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Christian Nationalists Moving In The Podcast Meribah Knight And Susan Berfield · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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Speaker 1: A-R-R-O-E dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Hey, guys, how are
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Speaker 1: you doing today?
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Speaker 2: Good. Thanks.
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Speaker 3: Wow.
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Speaker 1: What a podcast in the way of an eye opening experience.
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Speaker 1: But yet it's the truth in the way of why
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Speaker 1: are we blind to something like this? It is happening
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Speaker 1: every day. And after listening to your podcast, I'm going, oh,
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Speaker 1: my God, it's right here in front of my own hometown.
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Speaker 1: So how did you get involved with our town today?
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Speaker 1: And is it, is it something that's extremely personal?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll say I'm, I live in Nashville. Um, so
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Speaker 2: I report in the South and have for the last
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Speaker 2: 10 years and, um, I came across what was happening
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Speaker 2: in Gainesboro, Tennessee, which is about 90 miles from Nashville.
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Speaker 2: When it kind of came through, it broke through on
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Speaker 2: the evening news about these men that were setting their
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Speaker 2: sights on this tiny little town of a thousand people
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Speaker 2: to build a community of aligned values, aligned people. And
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Speaker 2: those values were the values of conservative Christians and Jews.
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Speaker 2: some of which are quite extreme. And so in some
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Speaker 2: ways it is personal just because I live in this region.
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Speaker 2: I talk to people in this region every day, and
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Speaker 2: I know that the identities of small towns are sometimes misunderstood.
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Speaker 2: And this is a story that really kind of maybe
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Speaker 2: upends what you think you know. You know, this is
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Speaker 2: a town that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump and is
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Speaker 2: conservative and is filled with people that go to church
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Speaker 2: every Sunday. But when they were met with these, you know,
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Speaker 2: this version of, of that, they said, we are not
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Speaker 2: aligned with you. And they began to push back in
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Speaker 2: all these really surprising, creative and resourceful ways.
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Speaker 1: 10 years ago, when they've called that a cult. I mean,
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Speaker 1: if people are moving in and you're rebuilding communities and
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Speaker 1: you're putting up a fortress, basically of everything that you
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Speaker 1: believe in, was that not look, because I go to elevation.
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Speaker 1: We don't have any walls, but we are growing, but
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Speaker 1: we're endlessly, endlessly accused of being a cult. We are
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Speaker 1: not a cult. And then when I hear something like this,
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Speaker 1: I kind of feel guilty. It's like, Oh God, what
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Speaker 1: are we doing?
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Speaker 3: Well, I think maybe a better way to look at
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Speaker 3: this is the sense that people.
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Speaker 3: Like, and this is true of people of all kinds,
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Speaker 3: you know, like to have some people around them who
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Speaker 3: believe what they believe and who want what they want.
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Speaker 4: And I think that's just a little bit more true
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Speaker 4: of these people.
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Speaker 3: You know, their sense is that they will come to
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Speaker 3: this community and actually make it better. And so, uh,
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Speaker 3: they're not trying to isolate themselves necessarily, but I think
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Speaker 3: what the town or people in the town are saying, um,
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Speaker 3: both to us and to.
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Speaker 4: Them is that, um, we.
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Speaker 3: Are making the town better on our own, you know,
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Speaker 3: every day in lots of big and small ways. And
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Speaker 3: if you want to come here and kind of fit in,
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Speaker 3: blend in with the town, that's one thing, you know,
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Speaker 3: they have a live and let live attitude down there.
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Speaker 4: But, um, Don't come and try to change our town.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I totally agree that because I'm here in
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Speaker 1: the South as well. And I know what it's like
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Speaker 1: to walk into one of these communities. I love a
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Speaker 1: good tight knit community or even like we were talking
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Speaker 1: about earlier with Michael in the way of Asheville and
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Speaker 1: Hendersonville and even right into Tennessee. These are communities. And
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Speaker 1: when the outsider comes in with their visions, I don't know,
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Speaker 1: it's going to take a lot to get a bless
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Speaker 1: my heart out of this.
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Speaker 2: Definitely. Yeah. I mean, these are folks that go back five, six,
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Speaker 2: seven generations, you know, in this town. And, and so
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Speaker 2: they do really feel like they're fighting for the identity
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Speaker 2: of this town. But I think what really appealed to me,
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Speaker 2: and I think what appeals to a national audience about
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Speaker 2: this is that it's, you know, they're grappling with all
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Speaker 2: of these issues that America is grappling with, you know,
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Speaker 2: how do we treat people that are different from us or,
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Speaker 2: heritage America? And what is the future of this country?
