A peek behind the curtain at ‘No Kings’ protests

OPINION:

Another in a sporadic series of far-left “No Kings” protests nationwide against the Trump administration is scheduled for Saturday, but make no mistake: They are anything but grassroots demonstrations, bubbling up more or less spontaneously and operating on a shoestring budget.

Quite the contrary. Like the two “No Kings” protests in June and October, the nationwide demonstrations Saturday will be highly orchestrated and coordinated by leftist nonprofit groups, unions and foundations. (By contrast, the conservative tea party protests of the early 2010s, largely self-funded, arose organically and independently in response to Obamacare.)

An estimated 200 left-wing organizations collaborated on the October “No Kings” extravaganza, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the pro-LGBTQ Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood, as well as the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the League of Women Voters. Partisan Democratic organizations and openly socialist and communist groups are also part of the massive coalition.

All this organizing necessarily requires countless full-time paid operatives, along with huge sums of money for offices and infrastructure. Regarding financing, anti-American multimillionaires and billionaires, such as George Soros and the lesser-known, American-born but Shanghai-based Mao Zedong-loving Neville Roy Singham and his wife, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans, are more than up to the challenge. They have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to leftist groups worldwide.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Soros, Mr. Singham and others of their ilk are spared any of the obloquy that leftist Sens. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, regularly spew at those they regard as “oligarchs” and plutocrats for supporting causes and candidates disfavored by the left.

As syndicated radio talk show host Chris Plante often notes, “If it weren’t for double standards, the left would have no standards at all.”

As with the two prior “No Kings” protests of President Trump and virtually all his foreign and domestic policies, hundreds of thousands of leftists will likely participate Saturday in thousands of smallish local demonstrations across the country. They will have left-wing celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen and Robert DeNiro on hand to fuel their Trump derangement syndrome.

The “No Kings” throngs have a constitutionally protected right to protest, of course, as long as they remain peaceful and don’t obstruct traffic or commerce in the process. All too often, however, leftist protests such as these become disruptive and violent, necessitating strong law enforcement pushback. (See Minneapolis.)

The apolitical casual observer is likely to marvel at the sheer size and scope of the demonstrations, with supporters of a dizzying melange of left-wing causes, including “Free Palestine,” climate change and transgender “rights,” as well as abolishing ICE and supporting open borders.

These “No Kings” protests will have more, much more, than meets the eye. The public at large won’t see it because most of the liberal media coverage of the demonstrations will be superficial, if not sympathetic.

That opacity suits the organizers to a pro-transgender T(-shirt), because they would prefer, in “Wizard of Oz” fashion, that the public “ignore that man behind the curtain.”

Most mainstream news reports will emphasize the iceberg aspect of the demonstrations — the 10% you see (the admittedly impressive crowd sizes, the purple hair and nose rings, and the anti-Trump animus) — while leaving unreported the 90% that lurks below the surface.

Likely to go unreported will include who’s paying for the thousands upon thousands of expensive, professionally printed signs protesters will be carrying, as well as who is arranging the podiums, lecterns, microphones and sound systems the rabble-rousing speakers will use.

Nor are the mainstream media likely to seek out and expose the many paid professional protesters who crisscross the country to be wherever the demonstration action is. That apparently will have to be left to independent investigative journalists such as “Nate Friedman97,” whose Facebook Reels have exposed many of these professional rabble-rousers.