Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas reports on protests in Washington, D.C., over President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration on ‘Fox News Live.’ 

As anti-Trump protesters swarmed the steps below the Lincoln Memorial Saturday, media outlets painted a feel-good portrait. NBC4 Washington declared on social media: "Grassroots groups are descending on the capital for the People’s March before President-elect Trump’s inauguration." The Associated Press reported that anti-Trump "demonstrators" "converge" on Washington, D.C., for protests led by the Women’s March, a "grassroots movement."

The Washington Post described the protests as a "joint effort among civil rights, racial and social justice and reproductive health organizations," highlighting the event’s "diverse mix of people."

While this positive media coverage may have captured the energy of ordinary protesters, they omitted one critical detail: the name of for-profit professional machine behind the protest.

THOUSANDS OF LEFT-WING DEMONSTRATORS DESCEND ON WASHINGTON TO PROTEST TRUMP INAUGURATION

Far from a spontaneous outpouring of civic action, the event was coordinated by Movement Catalyst LLC, a for-profit company based in Silver Spring, Md., and the official permit holder for the protests, according to a copy of the permit, which I obtained from the U.S. National Park Service. In the 1990s, covering international trade for the Wall Street Journal, I was among the first reporters to put the term "AstroTurf" into the paper’s pages, describing a coalition against tariffs on minivans that the auto industry called "grassroots" but was actually manufactured by an industry lobbying group. Protest organizing isn’t much different nowadays, and today’s "People’s March" is more AstroTurf than "grassroots." So too is the march planned for Monday, when we can expect more aggressive rabble-rousers to show up, as I reported earlier this week.

Management Catalyst carefully planned Saturday's "People's March on........

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