This Week, The Cut’s New Podcast Focuses on Toronto Mayoral Hopeful Faith Goldy’s Descent into White Nationalism

A few weeks ago, New York magazine’s The Cut launched its official podcast, The Cut on Tuesdays, bringing together “women’s voices on culture, style, sex, politics and people.” They’ve done three episodes so far: the first is about the relationship between women and power; the second about the once-anonymous Shitty Media Men list and the recent lawsuit levied against its creator; and the third is about someone very, very close to home: Faith Goldy.

In the 30-minute episode, Cut writer (and Toronto native) Anna Silman tries to figure out how her former high school classmate, Faith, became a white nationalist. Back in high school, Faith seemingly embodied every progressive character trait; she was a feminist; she supported gay rights; she protected classmates from bullying. “She wasn’t the person who walked by you and pretended not to see you. She saw me. She wasn’t like the other popular girls at school. She was kind to people outside her social circle,” remembers a former classmate.

So how did the kind, popular, helpful school prefect end up running a racist, right-wing campaign for mayor of Toronto? How did she end up working at The Rebel Media and appearing as a guest on a neo-Nazi podcast? How did she end up at the Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville?

Silman returned to Toronto to try to make sense of Faith’s strange political trajectory, interviewing dozens of old classmates who are horrified to see this new version of Faith, “because they remember someone very, very different.” Tune in to the podcast to hear the full story about Faith’s path to extremism, and keep an eye out for a larger feature The Cut promises is coming soon.