PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Within a week, Nick Sortor experienced the lows and highs of being a MAGA influencer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Thursday, Sortor was jailed in Portland after police arrested him on suspicion of disorderly conduct. A fan of President Donald Trump with 1.2 million followers on X, he had traveled to Oregon\u2019s largest city to document the protest scene outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Police said he was involved in an altercation with demonstrators but was ultimately not charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But six days later, Sortor was back on the upswing: By Wednesday, he was sitting at the White House just a few feet away from Trump, as he and other conservative media figures were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about the anti-ICE activity they had seen in Portland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was not fun sitting in that jail, but I\u2019m glad to see what has come of it,\u201d Sortor, 27, told Trump during the livestreamed event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The roundtable was a unifying moment for the alternative, right-wing media ecosystem that is helping shape perceptions of protests against Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign, showing how the MAGA influencers and the Trump administration are playing off one another in response to anti-ICE protests around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right-wing podcasters, writers and pundits are flocking to Democratic deep-blue cities to document the scene for their massive audiences but also, in some cases such as Portland, to spar with left-wing demonstrators. Their presence has been praised by the Trump administration and criticized by police for escalating tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A poll last month from The New York Times and Siena University showed voters deeply divided on the immigration crackdown, with a slim majority, 52%, saying they disapprove of Trump\u2019s handling of immigration and 46% saying they approve. The poll showed 51% believe Trump\u2019s immigration actions have \u201cgone too far,\u201d 35% say they have been \u201cabout right\u201d and 12% say they have \u201cnot gone far enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least a dozen out-of-town conservative journalists and influencers were on the ground in Portland in recent days, according to interviews with some of them and posts on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is now a full-blown information war that we\u2019re in, so being on the front lines is more important than ever,\u201d said Jonathan Choe, who traveled from Seattle to Portland for Frontlines, a project of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA. Choe spoke by phone on Tuesday, a day before taking part in the White House event, with Sortor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sortor, whose profile on X says he\u2019s based in Texas and Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Portland, anti-ICE protests have taken place nearly daily since June, largely confined to a block outside the ICE facility, about two miles south of downtown. The facility, where ICE agents bring people who\u2019ve been arrested and are awaiting processing, was also the site of protests in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Activists and police say the crowd size and the intensity of the protests in Portland have grown in recent weeks, following Trump\u2019s Sept. 27 announcement that he wants to send in National Guard troops with \u201cfull force\u201d and as more influencers have arrived. The crowd sometimes has a circus-like atmosphere, including one anti-ICE regular who wears an inflatable frog costume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While federal agents protect the ICE facility itself, local police patrol the nearby streets. Portland police say they\u2019ve arrested more than 40 people in the protest area since June, including one man who jumped into the nearby Willamette River on Tuesday night, after police say he stole a tripod from the protest area. Additionally, federal prosecutors say they\u2019ve charged 31 people for federal offenses at the ICE facility, including assaults on officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portland police say that some of the self-described journalists appearing outside the ICE facility are acting more like counterprotesters. In an email made public last week as part of Oregon and Portland\u2019s lawsuit against the Trump administration, Sgt. Andrew Braun named three right-wing journalists or activists who he said were victims as well as a chronic source of emergency calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDespite repeated advice from officers to stay away from the ICE crowd, they constantly return and antagonize the protesters until they are assaulted or pepper sprayed. They refuse or are reluctant to walk away from these confrontations, even when police are in the area trying to meet with them. They even engage in the same trespassing behavior on federal and trolley property as the main protesters,\u201d Braun wrote in the Sept. 21 email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those named was Katie Daviscourt, a writer for The Post Millennial. Daviscourt, who had traveled to Portland from Seattle, fired back on X, disputing the characterization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am beyond pissed. Anyone who knows me, knows that I stand by myself, I am non violent, never approach the crowd, and quietly film,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI cannot wait to see the DOJ absolutely CRUSH this agency,\u201d she added, referring to the Portland police. She did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daviscourt said she was hit in the face at a protest last week and was bruised. Police said they were searching for a suspect. Daviscourt was also among the conservative media figures at the White House on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike Benner, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau, said the bureau, unlike police in some other cities, does not have a credentialing process for members of the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe recognize the changing landscape of journalism and respect the rights of both traditional and independent journalists to document events,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cWe ask all individuals \u2014 regardless of media status \u2014 to comply with lawful orders and avoid interfering with law enforcement operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in a news conference Tuesday that tensions near the ICE facility had risen due to the \u201cinfluence of social media\u201d and national attention. And in an interview on Monday with Fox News\u2019 streaming service, he criticized influencers\u2019 focus on getting views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheir reach is obviously very significant, and so they\u2019re going where they can get the views and create the perception. And our belief is that we are simply managing to the rule of law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the