Last June, six months after paying a visit to the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Washington State Representative Matt Shea organized a chapter of the anti-Muslim hate group ACT For America in Spokane, Washington.

Far across the radical right –– a movement of violence and terror that demands martyrs –– violent domestic terrorists are being lionized. But a Wisconsin congressman insists on minimizing the threat from the radical right. 

Google aspires “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Facebook’s mission is to “make the world more open and connected.” Twitter, while occasionally billing itself as “the free speech wing of the free speech party,” prohibits “hateful conduct,” telling users: “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”

The radical right was more successful in entering the political mainstream last year than in half a century. How did it happen?