A group of meme-crazed millennials descended on the Dupont Circle Metro station yesterday, advocating for the privatization of Metro with the help of “hip” signs. But nobody outside the tight-lipped group knows why they did it.
Borderstan has video of what looks like a fraternity rush after-party. The participants held signs meant to appeal to the ideal millennial, ranging from Pokemon Go jokes to a sign that griped about track fires: “The Metro is more lit than my mixtape.”
Surprisingly, everyone seemed elated to stand in the sweltering heat. The video ends with one of the protesters staring into the camera and shouting, “Bro, do you even Metro?”
The internet-savvy young man then holds back his head and laughs maniacally. One protester wouldn’t comment to Borderstan on the protest’s aims or origins.
Figuring out the protest’s origins are complicated by the fact that, aside from yesterday’s demonstrators, there’s no vocal group calling for Metro privatization.
The protesters’ youth, politics, and willingness to hang around a Metro station in the middle of a workday might suggest that they’re associated with a right-wing think tank. But representatives for a variety of conservative groups, including the Leadership Institute, the Charles Koch Institute, the Reason Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute all denied knowledge of the protests.
Even the libertarian Cato Institute, which employs Metro privatization supporter Randal O’Toole, begged off. Like so much else about the Metro system, this protest might have to remain a mystery.