"Mr. Welch was soft-spoken and polite, and said he liked the outdoors. He was cautious when speaking about what happened, sometimes citing advice he had received from his lawyer. He said he did not believe in conspiracy theories, but then added that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks needed to be re-examined. He has listened to Alex Jones, whose radio show traffics in conspiracy theories and who once said that Mrs. Clinton “has personally murdered and chopped up” children. “He’s a bit eccentric,” Mr. Welch said. “He touches on some issues that are viable but goes off the deep end on some things.” Mr. Welch likes to read. A favorite is “Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul,” by John Eldredge, about masculinity in evangelical Christianity. He said he did not do drugs but drank the occasional beer. He misses his children: “They are in my thoughts every second of the day.” He said he had grown religious in the last few years. Tattooed on his back are Bible verses: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”"
If you don't know the #PizzaGate story, I strongly suggest you learn about it. One of my favorite podcasts did an excellent episode on it, and it night be a good way to hear this story because you get to hear it with people and it isn't despairing and it isn't told to get you angry and encourage you to click more.
This interview made me feel a lot for this man, who honestly seems kind and who I would believe would be generally a positive figure in this world. A part of me sees parallels between his actions and horribly misguided service trips where wealthy Americans sort of crash into areas with poverty, using a combination of strong positive intentions and naive assumptions and insufficient local knowledge to "try to help". It's sort of an American ethic, that if you have the ability to do something as an individual to help people in need, then you should - but we don't have the other side of the coin, asking if we know enough or if individual action is the way to fix the problem.
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