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Speaker 2: And will it be a place, you know, where we
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Speaker 2: draw these lines around people and communities? Or is it
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Speaker 2: going to be A place where, you know, all are welcome.
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Speaker 2: And in the town, you know, they're putting up signs.
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Speaker 2: All are welcome.
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 2: And they're they're figuring out kind of, you know, what
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Speaker 2: is their identity and what aligns with the conservative values
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Speaker 2: that they've grown up with and what doesn't align with
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Speaker 2: the conservative values. values of today well.
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Speaker 1: Look at the gentleman from michigan siad in the way
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Speaker 1: of saying aren't we supposed to be the nation of
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Speaker 1: all religions we're supposed to love all people and i
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Speaker 1: and i kind of had to step back going oh
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Speaker 1: my god touche he got me on that one in
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Speaker 1: the heart.
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Speaker 2: Yeah i think that's uh what a lot of folks
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Speaker 2: in gainsborough are thinking they're going through that very same process.
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Speaker 1: Wow But you know what's really interesting about this, guys?
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Speaker 1: And I'll tell you how your podcast is working through me.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it's effective. It's making me more aware of
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Speaker 1: everything that I'm seeing around me. I'm going to bring
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Speaker 1: it up. I'm going to bring up the radio world.
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Speaker 1: Everything is being purchased right now by the world of religion.
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Speaker 1: All these top dog radio stations and the radio stations
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Speaker 1: are owned by religious companies. I got to tell you,
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Speaker 1: it feels like the same thing. They are land grabbing. Mm-hmm.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think very broadly speaking, there's money behind
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Speaker 3: this movement, and I think it's pretty natural to want
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Speaker 3: to stake claim to as much as they can.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: As in the town, what they really recognize is what
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Speaker 3: they're doing is what people around America are doing, might
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Speaker 3: have to do, could be doing that we're just not
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Speaker 3: reporting on, right?
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Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
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Speaker 1: I mean, you guys are digging up some stories here.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it's like going into Bojangles, seeing how much
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Speaker 1: sugar they're putting in their tea. In other words, you're
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Speaker 1: digging up some dirt here. And I sit there and
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Speaker 1: I go, this is gutsy. Do you feel that way?
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Speaker 1: Or do you just feel like, oh, there's more information here.
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Speaker 1: Keep digging. Keep digging. You're going to find it. You're
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Speaker 1: going to find it. There is a needle in this haystack.
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Speaker 2: I think as reporters, you know, we're curious birds and
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Speaker 2: as investigative reporters, we, you know, we like to turn
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Speaker 2: over every stone. But I think, you know. it's, it
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Speaker 2: feels like, you know, you got to follow the string,
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Speaker 2: you got to follow the thread. And I think the
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Speaker 2: thread that we've followed is really, it's so fascinating, because
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Speaker 2: it goes from this tiny little town, this tiny bucolic
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Speaker 2: rural community, all the way to Washington, DC, you know,
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Speaker 2: when you start to pull on that thread of who's
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Speaker 2: coming in the money behind it, you talked about, you know, religion,
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Speaker 2: I think in this country right now, religion is And
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Speaker 2: Republican politics has been fused in many ways. And so
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Speaker 2: what you see when you start to pull on that
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Speaker 2: thread is that it goes out and up and beyond
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Speaker 2: and the money can flow to it because of this
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Speaker 2: moment in our country where politics is making strange bedfellows.
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Speaker 1: Pioneers in Appalachia, is that somebody or someone or a
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Speaker 1: group of people that we need to be watching to
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Speaker 1: figure out what's going on? Because there does seem to
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Speaker 1: be a lot of separation going on inside the world
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Speaker 1: of spirituality.
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Speaker 3: Well, the folks who have come to Gainesboro and to
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Speaker 3: this part of Tennessee do say, that they would like
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Speaker 3: to build similar kinds of communities in.
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Speaker 4: Rural areas, in the South, in red states.
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Speaker 3: And that's because those are places where they believe they'd
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Speaker 3: be welcome. And, you know, since our reporting is showing
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Speaker 3: that they're not always as welcome as they thought they
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Speaker 3: might be, you know, I think as, you know, there is.
