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'No Kings' protest alleged donor list goes viral, causes massive backlash online
The October 18 ‘No Kings’ protest reportedly saw a turnout of two million more than the first round of demonstrations, which took place in June.
The second ‘No Kings’ protest on October 18 saw a massive turnout of almost seven million, CNN reported. Anti-Donald Trump protesters from over 2,700 cities and towns across the US protested against the policies and the administration, even as the President put out an AI video of him on a fighter jet, dumping sludge on demonstrators. Amid this, an alleged list of the donors has gone viral online.
The list was shared on X by Florida Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna, who wrote “The 'No Kings' protest was completely organic, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” following it up with a wink emoticon.
HT.com could not independently verify this list.
Luna also reposted a post from Seamus Bruner, Director of Research at a think tank led by Peter Schweizer of Breitbart News. There, Bruner wrote “We traced $294,487,641 (over $294 million) to the official No Kings 2.0 partners & organizers...all funneled through the same “Riot Inc.” dark-money networks.”
He alleged names like the Soros network were among those who sponsored the protests. HT.com could not verify this information.
'No Kings' protest alleged list draws massive backlash online
The alleged information on the list sparked massive backlash online. Dean Withers, a political commentator on TikTok, said in reply to Luna's X post “If they payed 7 million people to protest, why hasn’t even one person spoken out?”
“Maybe FBI Director Kash Patel could look into this,” said another, tagging him in the comment. Yet another added, “One must wonder how much of that was taxpayer funded...”. Notably, a lot of people, outraged online over the list, indicated that they thought individuals were getting paid to protest. However, there is no direct evidence supporting this fact.
Grok fact-checked this as well, saying: “No verified evidence shows individual protesters at No Kings rallies were directly paid to attend, despite claims from outlets like FOX citing firms like Crowds on Demand.”
“The events were coordinated by Indivisible and allied progressive networks, which receive grants from donors including George Soros' Open Society Foundations—primarily for organization, permits, and promotion rather than per-head compensation. Large-scale protests often involve volunteer turnout amplified by funded logistics, not astroturfing; turnout estimates vary wildly but suggest genuine opposition mobilization,” the AI assistant added.
Despite the outrage online, the ‘No Kings’ protest has only gained popularity, as per CNN, with the latest edition seeing two million more than the first round of demonstrations, which had taken place in June.
