Donald Trump just put up a post on Truth Social that just said, "Paid Insurrectionists!" One assumes he's referring to some group or all groups protesting ICE in Los Angeles. This is not the first time he's made that accusation about protestors who oppose his policies…as if it's not possible that someone could honestly think he's wrong and is only holding that sign because they were paid, possibly by George Soros. We've heard others make such charges or dismiss protestors or grieving parents as "Crisis Actors," as if that's a well-known profession.
Here's what I'm wondering: Has that accusation ever been verified for any sizeable mob? I can imagine someone somewhere has paid ten or twenty people to go and demonstrate for or against something…and I know unions sometimes pay pickets to walk picket lines. But a crowd in the hundreds? And I think Trump has said that about mobs of a thousand and up. Didn't he claim that when Kamala was drawing larger crowds to her rallies than he was to his?
That sounds like something that would be real easy to expose. Someone who opposed the demonstration could easily sign up to be part of it and then go public with the check or the printed instructions sheet or a recruiting e-mail or something. How do you keep something like that secret? I would think that someone who was willing to march for a cause or candidate they didn't believe in just because they were paid would gladly accept cash to admit they were paid to be there.
I'm not talking about someone paying to bus people in or to supply them with signs or refreshments. I'm talking about the charge that "Those people don't really support [or not support] that cause or candidate! They're just pretending they do for money!" Has that ever been verified about any large protest or rally? Anywhere?