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Speaker 3: You know, their intentions, their ambitions, their resources, their networks,
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Speaker 3: their connections. And then what they come up against is,
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Speaker 3: you know, small town resistance.
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Speaker 4: That's it.
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 1: No, no, I totally get that. Even being from Billings, Montana,
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Speaker 1: I mean, that small town resistance, that's something that's been
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Speaker 1: going on for a long time. But it still reminds
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Speaker 1: me of when my grandmother would say, there are certain
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Speaker 1: things we don't talk about. And it almost feels like
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Speaker 1: this is one of them. But I love the two
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Speaker 1: of you because you're talking about it and you're going
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Speaker 1: to get us to talk about it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. And the town is pushing each other to talk
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Speaker 2: about it in all these ways. You know, I mean,
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Speaker 2: this is a town that was not political. It didn't
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Speaker 2: have primaries. People ran as independents. You know, it was
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Speaker 2: people over politics. It was local over national. But now
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Speaker 2: it feels like everything's been kind of shoved into this
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Speaker 2: tiny little town and it's forcing people to really figure
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Speaker 2: out what do they believe? What's the identity of their town?
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Speaker 2: And to talk about it, you know, which is a
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Speaker 2: good thing.
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Speaker 1: Please don't move. We'll be right back with Maribond Knight
9:39
Speaker 1: and Susan Burfield. The name of the podcast, Our Town.
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Speaker 1: It's going to be an eye opener for you. Things
9:47
Speaker 1: are probably going to change for you. We are back
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Speaker 1: with the one and only Maribond Knight and Susan Burfield.
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Speaker 1: Where do we grow from here? Because you're giving us
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Speaker 1: so much information to hold on to and we've got
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Speaker 1: to come together as a community. in our own little
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Speaker 1: separate regions. And I do believe in that. But how
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Speaker 1: do we develop a voice beyond the podcast? Because that's,
10:07
Speaker 1: first of all, you set the seed in place. Now
10:09
Speaker 1: we've got to grow the fruit.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, as reporters, you know, we want to bring
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Speaker 3: the stories of, you know, real people and people who
10:19
Speaker 3: maybe you might not necessarily hear from to a big audience.
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Speaker 3: And I think what folks in Gainesboro, you know, would
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Speaker 3: say is we didn't know how to do any of this.
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Speaker 3: We were just living our lives and actually we'd like
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Speaker 3: to go back to just.
10:38
Speaker 4: Living our lives.
10:40
Speaker 3: But for now, they are meeting the moment. And I
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Speaker 3: think if there's people who listen to that and it
10:50
Speaker 3: resonates for what's happening in their community, yeah, that's great.
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Speaker 3: But I think our hope is that in sharing this.
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Speaker 4: Story that we.
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Speaker 3: Do let the folks of Gainesboro speak to a bigger
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Speaker 3: audience about what is happening in their town. And, you know,
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Speaker 3: as they say, what might happen in your town?
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Speaker 1: I love the fact that you're allowing people to use
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Speaker 1: their voices. And that to me, and that's going to
11:17
Speaker 1: be the broadcaster that's inside of me coming out in
11:20
Speaker 1: the way that broadcasting became podcasting because it gave even
11:23
Speaker 1: a bigger voice to real people. So the fact that
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Speaker 1: you guys are doing this and you're taking the time
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Speaker 1: to listen to people, isn't that what we're designed to do?
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Speaker 1: Isn't that what we were called to do?
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Speaker 2: Oh, I think so. I mean, it's one of the
11:37
Speaker 2: reasons I love the medium of audio so much because
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Speaker 2: you can really hear everything about a person's point of
11:45
Speaker 2: view from the words that they're saying to the tone
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Speaker 2: of their voice to kind of the, you know, whatever
11:51
Speaker 2: the ambience is around, uh, the feeling as it, you know,
11:56
Speaker 2: comes out of their mouth. And so being able to
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Speaker 2: be a chronicler of this is a privilege, you know,
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Speaker 2: and I do think that it's a beautiful story about community.
12:06
Speaker 2: And I think in this day and age, sometimes as
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Speaker 2: accountability or investigative reporters, you know, you put something to
12:13
Speaker 2: the powers that be and, and, and sometimes nothing happens.
