I wrote a book about Charlottesville, Jan 6, the alt right, an incel three-way, a death party, a mushroom trip, a book burning, a fascist's cell phone + what I witnessed reporting on extremism for a decade.
It's called Black Pill. Out 7/9, preorder here:
It's true: in 2014, I taught Matt Taibbi keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste. If I had not done that, maybe all this could have been averted. I am deeply sorry.
Americans should watch this report and decide who to trust: the condescending CNN correspondent or hardworking parents horrified at the racism being pushed on their kids.
We are thrilled to announce Elle Reeve
@ElspethReeve
is coming to CNN from
@ViceNews
as a correspondent. She reported โCharlottesville: Race and Terror,โ the 22-minute documentary on the โUnite the Rightโ white nationalist rally & events in Charlottesville in 2017. Welcome Elle!
Every 3 to 6 months, the "just ignore it / don't give it oxygen" people become the "how could this happen? / who could possibly have seen this coming?" people. All I'm asking for is some reflection on how that pattern keeps repeating
Matt Taibbi hired me in 2014 for his political satire website. Imploded immediately. Spent 6 weeks in a rubber room waiting to be fired by a billionaire. Staff used that time to become ~15% more famous with a protest blog, Racket Teen. And THAT really made my career. Thanks Matt
"The cops were very cool. They were like, 'Hey guys, have a good night.' Well, some of them. It's just crazy. It's really weird. You can see that some of them are on our side."
Inside the mob at the Capitol with
@DebBrunswickCNN
&
@DoctorGuff
Several years ago an old boss shot down a story pitch by saying, "Everyone knows gymnastics is fucked up, Elle." But, do they really?
On why Simone's mental health and physical safety are the same thing:
A memory: Racket staff gather at a conference table to discuss how our new political satire site will make fun of Buzzfeed. Can't agree why Buzzfeed is bad. Realize Taibbi has never seen a viral video. We play Honey Badger. "Wow," he says, "people just put this on the internet?"
Former Marine Barton Shively has been arrested for his role in the Capitol riot. He described fighting with police in an interview with CNN, his eyes still watery from being maced
'I get called a crisis actor all the time.' A nurse on the strange reality of watching patients die from covid and then listen to people tell her she made it all up
Story with
@DoctorGuff
and
@DebBrunswickCNN
An Arkansas nurse takes to social media to combat insults and disinformation about the vaccine.
"All the hate was centered around us," she says.
CNN's
@elspethreeve
reports.
Every day we spent in the Ozarks it felt like covid was closing in tighter. Interviewees found out they'd been exposed, or were too sick to talk, and everyone in town was gossipping about who had it and where they got it
This is the man who threw a glass bottle at our crew while our backs were turned at the end of the Capitol riot. It smashed at my heels. He wouldn't give his name
And that many more believe in parts of Q without realizing it. Like the man who told me 1/6 that he wasn't into Q, but there would be military tribunals of Democrats and that Trump 'has been appointed from above.'
There's this weird trend where people try to downplay QAnon by observing that only several million Americans endorse an absurd extremist ideology that fueled the capitol insurrection.
And they always ignore the fact that QAnon is an international movement for some reason.
Proud to be on the latest
@QanonAnonymous
podcast on the Capitol mob. They've tracked the conspiracy theory, its evolution & its key figures, for years. For in-depth info on Q and how we got here, listen, and browse the archives
This pastor says he believes Covid-19 is a โscam,โ โpolitically motivatedโ and tied to mail-in ballots and getting President Biden elected.
"It's not about reasonโฆit's about asking them to trust an authority... they haven't trusted...for decades," says CNN's
@elspethreeve
.
"People that I would have sat down and hung out with and traded conspiracy theories with -- now this guy doesn't even like the sight of me." -- story with
@DoctorGuff
&
@DebBrunswickCNN
on a man who says he was in an 'election fraud cult'
Today, Congressman Paul Gosar contacted the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, asking they consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.
from a source: "We fight for Trump because Trump fights for us. This is our republic. If they don't hear our voices today, they'll hear our muskets tomorrow"
"If you have it, everybody knows it. And they're talking about you."
