A couple of years ago, Andrew Isker, a pastor and father of six, made a big decision. He would move his family away from Minnesota, where six generations of his ancestors had lived before him, to a rural community in Tennessee. Leaving his home state wasn’t easy, he told Tucker Carlson on Carlson’s YouTube show in March. But he had no choice; the progressive excesses of Governor Tim Walz simply had become too much to bear. Isker was especially concerned about his autistic son, who had attended a program at a local public school. “They could be putting him in a dress and calling him a girl name, and I would have no idea,” said Isker, echoing an unfounded claim that President Trump made during a September debate with Kamala Harris. “And then when I find out and I oppose it, boom. [Child Protective Services] comes, takes him out of our custody, and he’s gone forever.”
So Isker decided to move to rural Appalachia—choosing that particular location to help launch a new community near the small town of Gainesboro, Tennessee, in the central northern part of the state. Isker’s new neighborhood sounds idyllic, with “bucolic pastures, waterways teeming with over 140 species of fish–including some of the country’s premier trout fishing, rolling hills, thick hardwood forests, and abundant wildlife,” according to the real estate website.
There’s a name for the rough concept that Isker describes: the “Network State,” an ascendant and buzzy tech movement where internet groups are beginning to explore what it might be like to start their own new countries. At first, these new countries would appear online, and eventually in actual physical locations. Simply put, the Highland Rim Project is the Christian nationalist take on that idea. As New Founding CEO Nate Fischer put it last year on X, “Nation states are not the principal form of government today. I see no reason Christian nations or peoples couldn’t organize network states.”
There’s also the issue of people who already live there (and many have for generations).
But whose shared vision? The people who already live in the communities that New Founding is targeting already have their own vision for local life, and many of them are not thrilled about the idea of wealthy Christian nationalists moving in and taking over. Last year, Nashville’s Newschannel 5 aired an investigation about the movement. A few months later, Phil Williams, the investigative journalist who broke the story, talked with locals in Gainesboro, Tennessee. “Mainly people are scared,” said the chair of the county’s Republican party. “It scares me that they are very clear about taking over.” A local restaurant owner added, “I don’t want to lose what we already have.” In response to the segment, Isker’s podcast cohost C.J. Engel, who also moved to the area to help launch the community, posted on X, “Phil and the entire journalist class at large are terrified that conservative Christians are asserting themselves in the face of dwindling media power. This is why they double down on their strategies of provoking fear through distortion.” Abbotoy reiterated that rejection of Williams’ investigation in an email to Mother Jones.
The people who already live in the communities that New Founding is targeting already have their own vision for local life, and many of them are not thrilled about the idea of wealthy Christian nationalists moving in and taking over.
Ah. The colonizers are being colonized.
Colonialism has hurt itself in its confusion.
They could be putting him in a dress and calling him a girl name, and I would have no idea
These people are fucking bonkers.
Sounds like a repeat of the “Christian Exodus Movement,” a group who planned to move to South Carolina and declare independence, inspired by the Freestate Project whose Libertarian members sought similar aims in New Hampshire.
BEARS!!! IYKYK
Great book.
Christians going hard on their cult.
Far cry 5
Alternate title: Christian “Theobros” are Building Communal Petri Dishes for New Diseases to Evolve in.
I hope they all move there and leave the rest of us alone.
Unfortunately hurricane Helene just made homeownership in that area entirely unappealing. Unless you’re just dumb enough to believe in the prosperity gospel and think god won’t re-smite your property, of course.
leave the rest of us alone.
If we let them amass as a group and organize themselves I bet they won’t, they’ll end up needing some scapegoat they can persecute to show that they’re more righteous than their neighbors and ought to be elected head of the PTA or whatever. Eventually it will burn itself out like these movements always do, but who knows how many people will get hurt in the meantime.
The best way to deal with fascists is to keep them separated from each other, spread out among healthy communities where they can grumble and complain about whatever nonsense they’re worked up about while all of their neighbors just roll their eyes. Once they start finding each other and building a movement that can actually force their agenda on the rest of us our options get a lot less pleasant.
It just sounds like gardening. Every so often if you dont remove the weeds and pests they will take over. Its ideological gardening. Except its way more messy removing ideology from people than it is pulling some weeds. We should probably teach young children with a heavy focus on cooperation if we ever want to get away from that endless loop.
Speaking as an Oregonian: they won’t. Trust me.
May they speed run the inevitable lifecycle of a death cult. Hopefully they won’t take any kids with them.
Not that anyone cares but here’s how my mind works, sometimes.
When you mentioned death cults, I of course thought of Jonestown. Then I jumped to Flavor Aid and wondered if it was still being sold and what was the effect on sales after the massacre.
Then, I wondered if you could buy stock in the company that makes Flavor Aid but found out that they are a privately held company.
Then, I wondered if the poisoned drink was ever called Jones Juice.
Then, I remembered that Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City novels had characters that died at Jonestown and another character was a survivor.
Then, because of all this crap going on in the country, I thought about MAGA saying that Tales of the City was actually supposed to be Tales of the Tittie but the gays had corrupted Maupin and recuited him.
And I wonder why I have insomnia.
I’m going to try to sleep now.
I’m thinking donvict’s bunch could be told to cut their nuts off, be given some black Nikes and some specially formulated drink and told that they will ride with donvict forever in a UFO behind the Hale-Bopp comet and at least some of them would do it…
You all disparage this in the absence of the full picture.
Curtis Yarvin’s Butterfly Revolution is the tech twin to Project 2025, and we’re already well into the middle of it. Network States fiefedoms of tech bro oligarch islands is the final goal.
These people have conferences about this. This is where they are taking us. This random pastor is trying to get in on the ground floor of being a literal wage slave 20 years from now.
Remember when Appalachia was full of armed union members and moonshine stills? When West Virginia told the rest of the state to fuck off like the filthy slavers they are?
Yep. Literally state history for me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
Sadly, we here seem to have forgotten our history.
What an idiot. Nobody is putting your son in a dress. Good luck getting his education in Appalachia, though.
no difference if they moved to russia, from canada. like that one family
🍴
I hope they whistle at night.
I hope they whistle at night.
Maybe Omar’s Farmer in the Dell.
To invite the devil in? Or is this a different superstition?
No that’s right. Plus skinwalkers kind a jaunty tune.
Thank you. I’m always so fascinated by different superstitions.
Same. They’re the salt and pepper to the bland soup we call life.
it’s taboo up here too among the Salish people (Pacific Northwest.) interesting how it’s shared.
PNW folks have great lore.
He would move his family away from Minnesota, where six generations of his ancestors had lived before him
If you’re wondering how Minnesota became so progressive, you can thank the state party chair.
However he’s now the chair of the DNC
Isker was especially concerned about his autistic son, who had attended a program at a local public school. “They could be putting him in a dress and calling him a girl name, and I would have no idea,” said Isker, echoing an unfounded claim that President Trump made during a September debate with Kamala Harris. “And then when I find out and I oppose it, boom. [Child Protective Services] comes, takes him out of our custody, and he’s gone forever.”
Except the reason he comes up with to move away from Minnesota is completely made up bullshit that never happened, not anything Walz has actually done.
But the reason he believes that is Minnesotais progressive.
People ain’t fleeing Alabama because they haven’t instituted reasonable legislation.
Does that make sense?
Ironically, it sounds like child protective services needs to visit this place and make sure the kids are alright.
Yeah, there’s a lot of “telling on yourself” energy with this guy. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we see his mugshot in the news in a couple of years.
However he’s now the chair of the DNC
Did we win that fight? I may have missed that one in the milieu.
