How the Alt-Right Distorts the Russia Investigation

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. 

Before the 2016 campaign, the fringes of American politics were not considered credible threats to the outcome of an election. But that changed when then-candidate Donald Trump found support in the outskirts of the Republican Party. Soon, the “alt-right” and its set of ideologies made up a large portion of Trump’s base and what he stood for.

Now, after following President Trump’s path to the White House, sites like Breitbart and personalities like Alex Jones have continued to follow the trajectory of the Russia investigation. But their take on the sequence of events is often not based in fact, and frequently the myths and conspiracies contrived on message boards like 4chan and Reddit make their way to more mainstream conservative news outlines,and sometimes even reach the president himself.  

How is alt-right and fringe conservative media sources shifting perception about the investigation into possible Russian collusion with the Trump campaign? George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama author of the forthcoming book "Making Sense of the Alt Right," answers. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear the full conversation. 

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich.