Fake Wisconsin Protest Groups Backed by Soros, Tides, Arabella Dark Money

These protestors are not your neighbors

Perhaps children are born Republicans because when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, they almost never say "professional protester." And it turns out, protesting is mostly a Democrat thing with lots of money and organization behind it. Soros, Tides, and the mysterious dark money queen, Arabella—these are the names you should think of when you see a motley crew of actors on the side of the road with protest signs you can’t read at full speed.

Fake Views

What? You thought the smattering of protesters who show up with crummy signs mostly at Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s events were local folks with true concerns? No, no, no. It’s theater, and like any thespian, some are paid, and others do it just for the attention. That’s why most of them can’t hold a meaningful conversation about the issue on the sign someone handed them.

OK, some make their own signs, but if you have ever been present at the start of a protest, someone always rolls up with a trunk full of signs from the last protest. It explains why one protest can have signs complaining about so many different topics. Others hold professionally printed signs, the hallmark of big financial backing, although people holding homemade-looking signs may also be paid.

It’s called astroturfing, perfected by Barack Obama’s former chief political strategist David Axelrod. When grassroots don’t naturally grow around an issue or candidate, bring in the fake stuff: Astroturf. And it’s more than signs. It might be a fake organization, like "People for Ducks with Raincoats." Just add matching T-shirts and a website.

When Hayden Ludwig, the founder and executive editor at Restoration News, discovered Arabella is the biggest dark money network in America, his exclusive report said, "No one on the Right knows exactly how many such astroturf campaigns the network has spawned over the years, but estimates put it at well over 500 groups since 2006—all of them run from Arabella Advisors’ cushy office in downtown Washington, D.C."