Getting Roger Stone
Who am I?
I am a countering violent extremism researcher who studies the process of radicalization, social groups, and movements. In short, I look for ways to prevent people like the Covington boys from swiping even further right and endorsing white nationalism, ethnic separatism, or domestic terrorism.
On Twitter, I identify as a “Proud Boys Whisperer,” a tongue in cheek reference to the ethnographic fieldwork I do. This work involves many conversations like the one below.
I also look for ways to help men and women innoculate themselves from falling down the anti-feminist/anti-SJW/conspiratorial rabbit hole.
I, along with my research peer, CV Vitolo-Haddad have begun providing nuanced insights into this group. Check out their masterful article, “A Lesson to the Alt Right in Trolling,” which even Proud Boys conceed was good.
CV Vitolo-Haddad and I were also interviewed together in the Miami New Times Article, “Hate Goes Mainstream with the Miami Proud Boys.”
So…
You might be asking yourself, why? Why would someone risk their relative security in academia to study this group?
Well, for several reasons.
Before Charlottesville, my primary interest was in foreign terrorism.
After Charlottesville, I decided to examine how terrorism and extremism operate from within our borders.
I noticed the Proud Boys attempting to distance themselves from their involvement in the Unite the Right rally. I have been following the group on an IRB approved research project since October 2017.
Needless to say, Gavin was not a fan.
Here’s the fun part: Neither was my communications department!
In fact, from 0:47–1:11, you can hear me tanking any future I might have hoped for with them.
So now that I’ve shared all my receipts, let’s get to the part you’re here for.
Here is primary source data that is most relevant to current events, specifically, the arrest of Roger Stone.
Roger Stone was not in any of my interview questions, but he was referenced in two member’s transcripts. I’d like to share them below, before Proud Boys engage in the post hoc distancing they are famous for.
*To protect the anonymity of my interview participants, the following interview excerpts have been de-identified.
Member 7 (Facebook Direct Messenger)
Member: A clip art drawing of one of our guys we Aussies don’t likeSK: Lol why don’t you like him?
Member: He spoke to our media He’s a Faqqot. (Not in the gay sense)
SK: Oh, did he say anything unflattering about the group, or was the problem that he spoke to them at all?
Member 7: He spoke to the media… Which is a no. Only 3 exceptions are Gavin, Milo & Roger Stone (being they already have massive media personalities.
Member 16 Transcribed Phone InterviewMember: [08:09] I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean Gavin knew what he was. Gavin knew what he was doing. t’s, it’s, it’s both, you know, operates on both kind of parallels, you know, there are people that play their roles, but I understand, you know, looking at it from an organizational perspective. Yeah, it looks cool if someone makes a video against Proud Boys and you know, you guys retaliate in some manner. Like I get the perception that bravado of that you’ve got to balance that with kind of legitimate approaches to this culture war and stuff like that. You know, a lot of, like I said, majority of boys are great. We had a thing where we protected Roger Stone. I had an event in DC degree thing. You had to get a call from Roger Stone spoke and said, hey, I’m coming here. I need I kind of want some Proud Boys around me. No [inaudible] stuff is great, but in order for that stuff to happen, some of the other stuff that doesn’t look so great I guess does have to happen. But you know.
SK: [09:07] Yeah. I mean when, when we last talked, I know that you kind of preferred to be on the sidelines, not really overtly endorsing the proud boys because it might reflect badly on, you know, your political standing. But has that changed since Roger Stone became a proud boy?Member: [09:28] No. No. I mean he’s a legend, but you know, like who knows where this thing. I mean, I just prefer it. That was just my personal thing. That’s even why I talked to your eyes myself as — — — -, which is — — My initials. Yeah. Just so I didn’t know. I just, that’s just my personal decision to kind of not overtly there’s a reason for me to go up, you know, and there’s no reason for me to do anything that could hurt, that could hurt me.
SK: [10:01] And then. So Roger Stone was, he was affiliated with the trump campaign. Was He the campaign manager?
Member: [10:09] Uh, he had met essentially he was his senior adviser, but you know, he still has, he still has a lot of sway.
Next Steps
As everyone who does this work knows, you cannot do it alone.
We need the strength of our instutions, the strength of peers, and the strength of our networks to persist.
Let me first extend an invitation to my research peers CV Vitolo-Haddad and Caroline Orr who can share their expertise and insight into the extent of Roger Stone’s connections.
I extend this invitation to anyone doing related work to further illuminate these connections.
Finally, I encourage everyone to support the journalists at HuffPost who have been laid off in the past couple days as news outlets grapple with a merciless digital landscape.
As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
