Of the many Leftist nonprofit groups funded by multibillionaire George Soros’ philanthropy, the Open Society Foundations, Indivisible.org (or simply Indivisible), is walking especially tall. Presumably inspired by the Pledge of Allegiance phrase, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Indivisible believes these words shouldn’t apply to car manufacturer Tesla insofar as Elon Musk runs it. And until he leaves, the group is sparing no effort to drive the company out of business.
On March 29, Indivisible and an ad hoc group, Tesla Takedown, coordinated hundreds of demonstrations near Tesla dealerships across the U.S., Canada and Europe. The purpose of this “global day of action” was to wreck the Tesla brand name. Protestors, many holding placards, appealed to Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and to Tesla shareholders to sell their stock. Roughly 750 persons swarmed a Tesla dealership in Rockville, Md. near Washington, D.C., eager to register their disapproval of President Trump’s canceling of federal agencies based on Musk’s recommendations. In Boston, hundreds of demonstrators endured the rain for the same purpose.
It wasn’t as if the protestors were possessed of great insight. “I am proud of myself,” one Bluesky user noted. “Today I participated in my first protest against the Musk-Trump regime.” In Arlington, Va., a female demonstrator fumed, “I’m sick of billionaires trampling over working-class people.”
Indivisible and Tesla Takedown make it a point to include the word “peaceful” with “protest” in the wake of clear evidence of arson and vandalism against Tesla vehicles (see here and here). They cannot have it both ways. When self-described “peaceful” protestors vilify Musk as a Nazi and talk about destroying his company, they cannot escape responsibility for the actions of those who turn to violence. If the Justice Department is indeed serious about investigating the lawbreaking, it must include an examination of the tax-exempt entities and their benefactors.
Indivisible.org coalesced in late 2016 following Donald Trump’s election as president. Its founders, husband-wife couple Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, sufficiently alarmed, drafted a proposal for opposition. The document, reviewed by various current and former congressional staffers, was an instant hit with anti-Trumpers when posted online. Only months later, Indivisible had created or aided, by its own estimate, over 6,000 local organizations. Currently, the group has about 1,600 chapters across the U.S.
Greenberg and Levin, as co-executive directors, are media figures. POLITICO ranked them second on its annual list of the nation’s 50 top political thinkers, doers and visionaries for 2017. Time magazine included the pair on its “100 Most Influential People” list for 2019.
Much of Indivisible.org success lies in its structure. It consists of three separate entities: 1) Indivisible Project, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit geared toward election advocacy; 2) Indivisible Civics, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on activist training and education; and 3) Indivisible Action, a hybrid Political Action Committee which thus far has raised over $9 million in donations.
Indivisible.org’s mission statement is standard rah-rah progressivism, with recklessly sentimental appeals to “democracy.” A sample:
Indivisible’s national team offers strategic leadership, movement coordination, and support to Indivisible activists, and also directly lobbies congress (sic), builds partnerships, runs media campaigns, and develops advocacy strategies. Together we fight to defeat the rightwing takeover of American government and build an inclusive democracy.
Elon Musk, for now, is public enemy number one. In an ad sponsored by Democratic Party fundraising juggernaut actblue.com, Indivisible’s Seattle chapter invited locals to protest Tesla:
Join us at Belleview Square, Saturday, March 29 at 10 AM for a peaceful protest to say NO TO TESLA and Elon Musk. Today’s action is to RSVP and/or share this link https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/766805.
Protesting Tesla is part of Indivisible’s national strategy to tie Musk and his business interests to his corporate efforts to dismantle the government.
On the same web page, Tesla Takedown confidently declared:
Our protests have been so successful that Musk and Trump are attacking our movement with childish insults, implying we’re ‘fake’ protestors and paid by George Soros. Sad.
We’re real and so is the 35% fall in Tesla’s share price since we began our protests. We’re only getting louder!
The “getting louder” part is accurate. The claim they’re not receiving money from George Soros isn’t – not in spirit anyway. Tesla Takedown operates as an auxiliary of Indivisible. According to an article published in March by the New York Post, Indivisible.org during 2017-23 received more than $7.6 million from Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Given that the two groups have similar “toolkits” for fundraising and outreach, it’s hard to see how Tesla Takedown hasn’t benefited from Soros’ largesse.
More disturbing, Indivisible is subsidizing street activists. In March, Natalie Winters, an investigative reporter with Real America’s Voice News, discovered that Indivisible, via its “Musk or Us” project, had been reimbursing individual members by up to $200 in sundry expenses (e.g., travel, food, promotional materials) for showing up at rallies, town hall meetings, solidarity-building retreats and other events. Affiliated groups had gotten up to $1,500 for this purpose. To back up her claims, Winters cut away to screen shots of Indivisible’s written advice to participants.
All of this, if indirectly, is being funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. In the remote event the well runs dry, Indivisible.org has alternatives. They include the Sandler Foundation, a San Francisco-based charity created by the late savings & loan association magnate, Herbert Sandler, and his wife Marion. Indivisible.org thus far has received around $2 million from the foundation.
It’s crucial not to lose sight of the larger issue, the radical drive for power. Indivisible.org and allied outside organizations are committed to making the Trump presidency inoperable. Even liberal Democrats who reluctantly went along with the Trump administration’s six-month emergency spending bill to avert a government shutdown are in their sights; Indivisible currently is pushing to replace Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as punishment for capitulation. Indivisible bills itself as a “grass roots” organization, but its populism seems more comprised of Astroturf.
The radicals’ end game is restoring the momentum of multicultural socialism lost with the return of Donald Trump to power. The Open Society Foundations will be in their corner, keeping the money flowing.
Carl Horowitz is an NLPC senior fellow.
Photo credit: Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx
