Protests against President Donald Trump’s administration have been cropping up nationwide. They appear to have two things in common — gray hair and a lack of energy. Are Americans supposed to believe these are organic? Or are they organized by left-wing groups to undermine Trump’s administration?
Now the answers to those questions are becoming clear. The “Hands Off” protests of April 5 and earlier anti-Tesla protests were supported by a coalition of powerful leftist groups, including The Indivisible Project, and organized through Mobilize America — which was initially founded as a Democrat PAC. Now leftist organizers are planning more demonstrations across America for the socialist holiday May Day.
The ‘Hands Off’ Protests
Leftists gathered in cities across America to protest Trump’s administration on April 5. As images of the events streamed in from across the web, something soon became clear — many of the protestors were elderly.
Anti Trump protest in Charles Town, WV. About 200 people, not paid protestors, but the median age appears to be about 70. pic.twitter.com/ygFoKa8Ybn
Whether disaffected boomers, one-time hippies, or former bureaucrats, these were people with extra time on their hands. This was not lost on far-left activists, who used Mobilize America — a “volunteer management platform and network that connects left-wing organizations, campaigns, and activists,” according to InfluenceWatch — to stage the Hands Off protests, apparently attempting to subvert confidence in the Trump administration.
Hands Off is tied to the Indivisible Project, which launched in 2016 to help leftists “Resisting the Trump Agenda,” according to InfluenceWatch. Indivisible is listed among Hands Off’s “partners,” and the group’s website directs users to various Hands Off materials. Hands Off directs “general inquiries” to an Indivisible.org email address. When The Federalist asked about this, Indivisible Project Chief Campaigns Officer Sarah Dohl said the address online was a “typo.”
“Hands Off is a campaign, not an organization,” according to Dohl. She called it a “broad coalition effort,” pointing to “nearly 200 partner organizations.” According to Dohl, Indivisible provided Hands Off participants with content, toolkits, and “digital infrastructure.”
“We were proud to help build the Hands Off website and provide early infrastructure to get the campaign off the ground,” Dohl said. “The site and campaign are now supported by many different groups, not just Indivisible.”
A host of leftist groups “partner[ed]” in the Hands Off protests, including the anti-religious freedom Human Rights Campaign, leftist League of Women Voters, far-left Our Revolution, radical environmentalist group Greenpeace, and anti-Trump Women’s March. Left-wing union giants AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, Service Employees International Union, and United Auto Workers also supported the demonstrations.
Indivisible provided graphics and messaging to protestors, even suggesting wording for their signs and offering to reimburse groups up to $200 worth of expenses for each protest — though Dohl previously told The Daily Signal the group does “not pay protestors.”
An Indivisible document online guides demonstrators on “Tesla Town Halls,” specifically “how to plan a Tesla protest” and “executing your Tesla protest.” It listed grievances with Trump’s administration, including alleged “economic terrorism.”
“The idea of ‘Tesla Town Halls’ was one of several suggestions we offered as part of our early February congressional recess guidance — alongside more traditional options … ” Dohl said. As The New York Post reported, Indivisible also backed the “Musk or Us” protest during Congress’s March recess, encouraging the use of messages such as “Fire Elon Musk” and “GTFO Musk.”
Another main group behind the anti-Musk town hall protests was MoveOn, as The Washington Free Beacon reported. MoveOn is listed among the “partners” of the Hands Off protests.
Despite the burning Tesla graphic, Indivisible included a disclaimer in its document about a “commitment to nonviolent action.” The group recommended protesting “during business hours when foot traffic is high,” and focusing on “Tesla showrooms, factories, and dealerships.”
“Indivisible was not the central organizer of the Tesla day of action. … Some local groups chose to participate and did so peacefully,” Dohl said to The Federalist.
In the protest guidance document, Indivisible told anti-Tesla demonstrators to register their event with Mobilize America — the same group used to organize Tesla Takedown and Hands Off demonstrations. Dohl called Mobilize a “widely used events platform.”
“Like many other organizations, we use it to share volunteer opportunities and amplify partner events,” Dohl said. “There’s nothing unusual about that — it’s just a tool.”
Plotting May Day Protests
The Hands Off website hosts a link to the May Day National Day of Action. “This is a war on working people — and we will not stand down,” the May Day webpage reads. Itlinks to a “May 1st National Day of Action Host Toolkit,” featuring the popular Marxist iconography of the raised fist. The guide provides demonstrators with things like “sample social media posts,” a “sample email,” and even a “sample message frame” to “[a]lign your message with the broader movement,” even providing specific wording.
The guide tells organizers to register their event with Mobilize America to enable radical activists to “push out your event and help recruit attendees.” The document gives “[f]ull credit to Hands Off and Indivisible for sharing a sample toolkit we are building from.”
Dohl told The Federalist her group “isn’t involved in planning May Day actions directly, and our understanding is that plans are still coming together across the coalition.”
