Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem joined with officers spanning local and federal agencies before they began another night of confronting radical activists on Portland streets, leading them in a moving prayer in which she asked for their safety against the anarchical and often violent hordes.
For context, Portland remains one of the locales most brazenly affected by far-left activists who often resort to violence when their radical agenda is neither recognized nor tolerated. Portland was the site of some of the most chaotic besiegings of federal buildings during the summer of 2020 and an intentionally lax police presence has created an atmosphere still rife for out-of-control demonstrations.
The Trump administration has routinely blasted “antifa thugs” and at different times described parts of the city as a “war zone.” “It should be clear to all Americans that we have a very serious left-wing terror threat in our country, radicals associated with the domestic terror group antifa that you’ve heard a lot about lately,” Trump said in early October as he attempted to ramp up federal efforts to make the city safer.
It was in that vein that he deployed his DHS Secretary, former South Dakota congresswoman and governor Kristi Noem, to the ground in the western Oregon community to restore peace and sanity. In a video widely circulated online, Noem can be seen sitting around a table with uniformed officers and besuited officials in the midst of debriefing their crime-fighting efforts.
It was in that meeting that she led the group in prayer. “And together, that you give us good fellowship, Lord, but that you’d also give us wisdom and discernment to make the best decisions, not just for the people that are here enforcing the law, but also for the citizens of this country,” she begins.
Beseeching their Lord and Savior for safety, she continued: “And Lord, I just ask that you continue to put a hedge of protection around these officers, keep them safe, Lord, but that also that you would continue to bless each and every one of them and their families and Lord that you would protect the freedoms that we all enjoy, that were given to us by you. We love you, we praise you in your name. Amen.”
Watch that incredible moment below:
The Trump administration has not shied from returning Christian ethics and displays of religiosity to the center stage of governance. Throughout his campaign, the 47th president recognized the integral connection between a strong country and a country of faith. “We know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of American life, and above all else, we know this in America, we don’t worship government. We worship God,” he said at the 2024 NRA convention.
And at a campaign event in the same year, he said America can only be strengthened by a return to its faithful roots. “As we prepare to celebrate two and a half centuries of freedom, I am inviting America’s great religious communities to pray for our nation and for our people. From the beginning, this has always been a country sustained and strengthened by prayer so important.”
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video