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Speaker 2: Oftentimes maybe you're called fake news. And so, you know,
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Speaker 2: when you get to talk to real people and you
12:22
Speaker 2: get to showcase their voices, and you get to show
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Speaker 2: a community coming together in ways that they didn't know
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Speaker 2: maybe they could or they didn't have a, you know,
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Speaker 2: a handbook to do. I think it's a beautiful thing that,
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Speaker 2: you know, you can share with the broader country and say,
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Speaker 2: you know, maybe your elected officials aren't doing everything you want,
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Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean you can't get with your other
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Speaker 2: community members and make a creative plan to assert yourself
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Speaker 2: and what you believe.
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Speaker 1: Well, see, that's been my big thing, and not to
12:51
Speaker 1: bring politics into this, is that they're coming into our
12:53
Speaker 1: communities so that they can take over our local governments,
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Speaker 1: the school systems, as well as, you know, the city commissioners,
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Speaker 1: even maybe mayor, and then grow from there. And I
13:02
Speaker 1: can't help but wonder if there's not a 20-year plan
13:04
Speaker 1: going on here. And have you found anything like that
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Speaker 1: out in your research?
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Speaker 4: Well, I would say that.
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Speaker 3: You know, there is overall, and this is, I think,
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Speaker 3: what you're talking about, you know, a movement by Republicans
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Speaker 3: and maybe especially the most conservative of Republicans, maybe the
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Speaker 3: most religious of Republicans, yeah, to gain power at the
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Speaker 3: local level and build up, you know, even as they
13:35
Speaker 3: have power at the highest levels that's flowing down. So,
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Speaker 3: I think, you know, this group is loosely part of
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Speaker 3: that network. Obviously, like everybody is paying very close attention
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Speaker 3: to what happens, to what works, how to gain power.
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Speaker 4: And I think the question that some.
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Speaker 3: In Gainsborough are asking, that a lot of people are
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Speaker 3: asking is like, then what happens once they have power? Or,
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Speaker 3: you know, is there a way for people to block that?
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Speaker 3: or to assert their own power, whether it's through elected
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Speaker 3: officials or in other ways.
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Speaker 1: See, I'm so enthralled by this. And the reason why
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Speaker 1: is because I live in this forest here in South Charlotte.
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Speaker 1: Every day when people move in, I fear what you
14:24
Speaker 1: guys are talking about is happening to my area. And
14:27
Speaker 1: I know that when people hear the podcast, they're going
14:29
Speaker 1: to look at their own little communities and they're going
14:31
Speaker 1: to say, oh my God, they are visionaries. They are
14:34
Speaker 1: seeing this. It's been going on. But what are some
14:37
Speaker 1: of the things that we can look, you know, look
14:39
Speaker 1: out for? And is it something where you approach your
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Speaker 1: city council or your county commissioners and say, hey, look,
14:44
Speaker 1: can you say no at all?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I do think that it's in many ways,
14:52
Speaker 2: it's sort of a playbook for democratic engagement, civic engagement.
14:56
Speaker 2: I think, you know, as you learn in the story. Uh, the,
15:00
Speaker 2: the folks who came in, uh, were not exactly like
15:03
Speaker 2: transparent about what they were doing. So it took some
15:06
Speaker 2: kind of amateur sleuths to like sniff them out. Um, but, uh,
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Speaker 2: but I think, you know, paying attention, uh, seeing who's
15:16
Speaker 2: new in your town, uh, are they making big declarative
15:19
Speaker 2: statements about things? You know, it's just, uh, it's that
15:23
Speaker 2: spidey sense that a lot of folks in small towns have, um,
15:27
Speaker 2: And in this case, the folks of Gainesboro are really
15:30
Speaker 2: using it in really fascinating ways. So I think really
15:34
Speaker 2: it's just pay attention. But they are also going to,
15:37
Speaker 2: you know, their town meetings and they're doing actions like
15:41
Speaker 2: sit in at the Dairy Queen. So there's all different
15:44
Speaker 2: types of avenues that they're pursuing. Like we said, it's creative,
15:48
Speaker 2: it's resourceful, and it's really interesting to watch.
15:52
Speaker 1: Well, you bring up some very interesting people. They almost
15:54
Speaker 1: feel like they're next-door neighbors, but at the same time,
15:56
Speaker 1: you're just very much aware of them. I mean, you've
15:58
Speaker 1: got Diana. You've got Bryant. I mean, you've got so
16:00
Speaker 1: many people here that these are real people inside my heart.
