Stop the steal movement the times also details gop congresswoman laura bobert of colorados, close connections to Militia Group, colleague the 3 ers that had at least one member who entered the capitol, and matt gaetz connections is described this way republican tiff gaetz of florida appeared at an event attended by members of the proud boys, another Extremist Organization whose role in the assault like those of the oath keepers and Three Percenters is being investigated. The times said in signaling either overt or tacit support, a small vocal band of republicans now serving in the house provided legitimacy and publicity to Extremist Groups and movements as they built toward their role in supporting mr. Trumps efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election and the attack on congress. This caucus of extremists, which including the qanonsupporting Conspiracy Theory peddling Marjorie Taylor greene, appear to be creating incorrect tension on capitol hill right now, to the point that one democratic congresswoman was compelled to move her office. The posttrump gop making their democratic counterparts feel unsafe while creating safe spaces for extremists is where we start this hour, Nick Confesssore is here, and alex wall ner, a contributing writer to the atlantic is back, and Frank Figliuzzi is back. Nick, i want to start with you. This is some stunning reporting that really speaks for itself. What is so remarkable is that none of these members are trying to hide their appearances with or their association with people who are it wasnt a long time ago before anyone that had anything to do with a Militia Group wouldnt be allowed anywhere near a legitimate elected official. Theyre proudly describing themselves as one with the militia, appearing at events with them. You know, its amazing. Heres whats going on. Trump bought White Nationalism and violent terrorismism into this center of the trump party. He legitimized it. What were seeing now, in the wake of trump, there are politicians and lawmakers who have their own direct and organic homegrown ties to these groups to Three Percenters, to proud boys and mill litchia more broadly, and theyre coming into congress in the wake of President Trump. Youre right, they are not mostly trying to hide their ties. Theyre appearing at events, thee alive with them in some cases. The main exception i think is congresswoman greene, who is now deleteling foib foib deleting facebook posts at a furious pace. Its striking to see this in congress. This is a logical consequence i think that what President Trump brought into the party from the far extremes. Alex wagner, i think you focused my fears on the reality of this, and the sort of nationalized nature of this, that likely in every community there are members of a Militia Group. You have that stunning interview with folks who believed and were willing to fight with arms for an election result other than Donald Trumps victory. I wonder if youve stayed in touch with them. I wonder what you think how this is all played out. It was very prescient what you reported. I one it ware prescient. When i interviewed them, they were so explicit about violence. They were so explicit about their plans for insurrection. They were so explicit about the civil war, it almost made you dowd if it could by real. We were always taught that terrorist activities are covert, they happen far away, and domestic terrorism wasnt part of the daytoday vocabulary. I even talked to Law Enforcement officials who are trying to calibrate how worried they should have been in advance. I talked to the Michigan Attorney general there, who was one of the people who foiled the plot against governor whitmer. Even then, though these folks were making explicit plans, though they were out on social media, there was kind of a constant backandforth about how serious are they . Theyre talking insurrection. We know they have access to weaponry, but are they going to go through with it . Is this bruce willis diehard or Bruce Buschemi in fargo . As we have learned, i think nick is right out in the role that trump played, but gun vulture, a culture of violence, racist immigration base, now it is in full bloom. Frank, i want you to pick up something on what alex just said, in this post9 11 eray, the way its not similar, its i was gobsmacked to watch them standing around like they were at a tailgate. I wonder if you could talk about the role not just in the legitimacy of donald trump, but the stunning reporting in the New York Times. What does that legitimacy of their organizations and their mission they have a shared mission. And in response to that reporting, i think one or two members denounced violence, but none of them separated themselves out from the mission of lying about the election. Yeah, this is what i kay, nicole, the mainstreaming of madness. This is radicalization in broad daylight. Theres a couple choices, they members of Congress Need to make. They either can say theyre unaware of the significant role theyre playing in the radicalization process, or theyre aware of it, and they continue to deliberately do it. Either way, its incredibly dangerous. It does offer a legitimizing imprimatur of authority for those who seek to do violence. The only way to do it in a deradicalization is for the members to denounce everything they have done. Theres no indication theyll do it. For the viewers, i want to talk about