On Monday, PolitiFact’s Maria Briceno and Amy Sherman teamed up to give President Trump and other critics of the Minneapolis unrest a “false” rating for their true claims that at least some of the agitators are paid.
This was despite Briceno and Sherman writing in the “if your time is short” section, “Although it’s common for professional community organizers to be involved in protests, reporting by multiple news outlets, statements from people on the ground and experts’ observations show thousands of Minnesotans have been voluntarily protesting” and “Experts in social and political movements told us the majority of protesters aren’t paid, but it’s a common talking point aimed at dismissing the legitimacy of grassroots activism and criticism of the government.”
In other words, Briceno and Sherman acknowledge the existence of paid protestors but choose to not factor that into their ranking.
At the end of their piece, Briceno and Sherman return to the point, “Minnesotans have been protesting immigration agents in their communities for weeks. Some professional community organizers are involved in the protests but evidence shows a large volunteer protest movement in the Twin Cities. The accusation that protesters are ‘paid’ is a frequent talking point to dismiss the legitimacy of grassroots activism and criticism of the government.”
They conclude by warning, “The social media posts we found that claimed to show evidence of paid protesters were either AI-generated, recycled conspiracy theories or unsubstantiated.”
The problem for Briceno and Sherman is that they want to pretend that the community organizers they seek to downplay are simply organizing and leading marches of concerned citizens and handing out signs.
However, in their 1,400+ word article, they never once mention the St. Paul church storming that led to the eventual arrests of Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly. In 2024, the Wayfinder Foundation paid Armstrong over $250,000, and in 2023, it paid Allen over $140,000.
Furthermore, the so-called ICE watchers have gained plenty of media attention, and while most may be volunteers, they still had to be trained by a professional.
PolitiFact can try to ignore how the Minneapolis unrest isn’t just a bunch of ordinary people upset at ICE, but in doing so they prove that their “false” ratings should be taken with a pound of salt.