“[W]e expect to see mobilizations happening throughout the spring,” Dohl said.
The left-wing Action Network is also involved, hosting a map of the May Day events and description that declares, “We will not be intimidated by Trump, Musk, or their billionaire backers. … Their time is up. And May Day is just the beginning.” According to InfluenceWatch, Action Network “emerged during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011.” It also helped organize the anti-Keystone XL pipeline protests, the anti-gun March for Our Lives, and the anti-Trump Women’s March. Some Tesla Takedown “global day of action” organizers used Action Network to plot anti-Tesla demonstrations on March 29.
According to an online map, the May Day protests are planned for the coming weeks in major cities across the country.
Follow the Money
Indivisible was “founded by two left-wing activists” in 2016 to oppose the Trump agenda, according to InfluenceWatch. The infamous Tides Foundation, a leftist dark money giant that sponsored pro-Hamas protests on college campuses last spring, is a “funding partner” to Indivisible’s 501(c)(3) branch. LinkedIn co-founder and Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, who said he wished he had made Trump a “martyr” before last summer’s assassination attempt, has also contributed to Indivisible.
Mobilize America initially began as a Democrat PAC and received thousands from Democrat sources, according to InfluenceWatch. But Federal Election Commission filings listed the PAC as “terminated” in fiscal year 2019-2020. And, as Capital Research Center Investigative Researcher Parker Thayer pointed out, Mobilize’s privacy policy shows the group was listed as part of Bonterra LLC as of February 2023. Bonterra provides various left-wing volunteer and fundraising services.
The Federalist also contacted Hands Off and Mobilize, but they did not comment in time for publication.
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
Constituents hold signs in disagreement with U.S. Congressman Leonard Lance (R-NJ 7) during a town hall event at a community college in Branchburg, New Jersey, February 22, 2017. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter – RTSZWDU
The activists split up into an “inside team” — tasked with occupying “as many seats as we can”and an “outside team,” whose job was to “give [the media] the coverage they want” before joining the others inside. Activists were instructed to dress like conservatives and leave at home “any signifier that you’re a liberal” in order to blend in with constituents. The leftist activists strategized how best to “dominate” the question-and-answer section of the town hall and keep anyone “sympathetic” to Cassidy from asking a question.
The audio also reveals the activists laughing about “the poor people of Breaux Bridge” — local constituents — who might get stuck behind them. Local news coverage of the town hall said that “many attendees were turned away” from the town hall due to “capacity restrictions.”
Matthew Schoenberger, of New Orleans, shouts a question at Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy during a town hall meeting in Metairie, Louisiana, U.S. February 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman – RTSZW2O
“Game plan number one is to fill as many seats as we can, right? If it’s all of us in there and the poor people of Breaux Bridge are sitting behind us, well then tough luck for them,”said one organizer, identified by KPEL as James Proctor. His “poor people” comment drew laughs from the other activists.
“If we can arrange it so he doesn’t hear one sympathetic question–great. That only magnifies our impact,”Proctor said.
“The Indivisible Guide does say that when you start to lose the meeting, that’s when you boo and hiss,”one unidentified activist can be heard saying. “Right, I was going to say that,” another activist replied. Local news outlet The Advertiser reported that members of the crowd “frequently interrupted, expressing disagreement with some of Cassidy’s positions and shouting out their own questions.”
“The outside team will join the inside team in the hall after media coverage,”Proctor states at one point. “So what we’ll do is we’ll try to dominate enough, because–remember, the camera people especially are looking for some ‘b-roll’ and some quotes.”
“They’ve got three or four things to cover that day, this is just one of them,”Proctor said of media covering the town hall. “So we make sure we give them the coverage they want, and then everyone breaks and goes inside.”
Video from outside the event posted on YouTube shows protesters chanting, “Love not hate, that’s what makes America great.”One woman appears to be reading the chant from a script.
LISTEN:
The activists can be heard in the audio referencing a partner group’s protest of Sen. Cassidy in Metairie, Louisiana, as a possible source of inspiration. Protesters at that event booed the name “Jesus”during the opening prayer.
One woman can be heard on the audio saying she was in contact with the national Indivisible organization, a statement that Indivisible Acadiana denied over email after this article was published, claiming they: “were not in direct contact with the national group but “were in direct contact with some Indivisible groups in the Louisiana area who are also constituents of Senator Cassidy.”
Indivisible recently partnered up with Organizing for Action, the activist group aligned with former President Obama, NBC News reported earlier this month. Additionally, Indivisible announced the formation of a new non-profit, designed to help fund the group’s efforts with tax-deductible donations.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the target of similar protest efforts while on a diplomatic visit to Mexico. Although on foreign soil, that protest was organized by Democrats Abroad Mexico — an official arm of the Democratic party.
This story has been updated with additional quotes from the audio and additional background information.
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Peter Hasson | Reporter, Associate Editor | 12:38 AM 02/27/2017
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