Guest: Ford Fischer - Fall of The Boogaloo: Big Guns, Hawaiian Shirts, & Federal Informants

Matt and Jason sat down with Ford Fischer, the independent journalist and filmmaker behind News2Share, in his first return to the show in nearly six years. Ford is editor-in-chief of the News2Share streaming platform, which specializes in raw video journalism on political activism. His footage from Charlottesville appeared in the PBS documentary Documenting Hate: Charlottesville, which earned an Emmy honor. For more than a decade, he has filmed protests, militias, and activists on every side that mainstream outlets avoid, and he has kept at it despite censorship and demonetization by big tech platforms. His new multi-part docuseries, Fall of the Boogaloo, is the most ambitious project of his career.

The conversation traces how Ford went from documenting militia members keeping the peace at Charlottesville to following the Boogaloo movement: a decentralized, internet-born subculture of gun enthusiasts, libertarian-leaning anti-police-violence activists, and meme culture that mainstream media badly misunderstood. Ford explains how he earned the trust of these armed, paranoid groups and why he thinks his refusal to editorialize is what let him in. He describes the story that made him realize there was a documentary to be made, the FOIA records he gathered to test what he was being told, and the infighting and paranoia that tore the movement apart. The discussion covers the role of informants in these groups, what the Inspector General's report found about confidential sources at January 6, and how misleading narratives about armed Boogaloo "fire teams" made their way into the impeachment fight. It also explores provocateurs at rallies, the tactics used to push people toward crimes, and the continued reliance on informants today across the political spectrum. Ford shares how he stays calm around armed and hostile crowds, the de-escalation that has kept him safe, and how he responded when the FBI reportedly asked him, through a source, to delay a this documentary.

For the White Pill, the conversation turns to whether peaceful, unified movements can survive federal interference. Ford argues that the answer starts with refusing to let fear and finger-pointing tear groups apart, and with being honest with one another when the feds come knocking. He makes the case for public disclosure, and for movements and trusted independent journalists to form a coalition of mutual interest in exposing what the state is doing. He also hopes viewers on the left and right will re