16:04
Speaker 1: And I think that, to me, is the glue of
16:05
Speaker 1: this story, is that because you guys took the time
16:08
Speaker 1: to physically listen, it really is helping us understand our
16:13
Speaker 1: own towns. And the thing is, is that... for what
16:15
Speaker 1: you guys are doing. I mean, it caught the attention
16:17
Speaker 1: of Tucker Carlson. So, I mean, it's like, you see
16:20
Speaker 1: what I mean? It's like, there is a movement here
16:22
Speaker 1: and your trickle is becoming a wave.
16:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:27
Speaker 4: Well, thank you.
16:28
Speaker 3: I mean, we, you know, we began our reporting unsure
16:33
Speaker 3: of who we were going to meet in the town
16:36
Speaker 3: who wanted to talk to us.
16:37
Speaker 4: And of course what they were going to say.
16:38
Speaker 3: So, you know, over almost a year and a half ago,
16:43
Speaker 3: we've had the chance to see how these folks are
16:47
Speaker 3: thinking about what's happening in their town, what they're doing
16:50
Speaker 3: about it and what their hopes are for the future
16:53
Speaker 3: of a town that they all really deeply love.
16:57
Speaker 1: So then how does that change? And this is going
16:58
Speaker 1: to be the Montana and coming out in me. How
17:00
Speaker 1: does that change the agriculture of a community's growth? In
17:03
Speaker 1: other words, we all had this, this tradition. It may
17:06
Speaker 1: have started before our grandparents, grandparents. And the thing about
17:09
Speaker 1: it is though, is that when change like that starts
17:11
Speaker 1: to happen, how do you put the brakes on and
17:14
Speaker 1: what are you seeing and how does it affect the
17:16
Speaker 1: people that you're seeing in, in Gainesboro?
17:20
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think the folks in Gainesboro are really,
17:22
Speaker 2: they're really focused on, um, while there is this outsider
17:28
Speaker 2: money and influence and these ideas coming in that are,
17:32
Speaker 2: you know, kind of attempting, they believe to define their
17:34
Speaker 2: community and slap a label on it. Um, they you
17:38
Speaker 2: know they their movement has sort of evolved in certain
17:42
Speaker 2: ways so you know while it may have started out
17:44
Speaker 2: in kind of a kind of reactive you know sit-ins
17:48
Speaker 2: signs um now the community is you know it's not
17:52
Speaker 2: that they're not doing those things but what they're also
17:54
Speaker 2: doing is realizing that like they have to celebrate their
17:58
Speaker 2: community and push forward in the ways that they so
18:01
Speaker 2: they're gonna you know open a community center they're gonna
18:04
Speaker 2: open new restaurants They're going to develop the town like
18:08
Speaker 2: they have been developing the town. But I do feel
18:10
Speaker 2: like they maybe feel a little supercharged about it so
18:13
Speaker 2: that they can lay that foundation for that identity and
18:18
Speaker 2: grow the town in the way it should be grown.
18:21
Speaker 2: maybe faster or ahead of what these newcomers are trying
18:24
Speaker 2: to do.
18:25
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the broadcaster in me that with all of
18:28
Speaker 1: these data centers that are having struggles right now, I'm going,
18:31
Speaker 1: they've got to be money coming from somewhere saying, do
18:34
Speaker 1: you know how many people we can reach if we
18:35
Speaker 1: had these data centers? And it sounds so much like
18:38
Speaker 1: what a preacher would be doing. Do you know how
18:39
Speaker 1: many times we can go around the world with this
18:41
Speaker 1: if we had this data center? And they're popping up
18:44
Speaker 1: in all of these small towns like you're talking about.
18:46
Speaker 1: It's like, that town is in North Carolina? I didn't
18:48
Speaker 1: even know it existed until this word data center came about.
18:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think a lot of people are looking
18:58
Speaker 3: at rural America, maybe the South in particular, as pretty
19:03
Speaker 3: kind of fertile ground, let's say, for a lot of things,
19:07
Speaker 3: data centers among them. And, you know, the real estate
19:11
Speaker 3: developers who have come to Gainesboro, you know, also are
19:15
Speaker 3: promising a certain kind of economic revitalization. And I think
19:22
Speaker 3: what we've discovered is that, as Maribel was saying, the
19:25
Speaker 3: town wants to revitalize itself, you know, and in different ways,
19:29
Speaker 3: in smaller ways, maybe with small business. Of course, they
19:33
Speaker 3: want jobs, they want opportunities, but they don't want them
19:37
Speaker 3: at the They don't want those that.