On a small town in the Ozarks, where everyone knows everyone, so everyone knows everyone who's died of covid -- and still so many won't get vaccinated. w
@DoctorGuff
&
@DebBrunswickCNN
Vice's flaws have been meticulously documented, but every media company faces some combination of: boys club, management consultants, dilettantes, hockey stick graphs. Despite the challenges we all face, Vice does good journalism and makes it look beautiful. I hope it lives
The Proud Boys say they don't engage in political violence. Their gear is just for self defense, even the aluminum bat. And when they ran after
@DebBrunswickCNN
shouting 'You wanna get fucked up?' surely they meant it self defensively. w
@DoctorGuff
The consequences for the Capitol mob -- their faces circulating on social media as their own accounts are deleted, losing access to financial services, arrests -- mirror those after Charlottesville. But they're coming much faster.
A guide for what's next:
Here's our full episode on our interview with 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan in the Philippines.
"My whole life became about the internet. And my real life stopped mattering to me."
Last year's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was supposed to be the moment when the movement stepped off the internet and into the real world. Instead it was a disaster that had cascading consequences over the next year.
See it on VICE News Tonight, 7:30 PM EDT on
@HBO
"Schoening knew there were liberal parents lurking in her chapterโs private Facebook group, because her group had some moles in the liberalsโ Facebook group."
Moms for Liberty vs the parents who oppose them in Colorado Springs:
@InternetHippo
The plan is called Saturday 2. Five day workweek, 3 day weekend. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday 2, Sunday
We noticed 'Patriot Party' logos on 1/6 & saw related groups proliferate on Telegram after. It seemed like a potential vessel for the pro-Trump energy that remains on the right.
So we went to one of the 1st organized PP rallies. It took a strange turn.
Born out of a violent clash with police, Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) is now a six-block region under the control of protesters.
"They're still figuring out how to make their own law and order in a cop-free world," reports
@elspethreeve
from inside the zone.
This is a look not just at a guy in the Proud Boys, but also the joking-not-joking pose of the new far right, even, as in this interview, when talking about violent threats.
w
@DoctorGuff
&
@DebBrunswickCNN
โForty years ago in Alabama, thereโs a lot of mamas and daddies thatโd be thrilled that their 14-year-old was getting hit on by a district attorney.โ
Watch
@FrankLuntz
โs full panel of Alabama voters on VICE News Tonight, 7:30PM EST on
@HBO
How did 8chan become a place where Nazis thrive, mass shooters post their manifestos, and users celebrate those shooters in real-time?
On a
#VICENewsTonight
special report,
@elspethreeve
meets the man who created it.
He says โit should never come back.โ
7:30 PM EST on
@HBO
.
The pastor preaching lies about Covid-19 and vaccines and the family grieving the loss of the loved one that went to his church and believed the mistruths with deadly consequences.
@elspethreeve
reports from Tennessee.
Former Marine Barton Shively has been arrested for his role in the Capitol riot. He described fighting with police in an interview with CNN, his eyes still watery from being maced
โYou shoot up and you miss, you get a little sore. You donโt take care of your sore, youโll wind up in the hospital with a hole.โ
In Philly, fentanyl is cut with xylazine, and itโs causing wounds that wonโt heal. w
@DoctorGuff
@DebBrunswickCNN
It's the third day of deliberations in the Charlottesville trial. Here's what it revealed about the way white supremacists talked about violence and who could be relied on to do it
A little debunk of the 'Elizabeth from Knoxville'/ onion conspiracy theory. We talked to her right as she got water to wash out her eyes. She was not carrying an onion to make herself cry. Video from
@DoctorGuff
@DebBrunswickCNN
By engaging with this tweet you are agreeing to the Elle Reeve Terms of Service, which holds that you must read the article and/or watch the video before fighting about it in my replies
We went to Miami to see how this pickup artist makes videos with hidden camera footage of seemingly unsuspecting women. We found a darker kind of exploitation, & caught it on tape