Democratic party officials and other leaders of the anti-Trump “Resistance” are putting Republican House and Senate members on notice that they will step up their disruptive protest tactics this summer.
“The demonstration season isn’t even in full swing yet,” said Gene Stilp, a Pennsylvania Democratic Party coordinator.
In an interview with Sinclair TV’s Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, he added, “This spring and the summer you’re going see people really get active. These guys are going to be afraid to even cross the state line to come back into Pennsylvania.”
Andrea Walker, described as an anti-Trump activist, said, “There’s an incredible amount of things that we could do including pick up marches, you get an email and it says for you just to go and you know, ‘Tomorrow show up here!'”
She added, “What I’m hoping for is to make this as easy as possible for people to have a sustained protest. Let’s try and go on for two years, you know, without swooning in fatigue.”
Over the past week, protests and shouting matches at the town halls held by lawmakers have escalated and the Examiner’s David Drucker reported that “resistance” leaders are using the firing of FBI Director James Comey to stoke the anti-Trump fire.
Attkisson, whose show appears on Sinclair stations Sunday morning and live streams online, raises concerns that the protest movement is being driven in part by a “shadow government” or “deep state” funded by top Democratic and liberal donors.
She addressed it in an interview with North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Attkisson: “Beyond the public town hall opposition that we see, some people think there’s sort of a shadowy version of this opposition going on inside government. What’s your take on that?”
Meadows: “Well we do see some of that. I mean unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of that. They certainly have a name and they certainly have a face.”
Meadows added that unlike the Tea Party movement, the “Resistance” appears driven by Trump hate and egged on by Democratic leaders and organizations.
“They are directing it, and of course that makes me a little uncomfortable here in my chair, you know, as you see that, because you’re seeing what is actually the case. We’re seeing at town halls across the country a real organized effort uh to not really change policy as much as it is to get videos to go viral. I’m very familiar with the Tea Party uh activists and grassroots activists. I would say that this is a different type of group; highly organized but not as much content-driven. It’s really a factor of just not accepting a new president,” he said.
Stilp seemed to agree when he said, “We have basically an idiot running the government right now and attempting to run the government, or I think he governs by Twitter. I think he’s one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had. And that’s why he’s not my president; but how do you stop him?”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
