In the run up to the 2020 Presidential election, journalist Leah Sottile explored the motivations and agendas of America’s far right for the Radio 4 series Two Minutes Past Nine. Recordings were made against a backdrop of a country that felt tense, divided and dangerous.
In the past month, a lot has happened. In this reactive and raw programme, Leah explores America’s far-right at this very moment; fired up by conspiracies, frustrations, and the defeat of the first President they have ever supported.
On Wednesday 6th January, as a Joint Session of Congress met to certify the election of Joe Biden, Trump supporters breached security lines and stormed the Capitol Building in scenes that looked straight out of the racist hate filled propaganda novel The Turner Diaries. Two pipe bombs were found just blocks away at the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees.
Leah asks how Donald Trump has managed to manipulate a rabble of foot-soldier extremists and asks what’s next - and how worried we should be.
Interviews include Kelvin Pierce, son of William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries, Kerry Noble, and former elder of far right militant group The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord.
Thanks to Dave Hawkins for additional archive.
Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt
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27:53
Episode 10: The Oklahoma Standard
25 years after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, journalist Leah Sottile investigates the far-right today in a divided and turbulent America.Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt
Editor: Philip SellarsNarration recorded by Joe Preston
Additional Research by Robbie WojciechowskiFeaturing Archive from the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Richie McGinniss/ Daily Caller and Brendan Gutenschwager
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13:57
Episode 9: Gathering Storm
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City he believed he was firing the first shot in a revolution that would bring down the American Government. He expected that others would flock to his cause. That didn’t happen. In the immediate aftermath many left the movement.But in the years that followed events would unfold that would see the far right re-align.Journalist Leah Sottile investigates the fallout of McVeigh's actions amongst America's far-right in the decade after after the bombing.Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt
Editor: Philip SellarsNarration recorded by Joe Preston
Additional Research by Robbie WojciechowskiArchive: CBS News' 60 Minutes, March 2000
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14:01
Episode 8: Bombs in the desert
On April 19th 1995, 26 year old Timothy McVeigh committed the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.In investigating the events that led up to the attack, journalist Leah Sottile learned that at the heart of McVeigh’s story were inherently American things: an Army boy. A love of guns. And a version of the great American road trip.In the years leading up to the bombing, McVeigh drove across America; touring gun shows, visiting acquantances who would go on to be accomplices, even paying a trip to area 51.But there was one place he spent longer than anywhere else, a town way out in the desert of Arizona. Journalist Leah Sottile tells the story of Kingman Arizona, a place where the wild west cowboy myth persists.Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt
Editor: Philip SellarsNarration recorded by Joe Preston
Additional Research by Robbie WojciechowskiArchive recordings from Dave Hawkins.
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14:06
Episode 7: The Phone Call
25 years on from the largest domestic terror incident in American history, journalist Leah Sottile investigates what made Timothy McVeigh the home-grown terrorist he was. Two weeks before the Oklahoma City Bombing, the FBI learnt that Timothy McVeigh made a phone call to a secretive Christian Identity compound in the remote hills outside Oklahoma City, a place called Elohim City. Journalist Leah Sottile investigates the story behind the call and the secretive community.Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt
Editor: Philip SellarsNarration recorded by Joe Preston
Additional Research by Robbie Wojciechowski
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14:00
Acerca de Two Minutes Past Nine
Twenty-five years on from the largest domestic terror incident in American history, journalist Leah Sottile investigates the legacy of the Oklahoma City Bombing.
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