Journalist Michael Edison Hayden has spent years tracking extremism in America.

His new book, Strange People on the Hill, tracks what happened when a far-right group moved its headquarters to a small town in rural West Virginia.

On the Navaz talked with Hayden for our PBS News podcast, Settle In.

And they spoke about his book and the sharp divisions in American politics right now.

Here's an excerpt of that conversation.

I mean, this is real life, as you mentioned, and there is a story, and there's a reason

why we choose it.

And I think that the most important thing is, like, you know, as a...

I mean, do we really... Do we really want to live like this?

You know?

I think it...

It's hard for you to talk about.

Yeah.

Unexpected.

Yeah, it's like, do we really want to live like this?

I don't know.

My friend, my friend growing up, he's a Republican and like he's my Metz-Jets type friend and

stuff like that.

I spent an entire year not talking to him because he was you know you supported Trump in the in the

first election and I was going through all those threats and I was like I can't even talk to you

man I don't want to talk to you um and he said it was sorry that's okay take a minute

all right I said it was like the toughest year of his life.

...