19:39
Speaker 4: Come with a cost that they're unwilling to bear.
19:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:43
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. You are so speaking what life is
19:46
Speaker 1: like here in the South. As long as they don't
19:47
Speaker 1: interrupt our flow of sweet tea down here, I'm fine.
19:50
Speaker 1: with that.
19:55
Speaker 2: Yeah and yeah i mean in the south in gainsborough
19:58
Speaker 2: you know they've had a lot of struggles like you
20:00
Speaker 2: know tennessee was hit really hard nafta the opioid crisis
20:04
Speaker 2: like there's these towns that have been to many to
20:07
Speaker 2: many in many ways hollowed out So they are, you know,
20:11
Speaker 2: when you say we're going to bring a bunch of
20:12
Speaker 2: jobs or we're going to buy a bunch of land
20:14
Speaker 2: and open businesses, you know, that can feel like an
20:17
Speaker 2: appealing thing for these towns that have been struggling over
20:20
Speaker 2: the last two decades.
20:22
Speaker 1: Oh, my God. That's just like the agriculture I was
20:24
Speaker 1: just talking about. What is the agriculture going to be
20:26
Speaker 1: if they can promise new jobs, if they can promise
20:28
Speaker 1: new schools? Because that's what I felt when Charlotte became
20:30
Speaker 1: such a banking city. I said, that's our agriculture, a
20:33
Speaker 1: banking city? And shut my mouth, it worked. But what
20:36
Speaker 1: happens if it wouldn't have worked? And sometimes I wonder
20:39
Speaker 1: about the small towns. They come in there with poems, prayers,
20:41
Speaker 1: and promises, and it doesn't become the golden day.
20:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think one thing that we've heard from
20:51
Speaker 3: people in Gainesville is that, yes, there's a lot of
20:55
Speaker 3: big family farms that are big. Being sold off, not
21:00
Speaker 3: always to the same developer, but that the nature of
21:04
Speaker 3: the place is changing. And I think the question is, like,
21:10
Speaker 3: who gets to have a say in how it's changing?
21:12
Speaker 4: You know, the folks in Gainsborough, it's not that they
21:14
Speaker 4: don't want new people moving there. Um, or even opening
21:18
Speaker 4: small businesses, you know, they do.
21:21
Speaker 3: And among some of the people who we talked to
21:23
Speaker 3: there by Gainesville standards, you know, relatively recent arrivals, that
21:28
Speaker 3: is like, you.
21:29
Speaker 4: Know, a decade as opposed to several generations.
21:33
Speaker 3: Um, And so, yeah, so I think part of the
21:36
Speaker 3: question is there will, you know, there will be change,
21:39
Speaker 3: but who gets to have a say in that?
21:43
Speaker 1: Has anybody on your local city council or government stepped
21:46
Speaker 1: up to you guys saying, stop it, stop it. You
21:49
Speaker 1: can't be talking about this.
21:53
Speaker 4: Oh, to us in particular?
21:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you know how, you know, once word gets
21:56
Speaker 1: out that you're speaking something that kind of roughens things
22:00
Speaker 1: up a bit, they'll step in there going, are you
22:02
Speaker 1: sure you want to do this? Let me show you
22:03
Speaker 1: a different way. And it seems like every email and
22:06
Speaker 1: every phone call for a conversation begins to become a sway.
22:09
Speaker 1: And you've got to figure out which one are you
22:10
Speaker 1: going to go with and which one do you believe?
22:14
Speaker 2: Oh, not in our case or not in my case locally.
22:18
Speaker 2: You know, I think, you know, it's I mean, I've
22:20
Speaker 2: been reporting in this part of the world doing accountability
22:23
Speaker 2: driven stories for years now. So I think people are
22:26
Speaker 2: pretty used to what I what I make. Good.
22:31
Speaker 1: Well, see, and the thing about it is, first of all,
22:33
Speaker 1: I've got to give you two kudos. And I should
22:35
Speaker 1: have done this in the very beginning because one of
22:36
Speaker 1: the things that I've done in doing research of where
22:38
Speaker 1: podcast is growing and where it needs to grow is
22:41
Speaker 1: through localism. So the fact that you're talking about Gainesboro
22:44
Speaker 1: and this is all about what's going on in that community,
22:47
Speaker 1: I love you. And so does research because research says
22:50
Speaker 1: this is exactly what it's meant to be. And you
22:53
Speaker 1: guys are lifting that game to that to show us that, hey, look.
