Fox News Wants to Know Who is Funding This Protester’s $30 U-Haul Rental
A number of Fox News talking heads are fearlessly asking an uncomfortable question amid the civil unrest unfolding in Louisville, Kentucky following a controversial grand jury decision: Who is funding one particular U-Haul van containing protest signs?
On Wednesday a Jefferson County grand jury indicted a police officer for three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. Two other officers involved were not indicted in the killing of Breonna Taylor, who was shot by LMPD narcotics officers serving a warrant at her apartment in March. Her death has sparked more than 100 days of protests around the city. The controversial decision to charge only one officer — not for the killing, but for allegedly firing into a neighboring apartment occupied by three people — led to immediate protests.
As protests started, video was captured of people unloading banners from a U-Haul truck, revealing a certain degree of preparation on behalf of protestors ahead of the indictment announcement.
Among opponents of such protests, the footage of the U-Haul truck prompted suspicion, and speculation that a nefarious and powerful force must be funding those protests.
But even more than that expectation, it raised the specter of a plot to obtain a vehicle as part of a vicious coordinated campaign of transportation.
Take, for example, Laura Ingraham, who asked “Who paid for the U-Haul?” — speculating that the $30 rental fee for such a truck must have come from a shadowy financier:
Who paid for the U-Haul? https://t.co/QNoY0PEevV
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) September 24, 2020
The idea that these protests were coordinated may have first been suggested by the Twitter feed of Bill O’Reilly’s The First:
A “spontaneous” protest is breaking out in Kentucky.pic.twitter.com/DfqK9FFDqG
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) September 23, 2020
The notion that this protest was “coordinated” and financed received a lot of oxygen on Fox & Friends Thursday morning as well. Ainsley Earhart offered the view that the protests were “coordinated,” to which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded, “more than coordinated…it’s planned.”
The congressman went on to suggest the FBI investigate.
“Let’s look at the license plate of the U-Haul? Who rented that U-Haul? Who is funding this?” McCarthy asked. “You can’t just supply people with this type of armor without resources, without funding. Where is that funding coming from and why is it being used? How are these people knowing to come? Are there training facilities that are teaching these people how to do this? This is a grave concern, and this is something that the FBI should be focused on.”
Later in the show, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy noted protestors “were handing great big signs saying ‘abolish police,’ that were being handed out by somebody who appeared to be an organizer, and the protestors had masks and goggles and water bottles which they use when the police do deploy anti-crowd control measures. “It looks like there’s some sort of coordination that went into what we saw later in the day.”
Lawrence Jones was quick to jump on this idea and cleverly noted that “if they have a video, they can know who purchased the U-Haul,” explaining “They have facial recognition technology and use them to get real criminals off the street.” One could argue that there is no better use of facial recognition technology than finding out who rented this U-Haul truck.
To see what sort of financial threat we’re up against, one can easily search the U-Haul website to find out pricing by zip code. A crack team of researchers at Mediate HQ has run the numbers and have determined the particular model of rental truck featured in the video above costs $30. When you add in tax and insurance, you are looking at roughly $40. That’s definitely the sort of expense that can only be afforded by global billionaires like George Soros.
As for the planning of this protest, the grand jury announcement has been known to be coming for days. The Louisville mayor preemptively declared a state of emergency earlier this week in anticipation of intense protests.