the practical fallout from this reporting today by the New York Times. Heres what this really means. If this is under scrutiny, the relationship between these members, and qanon and the proud boys and oath keepers, and Three Percenters, inside the wall inside the Fbi Headquarters theres a electronic surface with a digit at Link Analysis way that will show a spokeandwheel on fashion, proud boys, this Congress Members, Three Percenters, this Congress Member. The very notion for someone like me who is used to seeing International Terrorists on those Link Analysis charts, to think that u. S. Members of congress are now on those connected dots charts inside some office at Fbi Headquarters is unbelievable to me. When i was Assistant Director of the fbi, i wasnt allowed to carry a weapon inside the u. S. Capitol to brief the committees. I had to surrender my weapon to the Capitol Police, yet the same radicalizers are slapping on their Congress Member lapel pin, and walting in as they kin to radicalize a segment of our population. Frank, im going to push further on what you just said. Are you saying, if the New York Times was able to, through open source reporting find these ties between members of congress and the groups that had members storm the capitol, that surely those same members and possibly more are sitting on a Carey Matheson style orb chart that we now know the fbi and department of Homeland Security are warning all Law Enforcement agencies and all americans about, at least through the end of april . Well, certainly. Weve heard even the u. S. Attorney in the District Of Columbia say were looking up to sedition planning, organizing, conspiracy charges, fbi saying something similar. So if youre going to do that and its out in the open and the New York Times is say its under scrutiny, its there, and of course analysts are considering what it means. Alex, how the bleep did we get here . And how do we get out of this spot when all thats happened im not going to play it, but theres a skirmish today between one of the members thats reported Marjorie Taylor greene and a democratic member, she moved her office nancy pelosi has reported theyre more afraid of the enemies within. This is the Washington Post open hose at this time broke out among republicans and democrats on thursday amid growing fears of physical violence and looming threats from supporters of former president donald trump, but House SpeakerPelosi Leveling an extraordinary allegations that dangers lurk meteorology the members itself. Some democrats are that some have tried bringing weapon onto the house floor, cannot be trusted. Some have bought Bulletproof Vests and are seeking other protections. This is madness. This is no way for the government to function. This feels like the most chaotic and ugliest elements of our society, not people who should be leading anyone. It makes Budget Reconciliation a lot more tame, doesnt it . The aid symmetry of the tactics being employed here is shocking. Having spoken to voters, lawmakers, militia, the problem is a schism over information and facts. Biden said one thing that was incredibly important during his inaugural press, that was restoring the idea of truth, and shared truth to this country. I truly believe that begins with the way we process information and events. The problem with the moment is that literally half the country that elects representatives to congress and has a role in shaping the american politics does not see the world in the say ways as the other half, the misinformation and mendacity piped to that half of the country is cancerous. Until and unless we can find a way to get back to the same shared reality, it is never going to change. The violence, the anger, the frustration, the vittry on the, that is all part of living in an alt reality, where those are the only things you can employ to take your country back. I dont know if thats investing in local newspapers. Thats one way where people still process information, and it hasnt been sullied, or whether it is about an overall examination of the ways in which sort media has played a role in this moment, but i we have to start from the basics, the very dna of information before we can even think about ways to be bipartisan in the has of congress. I mean, alex, i didnt want to do this, but im going to because of what you said. Fox news is really important, speaking to the millions of trump voters. I went out and spent a lot of time with trump voters in 2016. They watch fox, but most get most of their information on facebook, but most of what they see are facebook are monologues like from Tucker Carlson if he vote the wrong way, youre a jihadi. And were going to treat you the way we treated those radicals after 9 11. Get in line, pal, this is a war on terror. Heres what Tucker Carlson seems to be doing. He seems to think the problem is the way someone votes. I think the other day he talked about the way people think. I dont think anyone is talking about how anyone votes or thinking. Its the actions, the association with domestic terrorists, its the hate speech, hang mike spence, and its the action of he people beating police, and we learned that someone was trampled to death. How do you if youre not even looking at the same crisis in the same way, how do you begin that process, alex . Well, theres a deep sense first of all, if we want to get macro, theres a deep existential dread that