Doomscroll: Andrew Callaghan

Welcome to Doomscroll. This week, my guest is Andrew Callaghan, a documentary filmmaker and the host of Channel 5.

Callaghan is the director of This Place Rules (2022), a documentary film that explores the chaos of American culture and politics in the lead up to the January 6th Capitol Riot. In 2025, he released Dear Kelly, a in-depth portrait of the life, backstory, and beliefs of a man named Kelly J. Patriot, who Andrew met at a ‘White Lives Matter' rally in 2021. Over the course of four and a half years, the film documents Kelly’s radicalization and his family’s attempts to pull him out of the rabbit hole.

In this episode, we discuss the breakdown of consensus reality and the rise of new political factions online and IRL. Andrew describes his early origins in the anarchist movement and his participation in a group called Seattle Solidarity. In the last half of the episode, we explore the blowback and hazards of deplatforming and how it can often lead to greater political extremism.

Importantly, the opening sequence of Dear Kelly mentions some staggering statistics about the J6 capitol rioters. Of the people arrested that day:

• 60% had filed for bankruptcy

• 50% were in severe debt

• 20% had recently lost a home to foreclosure

There a few journalistic voices that are willing to explore how the decline of the American middle class has given rise to our current era of right-wing populism. Callaghan tells an important story that only independent media would be able to platform and publish. As fewer people are able to access the benefits of the mainstream, alternative narratives have flourished and citizens move further toward the further edges of the political spectrum. Andrew and I dive deep into the chaos of American political life today:

Andrew Callaghan: Andrew’s Theory of Radicalization | Doomscroll

Subscribers will also get access to this week’s bonus episode. In part 2, we explore Andrew’s background in music and online subcultures, the ethics of publishing or "risk-for-harm", and his plans for the future of Channel 5 and more. Plus a few behind the scenes and personal stories that we could not include in the public version.

If you value this series and want to help us make more episodes, you can show your support by becoming a paid subscriber. This is an independent show that only exists because of your support. Annual subscribers will get a discount for the full year:

Doomscroll: Andrew Callaghan II