On CNN Tuesday, a panel celebrated the verdict in the Charlottesville neo-Nazi case, finding key leaders liable for civil conspiracy damages stemming from disaster that unfolded at the 2017 "Unite the Right" Rally.
"The alt-right is dead," said CNN correspondent Elle Reeve. "Almost every group involved in this has quit the movement. Most of the leaders have quit. The only person making a go at it is Chris Cantwell. He's been calling into a podcast to gain more followers. But he's called himself a star, that he's winning, but it has an air of desperation. The guy is in prison."
"He's not a star, he's scum," agreed anchor Jim Acosta, who then turned to Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Grenblatt. "Jonathan, the far right leaders and groups are now liable for more than $26 million in damages ... could that go some distance in hindering their ability to spread hate? Do you share the view that some of these very awful people have been decimated in their efforts?"
"Here's the reality," said Grenblatt. "In the 1980s, they helped to bankrupt the white resistance movement. They lost their compound. They lost earnings. We did that 30, 40 years ago. I think, today, this will be a deterrent to future groups. But here's the challenge that we have. Extremism has been normalized and still amplified in large part because of social media. And if you think this wasn't a problem, I would say to you, there's a through-line from Charlottesville to Capitol Hill. So now we need to turn our attention to the social media companies, where the extremists can amplify their ideas, where they still organize through platforms like Facebook groups, and as they are held accountable, now I think the government is regulating the social media platforms where these conspiracies have been able not just to take root, but planned and implemented by bad actors."
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