pinch yates i think this entire body politics. Immigration, changing demographic, all of these things are fearful to people of a certain age and ethnicity. That fear is then seized upon and stoke by media, and then its shared hand increases the more its transmitted through communities. I think part of this is an inescapable part of a changing america, and were going to have to go through as a necessary growing pain. I guess thats tough love, but the other part, which is the weaponization of change, and the weaponization of the fear around change is inexcusable. That i think is the thing that can be tackled by, you know, looking at our sources of media, and holding to account the people that are seeking profit to destroy the country. You know, frank, i was listening to alex speak about information and the quality of information. It seems like something we can do there, too. If we can keep counterfeit dollars out cash registers, we should be able to keep boldfaced lies out of our ecosystem. I imagine on The Other Side of the truth divide, thats a badge of honor. What do we do to get back to not shared truths, that almost sounds like a utopia, but where we have less violence being stoked by boldfaced lies . This is a monumental challenge. We are way behind the curve with regard to the speed social media can promisele gate violent, dangerous thought and turn it into action. This is also, number two, a holistic all hands on deck for society. Its not just one solution. Its not just Law Enforcement, its not legislation, its not just big tech, its not education, teachers. Its all of us being led by a Strong Administration being led. We have to teach our kids how to be more intelligence consumers of information, but yes, you can take down sites. You can suspend and censor and deny platforms for a plats form like parler, but theres a careful twoedged sword. By doing that, you may be feeding into the theory that some deep state is silencing us, youre infringing on free speech, when were really infringing on violence, and then you force them into encrypted apps and the darker part of the web. It has to be everybody moving together in one direction. The times had some remarkable reporting about a woman who disavowed qanon after believing for a while. She says the theories seem crazy to her now, but looking back she understands how they drew her in. They were comforting, a way to get a baerga and rigged against middleclass people like her. Evil kabals could be defeated. I mean, that picks up on alexs point about the wider problem, the wider problem, and but it is a direct and most striking parallel to sort of deradicalization effort that this country and our allies took on after 9 11. To think were deal with radicalized americans is really stunning. The parallels are amazing, but theres one big difference. These Conspiracy Theories and problems have found a root in a Major Political party in america. Not some guy in a cave overseas. Its going to require at some point some leadership from people of goodwill, republicans who want to lead. Im thinking of a couple things. Im thinking of john mccain during the debate in 2008, and barack obama and the John Birchers driven out conservatives, the end of the red scare, how that required democrats and republicans to come together and lead. Its going to take some guts. I think every republican who voted to decertify has some responsibility. They essentially told voters that American Government was in the grip of a vast evil conspiracy that stretched to every level of government, all around the world. If you validate that Conspiracy Theory, and there are people who are desperate and angry, then theyre going to think theres only one solution for them, and thats armed violence. Thats the tragedy. Nick, frank, thank you both so much for starting us off today. Alex is sticking around. When we come back, its not just the lawmakers, but also the rest of us, Everyday Americans in washington learns to navigate this new normal of living under tletsds of extremist violence. Plus new developments today on vaccines. Good news, but dr. Fauci stressing science to keep it up and stay ahead of mutating strains. The Biden Administration deploying one of the most popular assets to help sell the legislative priorities, what Vice President harris is up today. That and more after a quick break. Dont go anywhere. That and more break. Dont go anywhere. Yes. The answer is no. I can help new homeowners not become their parents. Keeonoh. Nope. Coeenoah. No. Joaquin. No. It just takes practice. Give it a shot. [ grunts, exhales deeply ] did you hear that . Yeah. Its a constant battle. Were gonna open a pdf. Whos next . Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. No fussin, no cussin, and no. And then what happened daddy . Well, see this handsome man, his name was william. And william fell in love with rose and they had a kid. His name was charles and charles met martha. Isnt she pretty . Yeah. Lawmakers, as well as d. C. Residents, are facing a new normal after the january 6th riot, visually reshaping the epicenter of u. S. Politics after new threats from domestic extremists. Just a little over three weeks later and a 7foottal fence stopped with spools of wire surround the complex. While thousands of National Group troops, heavily armed, are expected to stay indefinitely. At threats continue, Law Enforcement and d. C. Mayor are at odds over how