denying them access to law enforcement, to the National Guard coming in to clean up the streets, to do in their cities what President Trump has done in my beloved Washington D.C.” [Fox News, The Five, 10/2/25]
• Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain: “There's nothing wrong with Portland that couldn't be fixed by placing it under martial law.” He also posted, “The State of Oregon, its Governor, the Mayor of Portland, even Judge Immergut - are all openly rebelling against the lawful and legitimate authority of the United Stated Federal Government.” [Twitter/X, 10/4/25, 10/5/25]
• On Fox Noticias, host Julie Banderas said federal deployment in Democratic cities “should be permanent.” Her guest, former border agent Art Del Cueto, added, “It’s the duty of the country and the federal government to go in and stop these crimes.” [Fox Noticias, 10/3/25] 
• Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt described footage of anti-ICE protests: “This is someone's front yard. This is what a neighborhood looks like. Do you want your neighborhood to look like that? Wouldn't you love National Guard to come in and clean up your streets if you lived like this?” Earhardt explained, “The ICE agents are going there to do their jobs because Joe Biden let all of these illegals in. If it weren’t for the open borders, we wouldn’t be faced with this.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/6/25]
• Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley said that “the Chicago Police Department refusing to come to the aid” of ICE agents provides “more to this narrative that we need federal personnel there because we cannot rely upon Democratic leaders to maintain law and order.” [Fox News, America Reports, 10/6/25]
• Right-leaning podcasters The Hodgetwins said Portland “needs to be liberated.” In a second post, The Hodgetwins claimed that “Fake News Is Trying To Tell You The RIOTS In Portland Are Not Real…” [Twitter/X, 10/6/25, 10/6/25]

• Right-leaning Twitch streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, stated that units responding to the protests “should use actual ammo,” adding, “If anybody throws a rock or tries to harm one of the police officers, I think they should just use deadly force to stop it from happening.” Apparently responding to a comment from his chat, Hoyt continued, “Yeah, shoot on sight? Absolutely. Yeah, of course. … You’d really be surprised how fast it stops after more than one or two people get shot for being violent.” [YouTube, AsmongoldTV, 10/5/25; Media Matters, 3/14/25]
• Kayleigh McEnany attempted to justify the deployment of the National Guard by declaring there is “a pretty clear rebellion against" the government. McEnany cited supposed acts of violence committed against ICE agents, and she additionally argued that Trump is on “strong legal footing” because “you can federalize the Guard if there's a rebellion.” [Fox News, The Five, 10/6/25]
• Right-wing media figure Laura Loomer suggested that the Trump administration should “start authorizing police to use lethal force” on protesters “who are getting extremely violent, and they are either attacking a U.S. citizen or they put their hands on a police officer or they’re threatening violence or they’re threatening the life of a police officer or a federal agent.” She also called the protests a “national security threat.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 10/3/25]
• Newsmax host Rob Finnerty said Portland protests had “morphed into an insurrection.” Finnerty said: “This invasion of the weird is very bizarre,” adding, “Notice the foreign flags and strange tribal chants happening — again — in Oregon.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 10/2/25]
• Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: “This is an insurrection, and @GovPritzker is implicated. President @RealDonaldTrump should invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy military assets to protect life and limb and property.” [Twitter/X, 10/4/25]
• Right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong said of reports on Chicago police: “This is an insurrection.” [Twitter/X, 10/6/25]
• On Steve Bannon’s War Room, right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec said, “Portland as a city is now in open insurrection against the federal government.” Posobiec argued, “This is an actual insurrection scenario whereby in you have local officials that are completely defying the unmitigated right, the unlimited right of the federal government to enforce immigration laws.” He also posted on social media that the city “has fallen to Antifa.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 10/6/25; Twitter/X, 10/6/25] 

Media Matters is maintaining a database of online shows with a right-leaning or left-leaning ideological bent, including those that self-categorize in nonpolitical categories such as comedy, sports, and culture but which we determined regularly cover news and politics. This report draws upon that ongoing research in categorizing the online shows mentioned.