The Trump Administration authorized Federal law enforcement to crack down on protests against police brutality in Portland, Oregon under the guise of protecting monuments. This decision came despite repeated pleas by local officials for the officers to leave arguing their "presence... is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism."

In response to general push back from Portland officials, protesters, and Portland residents, President Donald Trump tweeted "We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE."

When asked in an interview recorded on Friday for Fox whether or not he could understand why Black Americans are protesting the use of police force against them, Trump responded, "Of course I do. Whites are also killed, too."

The police forces in Portland shot tear gas at a group of mothers protesting police brutality and arrested protestors without clear identification and in unmarked vehicles. During the protests, the police association building was set on fire.

"It's not helping the situation at all. They're not wanted here. We haven't asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told CNN.

Democrats in the House of Representatives have demanded an internal investigation into whether the Homeland Security and Justice Departments "abused emergency authorities" in their handling of the Portland protests.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus is still pummeling the United States. Cases in the country saw one-day peaks 9 times this month, claiming over 140,000 lives. Trump continues to claim "it's going to be under control" while arguing that it's really testing that is causing the increase in cases. In reality, increases in cases represent the spread of the virus: there's only been a 37% increase in testing while cases has exploded by 152%.

"We have embers and we do have flames. Florida became more flame-like, but it's - it's going to be under control." Trump is right that Florida has seen particularly high rates of COVID-19, with over 12,000 new cases reported on Sunday alone.

"I'll be right eventually," he said. "It's going to disappear and I'll be right."

Except, the experts don't agree with Trump's assessment. Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that cases could soon top 100,000 per day if Americans don't make more of an effort to halt the spread. Fauci is the government's top infectious disease expert, but Trump has begun a campaign to publicly discredit him, recently labeling him "a little bit of an alarmist".

Trump's seeming vendetta against testing continued this week when the administration announced plans to block $25 billion meant for state testing and contact tracing efforts.

Also this week, some headway was made in the Armed Forces to combat hate symbols. Defense Secretary Mark Esper issued a policy that effectively prohibits the flying of the Confederate flag on bases. The policy creates a list of allowed flags, and the Confederate flag is notably absent. The policy doesn't explicitly state a ban on the Confederate flag because the creators were trying to avoid push back.

"The decision to not name a specific prohibited flag was to ensure the department-wide policy would be apolitical and withstand potential free speech political challenges," a defense official told AP News.

Trump was asked about the Confederate flag just days later on Fox News.

"It depends on who you're talking about, when you're talking about," Trump responded. "When people proudly had their Confederate flags they're not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South. They like the South ... I say it's freedom of many things, but it's freedom of speech."

Trump was also asked about the potential changing of military base names that honor Confederate generals.

"We won World Wars out of these, out of these military bases, no I'm not gonna go changing. I'm not gonna go changing," Trump said. He went on to compare Confederate base names to Black Lives Matter, saying he's "not offended [by] either."

And in possibly the darkest turn of events this week, Trump has admitted he may not abide by the election results in the fall.

"I have to see. Look ... I have to see," Trump told moderator Chris Wallace. "No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no, and I didn't last time either." This comment echoes statements from Trump in 2016 in which he said he would "keep you in suspense" regarding whether or not he would abide by the decision of the voters.

Of course, Trump's loss in the fall is starting to seem more and more possible. Recent polls show him lagging behind Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

"First of all, I'm not losing, because those are fake polls," Trump said in the prerecorded interview. "They were fake in 2016 and now they're even more fake. The polls were much worse in 2016."