Introducing: We Live Here Now

About a year ago, we met our new neighbors—and ultimately found out that they are key figures in the Justice for January 6 movement. One is Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was killed in the Capitol building on January 6. Another is the wife of the first person sentenced after standing trial for crimes related to January 6. We could have kept our distance. But instead we got to know them and ended up deep inside their alternate world, one where January 6 was a day when martyrs were made and people were unfairly imprisoned. We also got to know their grief, their love for one another, their hobbies, their pets. We talked for months, until people could reasonably ask “Are you friends now?” To which we could reasonably answer “No.” But we figured that if January 6 is not over for some, we should talk with the people who are still living it.

We Live Here Now is a limited series starting September 18.

Listen to the trailer here:

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The following is a transcript of the episode:

Hanna Rosin: I’m Hanna Rosin.

Lauren Ober: And I’m Lauren Ober. And about a year ago, we met a new neighbor.

Rosin: She had moved to our Washington, D.C., neighborhood for one reason: to get justice for her daughter.

Ober: Who was shot and killed at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Our new neighbor wanted someone to pay for her daughter’s death.

Micki Witthoeft: Ashli Babbitt was absolutely murdered. Where’s the fucking subpoena?

Rosin: And she wasn’t the only person who thought that.

Donald Trump: The person that shot Ashli Babbitt boom right through the head, just boom. There was no reason for that.

Ober: When we found out who our neighbor was, we could have decided to give her the cold shoulder. After all, January 6 was an assault on our city.

Rosin: Or we could be neighborly. So that’s what we did. First, we met the dog. Then we were offered pie. Pretty soon we were talking militias.

Nicole Reffitt: Get your militias straight. If you’re going to come down here, you’ve got to—

Ober: Listen, when the gay militia happens, I’m there.

Rosin: Before we knew it, we had fallen into this upside-down world. Where insurrectionists are political prisoners.

Archival: Ladies and Gentlemen, the unfairly treated January 6 hostages.

Rosin: Where rioters are heroes.

Archival : Nathan DeGrave: hero. David Dempsey: hero. Lucas Denney: hero.

Ober: Where another January 6 could be right around the corner.

Rosin: Like, how long are you going to stay in D.C.?

Brandon Fellows: I plan to stay until like January 7.

Rosin: That feels vaguely threatening.

Fellows: I could see why you would say that.

Rosin: And where our neighbor is kind of an icon.

Archival (Witthoeft speech): Look inside yourself and be your own hero. Stand up and speak up, because if not, this country’s lost. Thank you for being brave enough to come to this cesspool. God bless you, and God bless America.

Ober: Getting to know our new neighbor has made us realize that January 6 is very much not over. So we should probably get to know the people who are still living it.

Rosin: Would you say that you guys were friends?

Ober: I guess it depends on what your version of friend is.

Witthoeft: We’re going to get you. In a nonviolent way. Just to be clear.

Ober: Oh, I didn’t think you were coming after me. I didn’t think you were coming after me. That wouldn’t be very neighborly, Micki, right?

Rosin: We Live Here Now. Coming this fall from The Atlantic.

Ober: Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.