ascendant MAGA influencers have the ears of Trump Cabinet members: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met some of them in person Tuesday during a trip to Portland, and on Wednesday, Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel joined the White House roundtable. At one point during the event, Trump directed Sortor and Bondi to confer about a possible investigation related to one of his videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sortor said on X that he was acting in self-defense prior to his arrest. The Portland-area district attorney\u2019s office declined to charge him with disorderly conduct, saying in a statement that while it believed police had probable cause to arrest him, it did not believe the crime could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Two anti-ICE protesters who were arrested at the same time are now facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accounts of the protests in conservative media often emphasize what they see as the rectitude of ICE\u2019s operations, criticizing those who disagree. These accounts often include shaky video taken at night of protesters and counterprotesters facing off. It\u2019s often close-in footage that lacks perspective on the size of the unrest. MAGA influencers also provide steady content for television networks like Fox News, where some of them have appeared for interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, Trump expressed confusion about the true nature of the situation in Portland, telling NBC News in a phone interview on Sept. 28 that he was getting conflicting accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI spoke to the governor. She was very nice,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut I said, \u2018Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what\u2019s happening? My people tell me different.\u2019 They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Wednesday\u2019s roundtable, Trump praised Daviscourt and Sortor, saying he watched a video of Sortor and sent him a note. On X, Sortor said that Trump wrote, \u201cNick, I saw you on television. Great job. We are behind you 100%. Let us know if there is anything we can do\u2026 President DJT\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The influencers descending on Portland fall along a spectrum, with some closer to the role of traditional journalists than others. Choe, the Frontlines reporter, who previously worked in local TV news, said he\u2019s been one of three Frontlines reporters who have been tag-teaming coverage in recent days, posting videos on a common account on X. He\u2019s a Trump supporter and has cheered on Sortor, but he said he personally sticks to reporting facts on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the MAGA influencers are with established conservative media outlets such as The Post Millennial or The Blaze, while many others are independent. On Tuesday, the gaggle included Florida-based podcaster Benny Johnson, who has nearly 6 million subscribers on YouTube and who flew in to Portland to report on Noem\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, praised the cadre of right-wing influencers and journalists in a statement, saying: \u201cThe White House applauds all journalists who are willing [to] blaze their own trail to report the facts rather than go along with the Fake News Groupthink. The situation in Portland is a prime example.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But some conservative media figures aren\u2019t in Portland only to broadcast and document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some MAGA influencers have initiated confrontations with protesters who have set up camp on public sidewalks, walking through their tents and set-ups and interfering with protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matt Tardio, a podcaster, has posted on X about wanting to \u201cparlay with ANTIFA\u201d alongside Sortor and hold a \u201cPATRIOT MARCH\u201d through a camp of protesters on a sidewalk near the ICE facility. He did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sortor has repeatedly confronted anti-ICE protesters in Portland, according to videos that he and other influencers have posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to walk through. I want to give a tour of the camp,\u201d he says in one video, just before he advances into a tent carrying an American flag on a pole. As a protestor stands in his way on a public sidewalk, he responds, \u201cUnfortunately, I\u2019m going. Get out of the way. Get out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another video, he steps in and seizes an American flag that protesters had set on fire. On Wednesday, he brought the flag to the White House and showed it to Trump, who suggested the possibility of a flag-burning investigation. (The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag-burning is generally protected speech under the First Amendment. Trump said Monday that he disagrees and believes that flag-burning is a form of incitement to violence \u2014 an idea that the 1989 court explicitly rejected.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sortor was best known for commentary regarding Maui wildfires in 2023, for which he was criticized for allegedly politicizing the response, including by actor Dwayne Johnson, who called Sortor\u2019s work \u201ctoxic, false clickbait garbage.\u201d Sortor replied to Johnson at the time, saying he was focused on getting the government to provide more aid to Maui and was willing to work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since at least 2017, Portland has been a recurring backdrop for street standoffs that pit the far right against self-described antifascist demonstrators clad in black clothing. Conservative writer Andy Ngo was beaten up at one rally in 2019 and now describes himself on X as a Portland refugee in London. He still frequently posts about his former city and was also at the White House event on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this round of protests, there\u2019s no comparable group of out-of-town left-wing influencers who have traveled to Portland, although local independent journalists have documented the protests on sites such as TikTok and Bluesky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Julio Rosas, a national correspondent for The Blaze, a conservative media outlet, said there\u2019s a bond among the right-wing influencers and journalists who\u2019ve parachuted into Portland. He was there in 2021 capturing video of Black Lives Matter protests and this year he has taken two reporting trips to the city, including one within the past few days. He said he considers Sortor a friend and \u201ca great patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re often out there on our own. We\u2019re independent or come from companies with much smaller budgets than other places,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have someone to watch your back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he said he doesn\u2019t relish the assignment in Portland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho wants to spend hours outside where people are angry?\u201d Rosas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n