“Huo Jingnan (she/her) is an assistant producer on NPR’s investigations team”
Just guessing, but I would not be surprised if has deceased relatives killed by Mao’s goons during the cultural revolution in China. She should recognize the threat of communism.
Given that it’s npr, she’s probably on the cccp payroll.
If she were there during the Cultural Revolution, she would have absolutely been one of the Red Guard rounding up teachers and others marked by the party for unorthodox thinking tendencies for struggle sessions and executions.