The rise of the Jim Crow theobros
(RNS) — A group of Reformed pastors and influencers has wedded old-school segregationist theology with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach and sell white supremacy, antisemitism and patriarchy to angry young men. Its audience is small but growing, and their movement has ties to powerful religious and political figures.
The rise of the Jim Crow theobros
Bob Smietana
September 24, 2026 at 2:19 p.m. ET
(RNS) — Michael Spangler does not look like a white supremacist and antisemite.
He has no visible tattoos, no shaven head, no black overcoat or jackboots. No hood, no Confederate flag and no Nazi images appear in the background as he sits in front of a screen for a recent Zoom interview.
Instead, the soft-spoken Christian school teacher and pastor of Piedmont Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, sporting a neatly trimmed beard, was dressed in a charcoal suit and sat in front of a fish tank that seemed straight off the set of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.”
Then he began talking about Jews. And a broad smile broke across his face.
“You’re asking if I oppose the Jews who murdered Christ?” said Spangler as he paraphrased a verse from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, which he says labels Jews as “the enemies of God and all men.”
“We need to consider them and treat them accordingly.”
A segregationist and “race realist” whose start-up church, which has a handful of families, bars Black people out of fear of “harmful race-mixing,” Spangler is one of a small but growing group of pastors and internet influencers who openly embrace racist and antisemitic views, casting them as true Christian ideas.
This group, many of whom fit the Reformed Christian theobro typology — known for their distinctive beards, suits and penchant for exegeting over whiskey — has wedded old-school segregationist theology from the Jim Crow-era South with the hypermasculinity of the manosphere and the savvy of the attention economy to preach white supremacy, antisemitism and patriarchy, mostly to disillusioned young men on the internet.
And along the way, they are turning outrage into cash.
Selling white supremacy
In May of 2026, Joel Webbon, a Texas pastor and self-described Christian nationalist with more than 100,000 followers on X, launched On the Nose Media LLC, a new for-profit media company.The company, which does business as NXR Studios — short for “New Christian Right” — bought the YouTube channel formerly run by Right Response Ministries, a nonprofit founded by Webbon in 2019. Along with the channel came more than 180,000 subscribers and a library of videos with more than 20 million views.
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No longer taboo
Partridge and Webbon, along with Calvin Robinson, a British cleric who lost his ministerial credentials for making a Nazi-like salute at an event, recently took part in a long YouTube discussion on what to do about “the Black problem.”Along with arguing for mass deportations, the panelists claimed the Civil Rights Act has held Black Americans back, that Black Americans are less intelligent than white Americans and that interracial marriage, while not banned by the Bible, is ill-advised, and minorities should know their place.
George Yancey, a professor of sociology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, believes the rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have created space for these kinds of racist ideas to thrive.
“When Trump was elected, and the way Trump talks about race, that created a permission structure for people to talk about race,” he said. “Some people had these racist ideas, but they were afraid to say it before Trump.”
It is not inherently evil to own another human being.
YouTube influencer Joshua HaymesYancey also wonders if the George Floyd-era discussions about racism have played a role as well. In those discussions, the definition of racism was expanded beyond what he called “no-doubt about it” hateful forms of racism to include disagreements on how best to address racial disparities.
“I really want to reserve that term for people who engage in the sort of hateful racism that I grew up seeing,” Yancey said.
Webbon, who declined a request for an interview, recently sat down in a wood-paneled studio with Thomas Rousseau, founder of the Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization. After a promo for the NXR’s upcoming fall conference, “Christ is King: America After Trump,” which offered deep discounts for families, they discussed, among other things, whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Black, should be deported to Africa along with other Black Americans.
UH HUH
UH HUH
@trouble_man90
Tim
@trouble_man90
For the past decade leftists refused to help us defeat fascists. They laughed and mocked and cheered when we lost, now they’re scared that fascism is rising in South America and in other developed nations. I guess letting fascists take over the most powerful country in the world was a bad idea huh??
5:10 PM · Oct 5, 2026
https://x.com/trouble_man90/status/2107231881972392111
@tinegessa
Mimine
@tinegessa
Oct 5
diaspora conversations are so dishonest…every group tries to absolve themselves of anti-blackness that they perpetuate to other black diasporic groups. these convos are not productive
@3aithL3asir
expired PPP Loan
@3aithL3asir
everytime Black Americans get blatantly disrespected all of the sudden it’s “both sides” & “diasporas are stupid”. correcting disrespect isn’t a diaspora war.
the audacity that lets you constantly ignore disrespect towards Black Americans is the diaspora war & strategic warfare
https://x.com/3aithL3asir/status/2107276835616674109
Fifty Shades of Whey
@davenewworld_2
The White House cancelled their policy to terminate Temporary Protected Status for 170,000 to 200,000 Salvadorans in the US only after construction lobbyists said it would disrupt major projects and hurt their profits.
There you have it folks.
USA won’t give these human beings a clear path to citizenship, and the fascists won’t deport them because wealthy employers would lose the low-cost labor they love so much.
Salvadorans are the largest immigrant population on Long Island, and their valuable labor makes a lot of rich guys here even richer.
They’re trapped in a sort-of limbo state where they’re exploited like an indentured servant, instead of getting seen as a human being.
The Trump admin is basically just the general manager of a massive human trafficking operation involving immigrants.
6:16 AM · Oct 6, 2026
https://x.com/davenewworld_2/status/2107429905122156965
The Tennessee Holler
@TheTNHoller
UPDATE: Trump just awarded another $3 BILLION military contract to a company backed by his son Don Jr. (and Peter Thiel) — what skilled businessmen these Trumps are!
