Ta-Nehisi Coates

And I think as you pointed out, like the memes, the 1950s stuff, the white supremacist stuff, where, you know, it was a New York Times article where the Times reporter calls up and says, hey, this is clearly a white supremacist anthem.

They deny it.

The guy goes and checks it.

You know, and then they act like he's lying and then they, you know, secretly take it down.

This is something new.

You know, and I'm you know, I've said some pretty harsh things in my time, but I don't know.

That I've seen before the president of the United States attempt.

to build what I can only call a white supremacist army within the government, one that will outlast him.

That is new.

And I don't know what else to call it, given the propaganda and the recruiting.

I don't know what anybody else would want me to say.

No, I think there are always lessons.

And I think, you know, a movement has to interrogate itself.

I think that is always true.

I do think that people, that the stark line that maybe people want to draw between 2020 and 2026 is not as stark as they think it is.

You know, I mean, I'm about to cede the whole show to Adam, but one of the points that Adam makes.

No, but one of the great points he makes is that, like, a lot of those, you know, messaging and signal groups, like, they started in 2020.

When I was, you know, going out and doing the reporting for the message, like, I mean, I couldn't believe this happened, but when I went down to South Carolina to see them, like, they were fighting against, like, book bans and everything, right?

And I remember I was talking to this older white woman, and, you know, she was saying, yeah, you know, at the George Floyd, man, we formed, like, a reading group, you know, at our white church.

And, you know, she said at first they tried to have black folks in, black folks got fed up, and...