by WorldTribune Staff, February 19, 2017
Thousands of agitators tied to a group founded by former President Barack Obama are preparing assaults on GOP lawmakers nationwide.
An organizing manual distributed by the network provides cold guidelines for maximizing the perception of widespread opposition.
In a new Facebook post, Obama-founded Organizing for Action (OFA) calls on activists to mobilize against Republicans from now until Feb. 26, when “representatives are going to be in their home districts,” the New York Post reported.
The manual, published with OFA partner “Indivisible,” advises protesters to go into halls quietly so as not to raise alarms, and “grab seats at the front of the room but do not all sit together.” Rather, spread out in pairs to make it seem like the whole room opposes the Republican host’s positions. “This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus.” It also urges them to ask “hostile” questions — while keeping “a firm hold on the mic” — and loudly boo the GOP politician if he isn’t “giving you real answers.”
“Express your concern [to the event’s hosts] they are giving a platform to pro-Trump authoritarianism, racism, and corruption,” the manual says.
“The goal is to make Republicans, even from safe districts, second-guess their support for the Trump agenda, and to prime ‘the ground for the 2018 midterms when Democrats retake power,’ ” Paul Sperry wrote for the New York Post on Feb. 18.
“Even the safest [Republican] will be deeply alarmed by signs of organized opposition,” the OFA states, “because these actions create the impression that they’re not connected to their district and not listening to their constituents.”
OFA seeks to “bully GOP lawmakers into backing off support for repealing Obamacare, curbing immigration from high-risk Islamic nations, and building a border wall,” Sperry wrote.
Protesters earlier this month disrupted several town halls held by Republican lawmakers, including one held in Utah by House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, “who was confronted by hundreds of angry demonstrators claiming to be his constituents.”
The manual instructs protesters to feed video footage to local and national media after they succeed in disrupting GOP events.
“Unfavorable exchanges caught on video can be devastating” for Republican lawmakers, it says, when “shared through social media and picked up by local and national media.” After protesters gave MSNBC, CNN and the networks footage of their dust-up with Chaffetz, for example, the outlets ran them continuously, forcing Chaffetz to issue statements defending himself.
The manual also advises protesters to flood “Trump-friendly” lawmakers’ Hill offices with angry phone calls and emails demanding the resignation of top White House adviser Steve Bannon.
A script advises callers to complain: “I’m honestly scared that a known racist and anti-Semite will be working just feet from the Oval Office … It is everyone’s business if a man who promoted white supremacy is serving as an adviser to the president.”
The OFA boasts more than 250 offices nationwide and more than 32,000 organizers, with another 25,000 actively under training, the Post reported. Since November, it’s beefed up staff and fundraising, though as a “social welfare” non-profit, it does not have to reveal its donors.
“These aren’t typical Black Lives Matter or Occupy Wall Street marchers, but rather professionally trained organizers who go through a six-week training program similar to the training — steeped in Alinsky agitation tactics — Obama received in Chicago when he was a community organizer,” Sperry wrote.
Chicago socialist Saul Alinsky, known by the left as “the father of community organizing,” taught radicals to “rub raw the sores of discontent” and create the conditions for a “revolution.” He dedicated his book, “Rules for Radicals,” to “Lucifer.” Michelle Obama quoted from the book when she helped launch OFA in 2013.
“Now is the time for some organizing,” Obama said after the 2016 election. “So don’t mope” over the election results.
“I promise you that next year Michelle and I are going to be right there with you, and the clouds are going to start parting, and we’re going to be busy. I’ve got all kinds of thoughts and ideas about it, but this isn’t the best time to share them.
“Point is, I’m still fired up and ready to go, and I hope that all of you are, as well.”
Obama network’s organizing manual targets Republicans nationwide, even in safe districts added by World Tribune on
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