How Hate Became My Beat — and Why I Decided to Write 'Hate Comes to Main Street'

Here's what you can expect from this new Substack publication by veteran investigative journalist Phil Williams

Phil Williams confronts members of the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League in July 2024 (Photo: Bryan Staples/WTVF)

This is the first installment for Hate Comes to Main Street. In my early posts, I will share how this journey began for me. I hope you will find this publication to be part of an important conversation and will spread the word!

How does hate become a journalist’s beat? And does the word “beat” accurately portray what has become my focus for more than two years?

Perhaps “passion,” or even “obsession,” might be more appropriate descriptions.

Whatever term you may find to be most fitting, it is a reflection of how much I’ve come to see the dark forces now at work in American society and to comprehend the gravity of the threat they pose.

Which is why I am launching this new Substack publication, Hate Comes to Main Street.

This publication will build on my work for the past two years as an investigative reporter, examining the growing influence of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Christian nationalists, and QAnon conspiracy theorists in American society.

My reporting, initally focused on Tennessee, has been recognized with broadcast journalism’s highest honors. (See clip from the 2025 Peabody Awards.)

That work has brought its share of personal risks, including death threats and intense harassment campaigns designed to try to discredit me.

What I have come to realize is that the battle for the soul of America began on the main streets of America—as people with declining political influence desperately sought to retain their grip on the levers of society.

There, white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and QAnon conspiracy theories had begun as overlapping parts of the same Venn diagram, with one feeding upon the other until they were almost indistinguishable.

And each remains determined to maintain control over the nation’s politics—even if it means abandoning democracy.

And once hate had gained a foothold on Main Street, it was just a matter of time before it began to make its way to Pennsylvania Avenue.

How did I get here?

It was an accidental journey that began in the fall of 2023 with a race for mayor in Franklin, Tennessee, an affluent community located 20 minutes south of Nashville. Franklin is perhaps best known for a downtown that is so picturesque that it has often been lauded as being the embodiment of Main Street America.

There, as MAGA candidate Gabrielle Hanson sought to gain power in a heavily Republican community, a group of neo-Nazis had unabashedly shown up at a candidate forum to provide security for the woman they were backing.

My reporting was highlighted by MSNBC, now MS NOW. (See clip below.)

It was the most unlikely of places for hate to rear its ugly head.

A community where country music stars could sometimes be spotted strolling past the downtown’s 19th century storefronts, Franklin was the county seat for one of the wealthiest counties in all of America.

Here, the community celebrated its rich history, as well as its Christian values—and some feared life as they knew it slipping away.

(I’ll have more to say about Franklin in my next post.)

Since then, my reporting has focused on the rise of hate in its various incarnations:

• Neo-Nazis who are trying to convince America that they are victims of a centuries-long Jewish plot and encouraging White kids to buy guns and prepare to “kill n-----s”;

• A Bible-quoting podcaster who has achieved remarkable success in convincing young men that Hitler was a Christian prince carrying out God’s will;

• White Christian nationalists who are determined to repeal the civil rights protections of what they derisively dub “the post-war consensus”;

• And unhinged QAnon conspiracy theorists who view themselves as waging battle against sinister forces only they can see.

The entire body of work for NewsChannel 5 can be viewed here.

Where do we go from here?

As a result of my reporting on the various scandals involving Gabrielle Hanson, HBO’s John Oliver would introduce my work to his Last Week Tonight audience, hysterically dubbing me “Nashville’s Nosiest Bitch.” (See clip below.)

Hate Comes to Main Street will give me an opportunity to take advantage of that platform to offer a more national perspective.

This publication, however, is NOT designed to be an investigative project. (That is still my day job.)

Instead, these are my goals for this project:

• Provide analysis and understanding of the societal implications of the rise of extremism in America.

• Highlight some of the best reporting about hate by other journalists from around the country.

• Showcase interviews with some of the civic-minded Americans who are courageously taking a stand against that hate.

With some luck, together we’ll also find reasons for hope!

Thank you for joining me on this next phase of my journey. Please tell me how this publication can be helpful to you personally and to our country. Please share my posts with your friends and, of course, please subscribe!

What do you think?