22:57
Speaker 1: I'm going to go see Gainesboro. Not only that, I'm
23:00
Speaker 1: going to go visit Gainesboro. And you see what I mean?
23:02
Speaker 1: So there's there, you're, you're really do, you're bringing something
23:05
Speaker 1: out that a lot of people didn't know even existed.
23:10
Speaker 4: Well, thank you for that.
23:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you. I mean, I think
23:13
Speaker 2: it's really important to, you know, as a reporter in
23:16
Speaker 2: the South, I think, uh, one of the things that
23:18
Speaker 2: I enjoy most is painting a more nuanced picture of
23:22
Speaker 2: Southern values of conservative values. Um, It's not red versus blue.
23:27
Speaker 2: I have many neighbors that are all, you know, consider
23:32
Speaker 2: themselves very conservative, like this town, and they have a
23:36
Speaker 2: spectrum of views. And I think as a reporter who
23:39
Speaker 2: reports in a red state, I think that's my obligation
23:42
Speaker 2: is to try to, you know, really paint an accurate
23:45
Speaker 2: and nuanced picture of what red, you know, really looks like. Yeah.
23:51
Speaker 2: Because it is a spectrum. And, and I think the
23:55
Speaker 2: more voices that you can highlight along that spectrum, the
23:57
Speaker 2: more people can find things that they identify with. And
24:01
Speaker 2: those loud voices that are, you know, kind of in
24:05
Speaker 2: our ear, maybe working to divide or polarize, maybe they
24:09
Speaker 2: get a little quieter, because there's other voices that are
24:12
Speaker 2: coming in to fill you know, the void and to
24:16
Speaker 2: show you that there's other people that maybe think like
24:19
Speaker 2: you and it's not so absolutist.
24:21
Speaker 1: So now only because I'm here in Charlotte and I
24:23
Speaker 1: do go to Elevation and I am a very, I
24:25
Speaker 1: am a church boy and I got to ask the question,
24:27
Speaker 1: if they're coming into your community, are they coming into
24:30
Speaker 1: your church or are they forming their own church and
24:32
Speaker 1: staying on the outside?
24:37
Speaker 4: Well, I think in the case of Gainesboro, it's both.
24:40
Speaker 3: There will be There will be a church at the
24:43
Speaker 3: center of the community that they're building that's kind of
24:47
Speaker 3: furthest along. And it is a church that will be
24:52
Speaker 3: led by a pastor who is trained by someone named
24:58
Speaker 3: Doug Wilson, who's become kind of well-known.
25:01
Speaker 4: Now as St. de facto spokesperson for Christian nationalism. So
25:06
Speaker 4: I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I
25:08
Speaker 4: knew it, I knew it.
25:11
Speaker 3: But I would also, I would also just want to
25:13
Speaker 3: say that when we, when we talked to the local pastor,
25:17
Speaker 3: who is also a podcaster, He noted that there will
25:21
Speaker 3: be other churches in the community that even the real
25:26
Speaker 3: estate developer is not part of his denomination, doesn't attend
25:30
Speaker 3: the church that he's starting before he can actually build one. So, yes,
25:36
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a group of conservative Christians. There's going
25:41
Speaker 3: to be churches, but I think there's going to be more.
25:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
25:45
Speaker 1: It's such a conversation piece. And once again, I'm so
25:48
Speaker 1: proud of the two of you for doing this because
25:49
Speaker 1: this right here is real broadcasting and journalism. And that's
25:54
Speaker 1: what I love about it. And God dang, even 25
25:56
Speaker 1: minutes with you guys is still not enough. So we've
25:59
Speaker 1: got to get together again where we can continue this conversation.
26:04
Speaker 2: Well, we have one more episode coming out.
26:08
Speaker 1: Well, please be brilliant today and please enjoy your connection
26:11
Speaker 1: with the different broadcasters throughout the country and get the
26:14
Speaker 1: different views and things. As one preacher man once said
26:16
Speaker 1: to me, I want to see what the others, what
26:18
Speaker 1: the other guys are talking about. And my God, you
26:21
Speaker 1: present that conversation.
26:24
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Yeah.
26:26
Speaker 4: Thank you. Great to talk with you.
26:27
Speaker 1: You be brilliant today.
26:28
Speaker 2: Okay.
26:29
Speaker 3: You too.
26:29
Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you.