When police in Michigan arrested Jessica Plichta live on air as she finished a TV news interview supporting Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, she became an instant protest hero, seen as a victim of the heavy hand of law enforcement.
The 22-year-old from Grand Rapids was widely described in media reports as a “preschool teacher,” an “anti-war activist” and protest “organizer.” And while those descriptions are not wrong, they were hardly comprehensive. A Fox News Digital investigation reveals they are part of a pattern in the media in which the radical ties of leftist agitators are ignored, depriving readers of a deeper and more accurate picture of their sinister goals.
“Preschool Teacher, 22, Arrested on TV After Condemning Trump,” blared a headline in The Daily Beast, above an article that noted cynically, “Welcome to America.” The UK-based Guardian published an article framing her as a progressive “anti-war” activist. And Democracy Now, an anti-Trump platform, lamented, “Grand Rapids Police Arrest Protest Antiwar Organizer After She Condemns Trump.”
Few outlets reported that Plichta is a dedicated revolutionary in the radical Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described Marxist-Leninist “organization of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States.” The FBI in 2010 investigated the group for alleged ties to terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is part of a sprawling network of Marxist-Leninist groups funded by a China-backed billionaire and committed to sowing chaos on American streets, using issues from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to fan the flames of discord.
Hellbound and Down 