It’s all falling apart.
For years now, Americans have watched in disbelief as some of our nation’s largest cities have been engulfed in waves of unrest — cities like Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and Los Angeles — each becoming staging grounds for chaos that seemed too coordinated to be spontaneous. Businesses destroyed, police stations firebombed and downtowns turned into anarchic war zones. These weren’t just outbursts of raw emotion. No, they were organized, resourced and tactically sustained. And finally, the dam is beginning to break.
The Department of Justice has begun making arrests — serious arrests. Not just of street-level agitators caught on camera throwing bricks or starting fires, but of individuals playing roles in logistics and supply chains — people who don’t show up on your TV screen, but without whom these so-called protests”would fall apart.
Take, for instance, the recent case of Alejandro Orellana. According to the Department of Justice, Orellana was caught handing out riot gear from the back of a U-Haul truck during violent demonstrations outside an ICE facility in Los Angeles. Let’s stop right there. Riot gear? From a truck? Handed out like party favors? This isn’t spontaneous grassroots resistance — it’s a coordinated operation.
And it raises a simple but essential question: Who’s paying for this?
The items Orellana was distributing weren’t homemade shields or improvised face coverings. They included military-grade gas masks and protective gear. One specific model of face mask being handed out retails for roughly $30 online. Now multiply that by the dozens — if not hundreds — being distributed across multiple protest sites in major cities nationwide. Then factor in body armor, helmets, goggles, gloves and communication tools like radios and encrypted messaging devices. Add the cost of the rental trucks, the fuel, the storage facilities. We’re not talking about hundreds of dollars. We’re talking about tens — if not hundreds — of thousands. And this is just one incident.
So again: Who’s paying?
The DOJ is asking that very question. And based on multiple sources and the language in their public statements, they believe the answer is both sobering and damning: large, well-financed activist organizations with deep-pocketed donors are allegedly behind it. These are not college kids pooling gas money. These are multimillion-dollar networks, some with 501(c)(3) protections, others masked through shell organizations and convoluted LLC structures. And they are now, finally, in the DOJ’s crosshairs.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that many of these riots are not organic expressions of civil unrest, but rather professionally funded operations. Whether it’s bailing out repeat violent offenders, coordinating logistics via encrypted apps, or flying in “protest tourists” from out of state, there is an underlying infrastructure — one built not on democratic values, but on chaos and intimidation.
The irony, of course, is that many of the people directly involved — the foot soldiers of this movement — have no idea who they’re really working for. They believe they’re part of a righteous cause, fighting “the system,” unaware that they’re being used as pawns by very powerful forces. But that naiveté won’t protect them. Because when the DOJ starts knocking on doors — and they already are — the first to flip are always the smallest fish. The ones closest to the action. The ones with the most to lose. And once they start talking, the entire operation begins to unravel.
That’s what we’re seeing now. Panic. Disarray. Activist groups going silent. Funding streams drying up. Legal representation being quietly secured. The media, which was once eager to glorify these riots as acts of “resistance,” is now backing away — nervous about what investigations might uncover.
In short: The riot industry is collapsing under the weight of its own exposure.
What comes next may be one of the most important legal reckonings in modern American history. If prosecutors can prove that wealthy individuals or major organizations financed this chaos — especially across state lines — it could constitute conspiracy, RICO violations and potentially even domestic terrorism charges. And if that happens, the implications will be seismic.
Americans deserve to know the truth. Not just about who burned their cities, but who made it possible. Who signed the checks. Who provided the trucks, the gear, the training.
The curtain is lifting. And when the spotlight hits the stage, we may find that some of the most “respectable” names in American politics and philanthropy were quietly funding destruction.
That’s the real story. And it’s just beginning.
Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.