The war within

Many of our left-wing Bucks County friends and neighbors joined the No Kings protests from Upper Bucks to Morrisville on March 28. Many joined to “fight” for our democracy, perceived to be threatened by the man in the White House, the would-be “king.” But that’s not what’s going on with the No Kings protests, according to an investigation by Fox News that linked radicals, socialists, and even communists to a host of organizations involved in No Kings protests around the country.       

In Bucks County, Democrats and a few progressive groups were involved in planning the protests from Upper Bucks County to Morrisville, a repeat of last year’s event. But for some observers, the county’s No Kings event took a turn away from the “king” and rallied outside the district office of Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick in Middletown Township.

Observers of Fitzpatrick would say he’s no “king,” nor does he aspire to be one. He’s a Levittown guy, known to be independent, bipartisan, a former FBI supervisor, and an Eagle Scout. So why did they stage a No Kings protest linking the congressman to the Trump-king theme?

It’s easy to see our county demonstrators are the usual smallish group of political activists, liberals, and blue voters anxious to vote for anyone except Fitzpatrick, now up for reelection. They lamented the Iran war and immigration enforcement. It’s still a free country filled with many people who are involved in all shades of politics but drawn into protests by organized groups with a different agenda, bigger and more mysterious.    

There seemed to be more behind these nationwide protests, but it sounded so conspiratorial — until the Fox investigation by network senior editor Asra Nomani. An Indian American, Nomani is a former reporter with The Wall Street Journal, covering money, politics, and society. She is a conservative author and fighter for women’s rights.

Her investigation found there are about 500 groups with an estimated $3 billion combined annual revenues that were behind the nationwide No Kings events. And among the scattered crowds of a million or more were radical progressive groups, “revolutionaries,” socialists, and, yes, communists easily identified by their enthusiastic waving of the hammer-and-sickle flag in New York.   

The investigators saw a copy of a No Kings permit that was obtained by Indivisible, a national,  well-heeled Democratic political advocacy organization founded in 2016 to oppose the Republican agenda. It is funded by billionaire George Soros. Indivisible is active in Bucks County and elsewhere in the Philadelphia region.   

The investigation also identified key participation by a network of radical socialist and communist organizations funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American tech tycoon and a reputed communist living in Shanghai for nearly a decade. Fox reports that Singham financed institutions promoting socialist politics and that he frequently collaborates in protest campaigns, including the anti-capitalist People’s Forum in New York. Other institutions include the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition, and CodePink, whose cofounder, Jodie Evans, is married to Singham. And attending the St. Paul event was none other than CodePink supporter Jane Fonda, who took the opportunity to rail against the war in Iran. 

The Fox probe found some of the No Kings groups collaborate with larger groups we have never heard of like the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a national team of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the U.S. and purveying a message of “revolution.” Fox reported that all are part of the Singham network and cosponsors of the huge St. Paul protest, where the posts read, “No Kings. No War” and “Party for Socialism and Liberation” at the bottom of their signs.  

What does it mean?  It means Fox uncovered the truth: The radical, far-left movement in the U.S. is subversive. And we should stop referring to the No Kings protests as “grassroots.” There is nothing grassroots about a well-organized, well-funded national mass protest and seemingly in a partnership with extremists, domestic and foreign.   

Other independent journalists are digging into the billionaire socialist bankrollers of the rising radical movement. The legacy media should look at the original No Kings game plan, their leaders, and how they’ve managed to attract larger crowds, seniors, women, and former hippies (but not many younger people) taking up the fight against “fascism” or saving democracy from President Donald Trump. The recent No Kings rally in New York was “global, featuring posters, signs, foreign flags and support for Iran, Palestine, Cuba and Venezuela.”

My interest in the possible diversion of some progressive groups and individuals within the mainstream Democratic Party was further piqued by the recent Fox investigations and their report. We need to talk to each other. My takeaway is we’re knee-deep in a war within – a propaganda war, for now.    

Pat Wandling is a veteran journalist, formerly of The Bucks County Courier, and was a mainstay on WBCB for over 20 years.