'Rising hate': How Ohio became ground zero of the extremism that's spreading globally

The state of Ohio, which served as a reliable indicator of national political trends and mirrored the broader social and economic landscape of the United States for years, has witnessed a marked shift to the right.

A report in The Guardian published Tuesday notes that Ohio is linked to several notable extremist acts: the individual responsible for the deadly 2017 Charlottesville car attack and the founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website are both from the state.

A conspiracy to murder Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was devised in Dublin, a prosperous Columbus suburb with a connection to Cook's childhood.

Ohio had 83 residents charged for their participation in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, which was sparked by President Trump. When considering states geographically nearer to the capital (Delaware, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania), Ohio had the highest per capita rate of arrested rioters. Furthermore, in the same year, Columbus reported a higher per capita incidence of hate crimes compared to all but three other US cities, the Guardian report noted.

READ MORE: 'Barely literate': Education secretary's 'deranged' letter gets major red ink corrections

Even Ohio lawmakers appear to be following this trend.

Republicans in Ohio have expressed extreme viewpoints and enacted legislation that unfairly impacts minority and immigrant populations, who are often targets of white supremacist groups.

Meanwhile, members of the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon and tech billionaire Elon Musk, have supported these white supremacist groups, the report notes.

Bannon has met with and advised far-right political figures in various countries including France, Hungary, and Germany. Similarly, Musk, criticized for allegedly antisemitic posts on X, recently faced backlash for his online appearance at a German far-right AfD party campaign event in January.

READ MORE: Zelensky just might have beat Trump at his own game

Christian Picciolini, a former white supremacist leader, told the Guardian: “The ideas that used to be fringe are much more mainstream under the Trump administration."

“This isn’t just my opinion; it’s the opinion of white supremacists. They love that the president has their back," he added.