Ads offer protesters up to $2,500 to agitate at Trump inaugural

Donald Trump may have a point about paid protesters: Job ads running in more than 20 cities offer $2,500 per month for agitators to demonstrate at this week’s presidential inauguration events.

Demand Protest, a San Francisco company that bills itself as the “largest private grassroots support organization in the United States,” posted identical ads Jan. 12 in multiple cities on Backpage.com seeking “operatives.”

“Get paid fighting against Trump!” says the ad.

“We pay people already politically motivated to fight for the things they believe. You were going to take action anyways, why not do so with us!” the ad continues. “We are currently seeking operatives to help send a strong message at upcoming inauguration protests.”

The job offers a monthly retainer of $2,500 plus “our standard per-event pay of $50/hr, as long as you participate in at least 6 events a year,” as well as health, vision and dental insurance for full-time operatives.

“There’s simply no credible evidence that the opposition to Trump is spurred by anything other than legitimate concern about what his presidency might entail,” said a Nov. 17 column in the Washington Post’s The Fix.

PolitiFact reported that a widely shared Nov. 11 article claiming an anti-Trump protester was paid $3,500 was fake news.

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