Breitbart, Ben Shapiro "bridged the gap" between Fox News and Stormfront for this pair of white supremacist terrorists.

That's the purpose the alt-right was created to serve, y'all.

It's literally the reason they exist.

Fun fact about researching Nazis on Facebook?

Facebook sorts "like" pages according to when something was liked.

So you can literally look and see their progression from liking Fox to liking Breitbart/ @benshapiro to liking pages associated with nazis & the extreme right.

Take this guy, who got angry about me revealing Philly mayoral candidate Billy Ciancaglini's mayoral ties, then implied that he would murder someone I love if I revealed his identity.

Tom didn't start out as a guy who went around threatening to murder the loved ones of anyone who dared to criticize politicians for associating with white supremacists.

He was an army vet who supported police. He watched the local Fox channel, sure, but he was as into the Beatles and hardwood floors just as much as he was into the cops.

He even went out of his way to like his neighbor's African braiding salon.

Dude even liked Nutter, the Democratic former mayor of Philly!

Then... then Tom discovered Fox News.

Soon, Tom's timeline starts to look very different from the old days of Beatles and African hair braiding.

And then, having boarded the Trump train, Tom started reading Breitbart.

Soon, Tom is liking Steve Bannon's stuff, ICE, local anti-sanctuary politicians, white nationalist French candidate Marine Le Pen.

And of course, @benshapiro.

You can guess what's next: Breitbart and Shapiro start to do exactly what they do best.

They "bridge the gap."

Tom's moved on to explicitly extremist right wing pages, like 4Chan and a page for the 3%ers (a loosely organized network of anti-government militia).

Now that he's radicalized, Tom decides it's time to take an interest in local politics again.

Want to take a wild guess which two politicians he's specifically backing now?

I'll give you a hint.

One has a white supremacist working as his chief campaign aide.

The other has attended Proud Boys rallies and met with members of Identity Europa.

And that, my friends, brings us to the present.

Gone is the centrist Tom that supported his neighbor's hair braiding salon and backed politicians from both sides of the aisle.

Meet redpilled Tom, an active believer in the Q conspiracy theory that was behind Pizzagate.

Redpilled Tom insists the Proud Boys aren't nazis, "just" misunderstood, menacing dudes looking for an excuse to enact violence against their political enemies.

Redpilled Tom, as I mentioned earlier, makes death threats against the loved ones of people who dare criticize Billy Ciancaglini, the Philly GOP mayoral candidate best-known for meeting with actual nazis from the nazi group Identity Europa and pandering for their votes.

Tom isn't unique. I'm just using him as an example because I wanted to check and see where the latest threat came from and decide how concerned I should be.

When I'm researching someone on the extreme right, you can nearly always chart this Fox News Breitbart/Shapiro explicit defense of organized white supremacist groups progression through their likes page.

This path of radicalization is not a coincidence.

It is not an accident.

It is the goal of these alt-right outlets.

I'll say it again, because it bears repeating: it is literally the reason they exist.

Oh, and btw, don't think the real-life nazis aren't ready and willing to recruit as soon as the Toms in our lives finish their transformation.

Remember David Fanelli, head of the PA chapter of the explicitly white supremacist Identity Europa (now "American Identity Movement"?

In leaked Identity Europa chats, Fanelli talked at length about his strategy of infiltrating local Republican politics for the purposes of recruitment.

Check out his archived Facebook friends list.

Notice anyone familiar?

You should.

Our boy Tom made Fanelli's recruitment list.

Because Tom has almost finished his ride on that Fox News Breitbart/Shapiro explicit defense of organized white supremacist groups train.

And literal nazis couldn't be happier to pick him up at the station.

White folks, as @baazilla said in their comment, pay attention to your white friends & fam.

If someone is slipping, do some of the least glamorous but most useful work allies can do: set them straight.

You don't want them in this rabbithole.

It is very deep and very dark.

PS:

Folks have commented asking what to do if they have loved ones already on this train.

First and foremost, check out @DLamontJenkins, who specializes in this work.

In case it's helpful, I also did a mini-thread on what's worked for me. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1133143141001908224

PPS:

Last night, Tom took to Facebook to reveal that the conditions for his death threat had been met.

He posted my home address.

And the Philly GOP mayoral nominee? He commented, egging him on.

Infiltration is real, friends. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1133394370508578819