The far right tends to use the term “red pill” as a catch-all to describe social attitudes and indoctrination. It’s an odd choice, considering it comes from a movie written and directed by two trans sisters, but it mostly comes from the notorious anti-woman Reddit forum r/redpill. Now, the founder of that forum has been tracked down, and he’s a GOP lawmaker.

Specifically, the Daily Beast has found that New Hampshire state representative Robert Fisher founded the subreddit Redpill under a few aliases. Fisher is a mostly unremarkable politician in the state, but has ties to more colorful and controversial state politicians like Joshua Youssef, who notoriously has a very public grudge against his ex-wife’s divorce attorney.

The forum he founded, however, is notorious for a cult-like atmosphere and is one of the more well-known misogynistic corners of the internet. It launched the career of Milo Yiannopoulous, who was a regular contributor to the forum and whose involvement in it became part of the backlash that ultimately cost Yiannopoulous his job at Breitbart. Just how involved Fisher is in the behavior of the forum in recent years is unclear, as Redditors can have multiple screen names and even assume different personalities to discuss their views without those views being traced back to their real names. However, after being contacted by the Daily Beast for the story, Fisher has attempted to wipe any connection he was involved with the forum.

What reflection this will have on Fisher’s political career remains to be seen. However, as he only has about 3,300 constituents, and politics in rural New England tends to be a heavily local business, it seems likely that Fisher will have some explaining to do.

(via The Daily Beast)