Why are the largest recipients of Progressive policies conservative?
Kevin Dahlgren – TruthOnTheStreets
In early 2024, I was standing under the Hawthorne Bridge, ten feet from the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, interviewing a homeless man. His arms were covered in crude tattoos, and I could tell he had been to prison. He served seven years and, upon release, was sent to the streets. He struggles with addiction, has tried a methadone program twice, and has been to multiple homeless shelters. He knows the homeless service system well and told me about the pantries he frequents and the best places to obtain tents, tarps, and sleeping bags. He said he gets new needles from Harm Reduction workers once a week, who drop them off at his camp. He brought up
the presidential race, and I was surprised to learn of his strong support for Donald Trump. He then showed me his MAGA hat. Despite his willingness to accept a significant amount of help from social service-type programs, he shared that he has never done so comfortably. He felt like he was being enabled because he was never allowed to be self-sufficient. He asked about recovery programs, employment, and even volunteer opportunities, but was always redirected. His interview inspired me to start directly asking the homeless about whether they felt they were being empowered or enabled, and if they considered themselves liberal or conservative.
I met a homeless woman in the Portland Park Blocks, which are a series of historic downtown green spaces. She called herself a lifelong hippie, but her views changed after she felt her own life had significantly changed for the worse. She cites the decriminalization of drugs, lax rules on crime, and all the people she witnessed dying using drug kits given to them by Harm Reduction activists. She admitted she doesn’t necessarily like Trump, but hated the alternative more.
She opened my eyes, and I realized that everywhere around me were obvious signs that many homeless people had become conservative. I saw an uptick in the homeless wearing MAGA hats, flying American flags at their campsites, and expressing their strong opinions on how their lives have regressed in a liberal city. The irony can’t be ignored, considering the liberals are big on promoting love, dignity, and compassion for the homeless.
I met two homeless siblings who are brother and sister who had just got kicked out of their shelter because they misgendered another client. She had witnessed the person steal something, and when he yelled out, “Sir, stop!” That “sir” got her kicked out, and her brother left with her. As for the thief, they got to stay in the shelter,
and no investigation was done. She said about 95% of shelter staff are non-binary and/or transgender, and they give preferential treatment to transgender clients. After I posted this video, I received angry messages from staff working at their shelter, demanding that I remove the video or else. I returned to the area one day later and met another homeless man I interviewed, who was also kicked out because he was not comfortable with staff demanding he use his gender pronouns every time he talked to them.
Homelessness has become a political issue, and because a high percentage of the workers are radicalized progressives, it makes sense that their ideologies have influenced the day-to-day activities, which have directly or indirectly affected almost all their clients.
This homeless woman only lasted a week in a Portland shelter because she “said every day, ”staff pushed their “leftist agenda” on her. She was never comfortable being there and said it was actually a relief to return to the streets.