The left-wing dark money groups behind nationwide anti-Trump protests scheduled for this Saturday are urging their activists to do whatever they can to maintain peace on the ground, including by giving would-be rioters cookies or declaring, "Hey, there's Beyonce!" to distract them.
Led by Indivisible, the group behind explosive protests at Tesla dealerships and that paid left-wing protesters to disrupt red-district town halls in March, the activist coalition has planned nearly 2,000 "No Kings" protests across the country on Saturday to counter President Donald Trump’s military parade to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary. During a Zoom planning call Wednesday, the coalition’s leaders implored thousands of liberal activists who will be leading the protests Saturday to keep on the lookout for "actors of concern" seeking to rile up their crowds and bring about a repeat of the anti-ICE riots that raged through Los Angeles last weekend.
That could include "somebody who’s out to incite violent action, and it could be somebody on our side," said coalition leader Nadine Bloch, an executive of the activist group Beautiful Trouble. Bloch asked the roughly 3,800 attendees to consider what they’d do if a left-wing agitator showed up with "paint balloons or rocks so they can encourage other people to throw things."
Bloch read out several ideas the attendees floated in the Zoom chat to placate the hypothetical left-wing rioters, including "chanting over them," "giving away free stickers," and "complimenting them on their passion."
"Some people are giving away cookies," Bloch said. "What a great idea."
The coalition has a lot to lose if violence breaks out at their "No Kings" protests this weekend. Several prominent left-wing dark money groups have partnered with Indivisible to host the event, including Planned Parenthood, the League of Conservation Voters, Common Cause, and Jewish Voice for Piece, a radical anti-Zionist group that says it represents "peaceful" American Jews. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.) is also listed as a partner on the "No Kings" website.
Bloch, who disclosed her pronouns and gave a land acknowledgment to the Nacotchtank tribe during the call, also urged the protest attendees to come up with a gameplan if conservative counterprotesters arrive on the scene Saturday. Bloch said protesters may have to get creative to "distract" Trump supporters.
That includes randomly shouting, "'Hey, there’s Beyonce!' or, ‘how about them Knicks?’ or something like this," Bloch suggested.
"Possibly it could also be something physical," Bloch said. "You could, by mistake, drop your backpack or dump your coffee out or spill something. Think about what might be helpful to you in distracting and diverting a negative thing from going on."
There’s good reason for the coalition to be concerned. Stephen Piggott, the co-director of Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, said during the call that "actors of concern" turned things violent during the Roe v. Wade protests in 2022 and earlier this year at some of Indivisible’s "Tesla Takedown" protests. Piggott said that other mass demonstrations organized by liberal groups from Inauguration Day through the end of May have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but cautioned that the unrest in Los Angeles last weekend, which saw rioters looting stores, incinerating cars, and lobbing bricks at police, may have emboldened agitators looking to bring about a repeat this weekend.
"The events in Los Angeles over the past week have resulted in actors of concern paying a bit more attention to the No Kings protests than they were, say, even a week ago," Piggott said.
The warning comes as prominent Democrats including Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) deny that violence broke out in Los Angeles last weekend.
"Don’t think that somehow because they called out the National Guard there was violence. There was no violence. I was on the street, I know," Waters said on Tuesday.
Indivisible did not return a request for comment.