Last week's agreement between federal officials and Oregon governor Kate Brown calling for the withdrawal of federal officers from Portland marked a welcome de-escalation of the Trump administration's bellicose response to the ongoing protests over the police murder of George Floyd. President Donald Trump's deployment of heavily armed and often unidentifiable officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had created a crisis on the streets of Portland, with the protests swelling in response to the federal presence and federal officers resorting to tactics that seriously injured protesters, journalists and bystanders. Ominously, the deployment appeared to be part of the president's re-election campaign strategy, and he threatened similar deployments to other localities, including New York City.