Hannah Gais

Senior Researcher and Journalist at Southern Poverty Law Center

Journalist & researcher @splcenter. Steward @splcunion. Ex @thebafflermag. Signal: 334-315-8634 https://t.co/sQpaT7fD4o

Articles

Opinion | Trump admin's book purge at the Naval Academy goes beyond petty authoritarianism

1 week ago | msnbc.com | Hannah Gais |Cathy Johnson

The Trump administration’s rush to enact authoritarian policies has touched all parts of American life, but we didn’t expect it to affect our family the way it did. We are a mother-daughter writing team. In mid-April, one of us, Cathy Johnson, found out that the U.S. Naval Academy had removed her book in a Trump administration-led purge of its library. To her, and to the rest of our family, this decision came as a surprise.
The petty authoritarianism of the Trump administration’s book purges

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Hannah Gais

18 hours agoLISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s caretaker government plans to expel some 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization, a minister said Saturday in the buildup to a national election. Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said the center-right government will issue …
Hannah Gais on the Far-Right Rallies and Social Media Presence

3 weeks ago | mercatus.org | Hannah Gais

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Hannah Gais on the far-right rallies and social media presence on platforms like Telegram and X. Hannah explores the events of the Unite the Right rally, the storming of the capital on January 6th, the far-right in the wake of the first and second Trump presidencies, and the dangers of expanding domestic terrorism laws. **This episode was recorded in December 2024.
i smoked a cigar and all i got is this stupid blog

Feb 12, 2025 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

I've been recovering from a flu I picked up in Florida for the past several days, and thus failed to subject you all to the usual self-promotional rounds. But I have a new piece out in The Baffler on a real diehard in the MAGA world, Jack Posobiec. I read his book Unhumans, which, despite being co-bylined with a professional ghost writer, had the writing chops of a pile of trash bags baking in the New York City heat in July. I tried to do a really deep dive into its intellectual arguments.
Unhuman Resources

Feb 6, 2025 | thebaffler.com | Hannah Gais

On an unusually frigid day last month, masses of Donald Trump supporters stood in line outside of Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., watching the inauguration on their phones. From a podium in the Capitol Rotunda, besieged by his followers just over four years ago, Trump promised to upend the status quo. “The scales of justice will be rebalanced,” he said.
"neoreaction is not a motor vehicle"

Jan 19, 2025 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

It's inauguration weekend in Washington, D.C., and there's a line of black SUVs loitering along 16th Street several blocks away from the White House. I spotted a few stray MAGA-hat-wearing tourists wandering around the mall on Friday as workers set up barricades and bleachers that would soon be pointless decorations. Hours later, Donald Trump announced that he would be moving his swearing in ceremony indoors. Compared to Barack Obama's first inauguration, it's not set to be that cold.
"don't let them find you": the U.S. comes for terrorgram

Jan 13, 2025 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

The U.S. government has designated the Terrorgram Collective, a loose-knit network of neo-Nazi channels on Telegram, and three of its overseas affiliates as a terrorist group, citing its ties to the perpetrators of multiple violent attacks and plots.
welcome to america

Nov 6, 2024 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

I woke up this morning after getting four hours of sleep to the smell of cigarettes. For the first time in nearly a decade, I smoked half a pack of Dunhills in a night. When you're a former smoker, it's easy to forget how much the habit stinks — and how, back in the day, you used to just live like this, followed everywhere you go by the stench of stale tobacco. You never truly appreciate it until you quit. In the moment, you're used to following it everywhere you go.
a politics of losing

Nov 2, 2024 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

A couple of weeks ago, I headed out to southern Pennsylvania for a live taping of Tucker Carlson's streaming show. The live show, which took place at a 7,000-seat stadium in Reading, Pennsylvania was just one of over a dozen stops across the country on Carlson's tour. This time, Carlson would be joined on stage with Alex Jones and Jack Posobiec. By the time I got there in the late afternoon, downtown Reading was mostly deserted.
"That's three strikes, run for your life"

Sep 9, 2024 | postsfromunderground.ghost.io | Hannah Gais

The Department of Justice announced charges against two people associated with a network of violent white supremacist channels on the messaging app Telegram known as "Terrorgram" today. Dallas Erin Humber, 34, and Matthew Robert Allison, 37, face 15 counts for their involvement in the network, including soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The pair, per the DOJ, could each face up to 220 years in prison.