Raised in Christian Nationalism: A Firsthand Look at JD Vance’s Family Culture

 

JD Vance once called Trump “America’s Hitler” so why did he join MAGA? In this episode of Cults, Culture, & Coercion, Dr. Steven Hassan interviews JD Vance's relative, Nikki McCarty on Christian nationalism, Pentecostal indoctrination, and authoritarian extremism.

Nikki McCarty, JD Vance's relative and the “childless cat lady” he often refers to, shares her firsthand experience growing up in a high-control Christian nationalist environment shaped by purity culture, rapture theology, emotional manipulation, and media control.

They also explore Nikki’s relationship to JD Vance’s family and her shock at watching his public political evolution from condemning Trump and warning of fascism, to embracing the MAGA movement. Nikki reflects on how hopeful she once felt that Vance might become a bridge between divided family members and how her hope collapsed as his rhetoric became increasingly extreme.

This episode also discusses Nikki’s late autism diagnosis, her experience coming out as a member of the LGBT community after growing up in homophobic religious culture, and the painful reality of family estrangement in an era of political polarization. Together, they explore how mind control dynamics don’t just exist in “cults,” but can operate inside religious movements, political ecosystems, and modern media environments.

In this conversation, Dr. Hassan and Nikki McCarty examine:

• Nikki’s upbringing in Christian nationalism and Pentecostal-style high control religion
• How rapture theology and the "Left Behind" worldview shape fear-based thinking
• Seven Mountain Dominionism and the belief in taking over government, media, and society
• How behavioral control shaped education, friendships, and identity
• Purity culture, sexual repression, and religious control of women’s bodies
• Thought stopping techniques, fear conditioning, and “God is good” indoctrination
• Speaking in tongues, prophecy, and falling “under the Spirit” as a form of group influence
• MLM/pyramid scheme exploitation inside church communities
• Autism diagnosis later in life and the power of understanding neurodivergence
• Family estrangement and the emotional toll of political polarization
• JD Vance’s transformation from “Never Trump” to Trump’s political ally

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Learn more about Nikki McCarty on Substack: https://nikkimccarty9.substack.com

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM FROM NIKKI:

Nikki asked us to clarify that while she believes in the possibility of redemption, she believes there is no “redemption arc” for J.D. Vance without full justice for the Epstein survivors. She emphasized that the only way he can begin to mitigate the harm he has enabled is by supporting accountability for traffickers and abusers, regardless of power or party, and ending the protection of pedophiles and the silencing of victims.

Chapters:

• JD Vance, Trump, and “America’s Hitler”
• Nikki McCarty’s background and connection to JD Vance
• The killing of Renee Good and ICE authoritarianism
• JD Vance’s family history and early estrangement
• Christian nationalism and Seven Mountain Dominionism
• Rapture theology, Left Behind ideology, and fear-based indoctrination
• Steven Hassan’s Moonies experience and cult identity
• Using the BITE Model to analyze religious upbringing
• Purity culture, education control, and restricting friendships
• MLM exploitation and pyramid schemes inside church culture
• Constant services, immersion, and behavioral control
• Generational curses, shame, and withholding forgiveness
• Medical neglect, MS diagnosis, and “pray it away” control
• Thought stopping, guilt, and blaming the victim
• Speaking in tongues and falling “under the Spirit”
• Autism diagnosis later in life
• Coming out while raised in homophobic religious culture
• Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance’s shift, and political extremism
• Estrangement, isolation, and hope for healing

Why are Israeli war criminals hiding out in Patagonia?

 

The Grayzone's Oscar Leon examines reports of Israeli veterans of Gaza hiding out in the Patagonia region of Argentina, a country governed by a hardcore supporter of Israel who has forged close ties to messianic networks and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

To place the issue in a wider context, Leon spoke to veteran Argentine journalist Sebastian Salgado, and Santiago Cuneo, a former boss of Milei and now one of his fiercest opponents.

