Government Accountability Institute Director of Research Seamus Bruner has identified the billionaire-funded network that mobilized the May Day 2026 protests — and he argues the “workers over billionaires” message collapses under its own irony.
Bruner traces the protest infrastructure to George Soros, who he says pumped $100 million into the May Day effort, and the Tides Foundation, a major dark-money conduit he connects to the same network behind the earlier “No Kings” movement.
“The message is ‘workers over billionaires’ — the irony is the story,” Bruner said. “George Soros put $100 million into the May Day protests. The Tides Foundation has poured dollars into funding this radical protest, which is kind of crazy.”
Bruner argues the rebranding from “No Kings” to a labor-themed message was a calculated pivot after the original movement failed to gain traction. “They realized ‘No Kings’ was kind of cringe; nobody was signing up for that,” he said. “But it’s the same money behind it.”
The GAI researcher connects the Tides Foundation to the Southern Poverty Law Center as overlapping players in what he characterizes as a coordinated effort to use taxpayer-funded institutions — including public schools and teachers unions — to advance a radical political agenda.
“The worst part is that they’re using your tax dollars to weaponize your kids against you,” Bruner said. “So this whole thing needs to be shut down.”
Bruner also argues these operations are now drawing federal scrutiny. “The Trump administration is taking it seriously,” he said. “These major dark-money operations — the money laundering operations of the left — are now under the microscope.”
Watch the clip above.
