Hey everyone, it's Omna. Welcome to another episode of Settle In. My guest today is Michael

Edison Hayden. He's an investigative reporter and an expert on far right extremism. He's also

the author of a new book. It's out now. And it's called Strange People on the Hill, how extremism

tore apart a small American town.

So we talked about that town.

We talked about what happened when a far-right group moved into that small town.

We talked about the place that extremism now holds in American politics. And we also talked about the personal toll that this work takes on him, the threats that he's faced,

the mental health challenges he's had to deal with, even the friends that he's lost along the way.

And we should note, this interview was actually recorded before this past weekend's shooting

that took place at the White House Correspondence Center here in Washington, D.C.

That's a story we're going to continue to cover on air and online.

But for now, settle in and listen to my conversation

with Michael Edison Hayden.

Michael Edison Hayden, welcome to settle in.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you.

Before we get into your new book, I want to start with you.

And what drew you into this work in the first place?

Because you spend a lot of time in some of the darkest corners of the Internet really deep into

stuff that a lot of people don't even know exists.

What was it that brought you into this in the first place?

Well, when I first started doing this, I actually started really with ABC News, which

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