ICYMI: Liberal Protesters Stormed The Heritage Foundation Yesterday

The Heritage Foundation released a document, “Blueprint for Balance,” which did not sit well with liberals. In fact, it was so triggering that they decided to do something about it. In the era of resist Trump, progressives decided to storm the offices of the conservative think tank, with a few occupying the lobby for about 20 minutes (via Washington Examiner):

Around 200 protestors flooded into Heritage's Capitol Hill headquarters an hour before noon Tuesday, screaming that they were going to shut down the think tank. While opposition to Trump's budget was the headline of the demonstration, they didn't let that stifle their creativity. "Our solution to pollution is the people's revolution," they chanted before switching over to the more succinct, but no less vague, cadence of "water not walls."

Regardless of the mixed messaging, the bottom line was simple. They swarmed into Heritage because they didn't like the ideas the think tank produced. And instead of trying to help reach consensus with traditional protest, they tried intimidating the opposition.

The flash anarchy strategy appears to be organized by an organization called the People's Action Institute. And while that group certainly has great passion they demonstrated very little endurance. They were in and out in less than 20 minutes.

Lyndsey Fifield, who is part of Heritage’s digital team, recorded the lobby protest. Melissa Quinn of the Daily Signal, a news organization that is affiliated with the think tank, reported from the ground outside:

Recommended

These Democratic Senators Could Sure Be in Trouble After Voting for Sanders' Anti-Israel Resolutions Rebecca Downs

Advertisement

The group spent nearly an hour at the think tank, holding signs stating “A Budget for the People,” “A Budget for Health Communities,” and “A Budget for Immigration” and chanting “water not walls” and “shut it down” before moving to protest outside of The Heritage Foundation’s Capitol Hill headquarters.

There, a number of speakers addressed the crowd of activists and criticized Heritage for the role it played in crafting Trump’s budget.

“Trump is a puppet of The Heritage Foundation,” one woman told the crowd outside of the organization.

Protesters criticized The Heritage Foundation for its “Blueprint for Balance,” a 230-page document with recommendations for the 2018 budget.

The budget document was crafted by more than two dozen scholars at the think tank.

Trump adopted many of the recommendations from The Heritage Foundation’s 2017 “Blueprint for Balance,” released last year, in his own 2018 budget, which the protesters disagreed with.

Quinn tried to get interviews with protesters and organizers, which proved unsuccessful. To her credit, Quinn fully disclosed that her news outlet is affiliated with Heritage, which caused one person, who appeared to be an organizer, to walk away from her. Other protesters were not authorized to speak to media, and these progressives made sure that didn't happen. Is it a shocking result? No. Though you get surprises some times, as MRCTV, which is part of the Media Research Center, was successful in obtaining some interviews with noted liberals, like Van Jones, who had to have known where the MRC stood on the issues. In the meantime, the Trump resistance continues.  [Full disclosure: The MRC/MRCTV were my former employers]