Right-Wing Extremists

New York Times political reporter Robert Draper says the Republican party's embrace of lies and conspiracy theories has opened the door to fringe actors, who have become among the party's most influential leaders. He points to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a prime example of the party's extreme new direction.

As a Republican operative, Tim Miller worked with extreme right-wing media outlets and fed the populist outrage that helped radicalize much of the GOP voter base. His new book is Why We Did It.

2020 election deniers won key races in the GOP primary. New York Times Magazine journalist Robert Draper says the swing state is a bellwether for the rest of the nation.

The court's super majority of conservative judges has already passed down rulings about abortion and the 2nd Amendment. New York Times journalist Adam Liptak says more legal upheavals are likely.

New York Times journalist Alan Feuer says some members of Trump's inner circle have close ties to the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, whose leaders have been charged with seditious conspiracy.

The NY Times did an exhaustive survey of the Fox News hosts' broadcasts. Reporter Nicholas Confessore says Carlson's show is based on ideas that were once "caged in a dark corner of American life."

New Yorker writer Evan Osnos says no one in media has profited more from the Trump era than Bongino, who hosts the country's fourth most listened to radio show and has 8.5 million weekly listeners.

Atlantic editor Adrienne LaFrance discusses QAnon, the conspiracy theory that claims President Trump is battling a deep state child sex trafficking ring, run by high-profile democrats and celebrities.

New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz spent years with far-right online extremists, embedding with them and watching them spread false news by exploiting social media. His new book is Antisocial.

Janet Reitman of The New York Times Magazine says counter-terrorism strategists failed to adequately address right-wing domestic extremism — which enabled the movement to become even more dangerous.

Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League says that the militia movement has created a conspiracy theory about the anti-fascist protesters, saying they're domestic terrorists backed by George Soros

Jane Mayer writes in the New Yorker about Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah, who have poured millions of dollars into Breitbart News, and who pushed to have Bannon run Trump's campaign.

The number of hate groups in the United States continues to rise, says Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Potok discusses how the rhetoric of hate groups has increasingly entered the mainstream in the wake of the nation's changing demographics and the election of President Obama.

Chip Berlet has studied extremism, conspiracy theories and hate groups for more than 25 years. He says that the recent murders of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller and Holocaust Museum guard Stephen T. Johns exemplify the potential for violence that often lurks within extremist groups.

Her new book is The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back.

Investigator Michael Reynolds with the Klan watch Militia Task Force, with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The task force assisted in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. Reynolds outlines the beliefs of many of these right wing groups.

Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates in Cambridge, MA. He has spent 14 years tracking right-wing groups in America. He talks about the connection of militant right-wing militia groups to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Israeli political scientist Ehud Sprinzak. Sprinzak has written a book called "The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right" (Oxford University Press 1991). He follows the emergence in Israel since 1984 of a radical right-wing movement shaped by religious fundamentalism, extreme nationalism and aggressive anti-Arab sentiment. Sprinzak believes that the influence of the radical right pervades Israeli politics and culture as well as Arab-Israeli relation. He sees Israel's radical right exercising increasing control over the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Analyst Chip Berlet of the Political Research Associates, a research center which collects and disseminates information on right-wing political groups and trends. Terry will talk with him about some of the currently popular conspiracy theories such as the motive for the JFK assassination, and the view of some African Americans that AIDS and drugs are attempts to destroy the race.

Political Science professor Ehud Sprinzak (A-houd Sprin-zack) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He talks with Terry about how the radical right in Israel is no longer a fringe group but a growing force in Israeli politics and life. His new book is, "The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right," (Oxford University Press).