Robbing the American taxpayer in broad daylight.
https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/2107545331290227183
@harrisonjaime
Jaime Harrison
@harrisonjaime
9h
A month before the most important midterms election in 20 years, if you aren’t helping you are harming and therefore you need to #SYAD 🪑
2:03 PM · Oct 6, 2026
@davidsirota
David Sirota
@davidsirota
8h
Apparently, former DNC Chair Jamie Harrison thinks that in order to win the midterms, Democrats should be spending the final weeks aggressively touting the Democratic Establishment. Incredible.
Jaime Harrison
@harrisonjaime
David, this isn’t a damn primary. We are weeks away from a GENERAL ELECTION between Democrats and Republicans.
So are you saying a candidate running as a Democrat should spend these final weeks beating up the Democratic Party, the “establishment,” whatever the hell folks want to call it… while Republicans are doing the same thing.
And somehow all that is supposed to get folks to the polls to vote FOR Democrats?!
Make it make sense.
Our candidates need to focus on beating Republicans. Period.
Common sense just ain’t common.
https://x.com/harrisonjaime/status/2107547326294458698
@atrupar
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
1h
Trump shouts out Russ Vought and then says, ominously, “we have some big surprises coming up in a few weeks, right Russ? He’s gonna be one of the important people in the history of our country.”
Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆
@RachelBitecofer
Why is the Project 2025 guy “going to make history” in a few weeks?
A real media system would endeavor to find out.
https://x.com/RachelBitecofer/status/2107580582620545150
Maryam
@hell_line0
Cornell university wouldn’t expel all 7 students because five of them had “promising futures”.
That’s a lie.
Five of them have ultra rich parents who pays a lot of money to Cornell. That’s the truth.
Cornell chose money over women’s health.
Sickening.
4:05 PM · Oct 5, 2026
https://x.com/hell_line0/status/2107215635151560869
Chris Murphy 🟧
Senate Democrats
@ChrisMurphyCT
Something unprecedented happened during my visit to the Gulf.
For the first time in 20 years in Congress, I was denied entry to U.S. military facilities and even meetings with military leaders.
An order from Hegseth – that applies to both parties – to hide the cost of the war.
https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2107571622949605436
Maryam
@hell_line0
I love how the President of Cornell University switched up and is now saying he feels for the victim and says they will conduct another review….. ONLY after an alumni sent out a mass letter to the board of trustees and other alumni asking to halt all financial resources to Cornell until a change in leadership is made across the board. Money talks, and it’s fucking disgusting.
11:59 AM · Oct 5, 2026
https://x.com/hell_line0/status/2107153838725792053
James Rosen-Birch ⚖️🕊️
@provisionalidea
I do not think many people outside highly wonky circles understand the degree to which the US Administration is engaging in Russian-style hybrid warfare against Canada. Attempting to provoke secession as part of an annexation campaign is not a small deal.
https://x.com/provisionalidea/status/2106465309729214635
@acoyne
Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩
@acoyne
Jeeezus:
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…
https://x.com/acoyne/status/2106380178842862043
@DemocraticWins
Democratic Wins Media
@DemocraticWins
BREAKING: In stunning new leaked audio, Ken Paxton was caught admitting he has completely handed over his campaign to billionaires and DC interests. What a loser.
https://x.com/DemocraticWins/status/2107083849687544031
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
Many of you have been tracking the Irkutsk lab situation over the last few days.
I’ve been gathering facts and trying to understand what is happening before weighing in.
Now that I have, I have to say — I’m concerned
🧵
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
Here’s what we know.
A 28-year-old technician at an “anti-plague institute” reportedly broke a tube containing plague pathogen on September 25. She died October 1 or 2.
Nearly 200 people are now in medical isolation
2/n
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
This is officially a civilian institute.
But Russia is well known to have an active military biological weapons program
And our intelligence agencies have publicly stated that their program has been expanding substantially in recent years
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
There are also reports of FSB involvement in the current response
Security services accompanying ambulances transporting exposed contacts.
If accurate, that’s not the posture of a routine natural outbreak, even a normal lab accident
4/n
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
This is the situation I’ve worried about for a long time and have spoken publicly about as the most likely scenario of something bad
Not that a country with a weapons program deciding to use it
That we have an accidental release from a deliberate program
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
US intelligence assess that Russia’s scientists continue developing biological weapons capabilities
Those programs operate in secret
Nobody outside inspects them and nobody inside has much incentive to admit when something goes wrong
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
We’ve been here before.
In 1979, anthrax spores escaped a Soviet military facility in Sverdlovsk.
At least 66 people died. It took years become public
This was all in the old era — before AI and biological engineering capabilities became widespread
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
19h
Here’s the real bottom line:
The number of labs working on dangerous pathogens is growing worldwide
That means incidents like this will happen more often in the months and years ahead
@ashishkjha
Ashish K. Jha
@ashishkjha
Russian authorities owe the world more transparency on exactly what happened in Irkutsk
We need to understand exactly what has happened
And we have to assume we may not know the full truth
And have to act to build up our biodefense accordingly
End
7:42 PM · Oct 4, 2026
https://x.com/ashishkjha/status/2106907916527665247
Pope Leo XIV
@Pontifex
There exists a martyrdom of those who offer their lives in a single moment, and the more hidden martyrdom of those who give their lives day after day. This is exactly what all Christians are called to do: to give our lives with love, every day.
7:26 AM · Oct 5, 2026
@Pontifex
Pope Leo XIV
@Pontifex
7h
Our age needs men and women who have the courage to do good even when it comes at a cost. Draw close to those who are alone, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away. Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, and to engage in dialogue.
https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2107085081106100624
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