From The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 17, 2017
"Donald Trump may have a point about paid protesters: Job ads running in more than 20 cities offer $2,500 per month for agitators to demonstrate at this week’s presidential inauguration events.
Demand Protest, a San Francisco company that bills itself as the “largest private grassroots support organization in the United States,” posted identical ads Jan. 12 in multiple cities on Backpage.com seeking “operatives.”
“Get paid fighting against Trump!” says the ad.
“We pay people already politically motivated to fight for the things they believe. You were going to take action anyways, why not do so with us!” the ad continues. “We are currently seeking operatives to help send a strong message at upcoming inauguration protests.”
The job offers a monthly retainer of $2,500 plus “our standard per-event pay of $50/hr, as long as you participate in at least 6 events a year,” as well as health, vision and dental insurance for full-time operatives.
Mr. Trump has complained about paid activists both before and after the 2016 presidential campaign, but if anti-Trump advocacy groups are juicing their crowds with hired help, nobody’s admitting it."
Assuming this is true, I would be outraged. The paying of agitators to protest is unAmerican, it smacks of political dishonesty and corruption.
And I certainly I find it hard to believe that some left-wing anti-Trump organization is willing to pay a $2,500 a month retainer, $50 an hour, AND benefits to each agitator. That's a lot more than these agitators can ever make working part-time in the real world! I think this news report may be a joke, fake news.
UPDATE: The next day, according to the Washington Times and FoxNews this Demand Protest activity was proven to be a hoax. I was right. Professional news organizations were duped. I was not.
