The anti-war Left is having an identity crisis—and it just went public.
Over the weekend, left-wing protesters gathered in cities across America for a “Hands Off!” national day of action against President Donald Trump and his administration’s ongoing efforts to drain the D.C. swamp. The usual suspects were out in force: environmentalists, pro-Palestinian activists, union agitators, and assorted Biden-era bureaucrats who liked things better when the Department of Agriculture was handing out grants for rainbow flag festivals.
But one far-Left group wasn’t buying the outrage—because even it sees the hypocrisy.
Enter Code Pink, the leftist “women for peace” group with longtime anti-war credentials and—more recently—disturbing ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Code Pink’s co-founder Medea Benjamin was appalled that these supposed anti-Trump demonstrators were not only embracing massive government waste and bureaucratic bloat—but also demanding the preservation of NATO, the very military alliance Code Pink has long opposed.
“Why in the world would the Hands Off rallies include NATO on this list of critical issues and government agencies to support?” Benjamin asked on Friday. “NATO should be eliminated, not protected.”
That’s the sound of the modern progressive movement devouring itself.
For decades, groups like Code Pink made their name protesting American imperialism, opposing foreign interventions, and denouncing the “military-industrial complex” at every turn. But the Left of 2025? They want more of it—so long as it’s done in the name of “democracy,” “climate justice,” or “protecting Ukraine.”
The irony is stunning. These rallies were billed as grassroots movements defending democracy from Trump. In reality, they were top-down tantrums led by activists and NGOs who are furious that President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are finally exposing the permanent Washington cartel and slashing its funding. Instead of aligning with even a sliver of Code Pink’s anti-war ethos, these demonstrators were effectively rallying for war. They’re begging to keep NATO, defend endless foreign aid packages, and prop up the very globalist structures that got us into disaster after disaster.
Code Pink is discovering what many Americans already know: the modern Democratic Party isn’t anti-war anymore. It’s not the party of the Vietnam protests or the Iraq War opposition. It’s the party of military funding bills, proxy wars, and foreign policy consultants cashing State Department checks.
That shift isn’t just ideological—it’s generational. The new Left grew up on MSNBC panels and Twitter hashtags. They see NATO not as a Cold War relic but as a progressive force. That means Benjamin and her crew are now politically homeless, rejected by both the populist Right and the globalist Left.
The great irony? President Trump—long caricatured by these same protesters as a warmonger—is the one challenging America’s role as the world’s policeman. He’s the one pushing NATO to pay its fair share. He’s the one reevaluating foreign entanglements and bringing troops home. Meanwhile, the folks chanting “Hands Off!” are now chanting for more government, more NATO, and more status quo.
The truth is, there is no meaningful anti-war Left anymore. There’s only a D.C.-backed activist machine angry that their taxpayer-funded gravy train is being dismantled by Trump and Musk, two men unafraid to call out the bureaucracy’s addiction to endless war.
Code Pink may not like it, but they’re learning fast: the Swamp doesn’t care about peace. It only cares about power. And judging by the crowds defending NATO this weekend, that power still wears a blue lapel pin.
