29/08/2026
This cartoon absolutely nails what has felt very different about this summer.
Where is the endless cycle of organized chaos? Where are the massive demonstrations that suddenly materialize with professionally printed signs, matching shirts, buses, legal support, food, communications teams and armies of activists who somehow all seem to show up at exactly the same place at exactly the right time?
Sure, there have been protests here and there. But we have not seen the kind of sustained nationwide unrest and rioting that Americans have watched explode across the country in previous years.
And I have a very hard time believing that is just a coincidence.
USAID has been dismantled and much of its funding canceled. ActBlue is under congressional scrutiny over its fraud controls and questions involving potentially improper donations. The Southern Poverty Law Center has actually been indicted by the federal government on serious financial charges.
Suddenly, the protest machine seems to be sputtering.
That does not prove that every protest was secretly financed by one organization or another. Obviously it wasn't. Plenty of Americans genuinely protest because they believe strongly in a cause.
But I also do not buy the idea that every giant political demonstration we have watched over the years was some spontaneous gathering of neighbors who happened to grab homemade signs and meet downtown.
Large-scale political activism costs money. Transportation costs money. Organizers cost money. Advertising costs money. Lawyers cost money. Communications infrastructure costs money.
When enormous amounts of institutional money are flowing, activism becomes much easier to manufacture and sustain.
When that money dries up, things suddenly get quieter.
Funny how that works.
Maybe some of what Americans were told was a spontaneous political uprising was considerably less spontaneous than advertised.
