QuickTake:

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley warned that “fascism is on the streets of America.” In a town hall event, the Oregon Democratic leader and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle gave constituents advice on how to respond to the Trump administration’s actions.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley is urging Oregonians to get involved, vote and save the republic from an authoritarian takeover.  

Merkley, D-Oregon, who spent part of his childhood growing up in Roseburg with his millwright family before moving to eastern Multnomah County, said he never thought he would be speaking out against a president’s authoritarian tactics. Yet there he was in a high school auditorium in Springfield, doing just that in his town hall, Sunday, Jan. 18. 

“We have a massive challenge to our nation that we never thought we’d see in terms of authoritarian takeover,” Merkley said, joined by U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Oregon.

Fears are growing in Oregon and across the country after a federal immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis Jan. 7. That shooting came amid a wave of deportations and heavy-handed tactics of federal agencies, which include detaining people who are legally in the United States. 

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active duty troops in Alaska to prepare for possible deployment to Minnesota, outlets, including Politico, have reported. President Donald Trump has suggested he may use the Insurrection Act to rein in the unrest. The Insurrection Act gives the president the authority to use active duty U.S. troops within the United States to respond to specific circumstances, such as a widespread civil unrest or armed rebellion.

“Under the Insurrection Act, there is a deference to the opinion of the president,” Merkley said in an interview with reporters before the event. “That’s what makes it so dangerous. And it really goes to the expectation that you would have a president who would act very responsibly. It’s kind of entrusted to the president, and that at this moment is incredibly uncomfortable ground, because this president does not honestly describe real situations.”

Merkley said the news that Trump has told active-duty troops in Alaska to be prepared to go to Minnesota is a worrisome suggestion that the president is getting “very close to invoking the Insurrection Act.”  

“This would be absolutely a horrific thing for him to do, really betraying any responsibility for appropriate use of the military,” Merkley said.

Hoyle said she recently traveled to Minneapolis and is concerned. 

“I’ve talked to law enforcement,” Hoyle said. “I’ve talked to community members there, and what is happening is the president is trying to invoke the Insurrection Act, and we can’t let that happen. We need to have respect for the Constitution. We need to have respect for law and order, and we need to have respect for our communities.”

Merkley approached the issue like he always does any other — with a town hall to hear from constituents. Since his Senate career started in 2009, Merkley has completed more than 1,100 town hall events. Merkley and Hoyle fielded questions from constituents for an hour Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in a packed gymnasium with several hundred at Thurston High School in Springfield. 

The crowd applauded wildly when Merkley answered a question about how to rein in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. 

“I think we have to dismantle them and start from scratch,” Merkley said.

Merkley’s also giving his constituents advice and education. At the town hall, his staffers passed out a 15-page pamphlet titled “Ring the alarm bells” that outlines the 10 “rules of Trump’s authoritarian playbook.”

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, released a 15-page pamphlet with examples of what he calls the Trump's administration's push toward an authoritarian system. Staffers passed out his pamphlet at Merkley's town hall in Springfield Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, released a 15-page pamphlet with examples of what he calls the Trump’s administration’s push toward an authoritarian system. Staffers passed out his pamphlet at Merkley’s town hall in Springfield Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. Credit: Ben Botkin / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The pamphlet, published by Merkley’s office, gives examples of the Trump administration’s actions and how they align with the actions of a government seeking to establish authoritarianism. Among them: actions to stifle free speech through lawsuits against media outlets, a weaponized U.S. Department of Justice that has mounted prosecutions of Trump’s political enemies and past attempts to federalize the National Guard and send troops to cities, including Portland.

Merkley, speaking in his interview, said he hears from worried people in all of his town halls. The actions of federal authorities in the Trump administration, Merkley said, include “people being thrown into unmarked vans, people being denied access to an attorney.” 

“It’s fascism,” Merkley said. “We have fascism on the streets of America right now, and we have to ring the alarm bells and we have to stop it.”

Merkley, through his pamphlet and his presentation, offered guidance to constituents: Get off the couch, get organized and hold elected representatives responsible – including on Election Day.

For two decades, Ben Botkin’s journalism career saw him criss-cross the West, a path with stops in rural Idaho, Las Vegas and, now, finally, Lane County. Ben reported on local government and the statehouse in Idaho before he moved to the Bulletin in Bend and covered education in central Oregon.

Then, for four years, he covered Clark County government, which has oversight over the Las Vegas Strip, and served as the lead political reporter during the 2016 election cycle. During that time, Ben wrote about the county’s child welfare agency, law enforcement, the start of Nevada’s medical marijuana industry and homeland security. His reporting sparked the criminal indictments and convictions of three government officials, including a city animal control supervisor convicted of animal cruelty.

He also covered national stories like the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Since 2018, Ben has reported on Oregon state government, first for the Statesman-Journal in Salem and then for The Lund Report, a Portland-based nonprofit that covers health care. His reporting on gaps in children’s health coverage led to state Medicaid policy changes.

Most recently, Ben worked more than two years at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered criminal justice, health and human services. His work often incorporates the voices of vulnerable Oregonians from all walks of life.

As Lookout’s Politics & Policy Correspondent, Ben digs up the most intriguing and relevant stories about how Lane County decisions impact residents.