Tumbler Ridge, Fed Gov't Picks RCMP, Magic or Sex, Guest Melissa Ellsworth

 

This week, we bring a special guest, who's name most will not recognize. Melissa Ellsworth was a forensics nurse and correctional guard who suffered a head injury trying to save an elderly woman from a dangerous patient. She has been battling Workers Compensation ever since, and has now been approved for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). She tells her story.

Before hearing from Melissa, Paul and Adam discuss the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, BC, including what we might be able to conclude from what we know about the shooter, their family, and their background. 

Seemingly connected to this tragedy was the announcement late this week from the Minister of Public Safety that the federal government will be sticking with the RCMP in more or less its current form. 

While we were waiting for Melissa Ellsworth to get connected, Adam told Paul about a Nova Scotia case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada, which turned on the question of whether pretending to do a magic act where women were sawed in half was an act which was sexual in nature.

Kincora, the pedophilic predecessor to Epstein's island

 

From Ireland to Epstein, the entire gist of child sexual exploitation has long been connected to the rich and powerful fulfilling their twisted fantasies or weaponizing children for political goals, most notably through exploiting them and then the aggressors blackmailing other aggressors. 

For decades, staff and officials at Kincora, a boys' home in Ireland, were accused by children, at least the ones who didn’t vanish inexplicably, of abuse, be it sexual or physical, and those children's testimonies were rapidly swept under the rug. And it was all to use Kincora as a compromising site to blackmail, recruit, and control offenders.

Internal documents exposed that any and all investigations into the scandal were obstructed, and while the case was never closed, the suppression of information and the destruction of documents meant that every investigation and attempt at prosecution would lead to a dead end.

Thus far, the children still haven't gotten justice, and the offenders were served with extremely light sentences before they carried on with inflicting horrors on more victims.

Related:

Kincora: British intelligence-run sex abuse brothel?

Branham's Mentor Nobody Talks About: Roy E. Davis

 

John and Charles trace the post-prison rise of Roy E. Davis as he relocates to Los Angeles in the late 1940s, intersecting with the emergence of Christian Identity theology and the reorganization of Ku Klux Klan networks. Drawing from historical reporting and documented figures, they examine how religious influence, political power, and racial extremism converged in postwar California.

The discussion also explores the role of Congressman William D. Upshaw, the mythology surrounding healing revivals, and how public personas were leveraged to build credibility and fundraising structures. By situating these developments within their historical context, John and Charles highlight how extremist movements adapted, rebranded, and embedded themselves within religious spaces.

Canadian physics professor steps back from job over Epstein questions

 

Epstein files place Perimeter Institute's Lee Smolin and other prominent Canadians under scrutiny

A highly regarded theoretical physicist is stepping away from the Ontario institute he helped found, after his ties to the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in recently released files.

Lee Smolin, an American Canadian professor of physics and philosophy, has "agreed to pause his working relationship" with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont., according to an email on Thursday from Perimeter's executive director, Marcela Carena. 

Smolin was a founding faculty member of the independent research centre, which is known around the world for pioneering work in quantum theory and got much of its initial funding from BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis. 

Smolin was working at the Perimeter Institute part time and also has academic appointments at the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto. 

His correspondence with Epstein was part of more than three million new pages of files released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30. 

Nothing CBC News has seen suggests Smolin did anything illegal or participated in any of Epstein's illicit activities, and appearing in the files is not an indication in itself of any wrongdoing. However, questions have emerged after the documents revealed his relationship with the financier continued for years after Epstein's conviction for sex offences.

The files show that Smolin continued to correspond with Epstein, and the two made repeated efforts to talk by phone and meet up, until at least 2013 — five years after the latter pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor and another criminal count. The paper trail appears to contradict Smolin's own account of his relationship with Epstein.  (more...)

Canadian physics professor steps back from job over Epstein questions

The City of London’s Creation of the ‘Epstein Class’

 

The release of the documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sordid and disgraceful practices cannot be understood without going to the source of his deployment: the City of London. Consider the actual arrangements of his acquaintance with British socialite and Oxford graduate Ghislaine Maxwell, facilitated through British arms dealer Douglas Leese, who had “mentored” Epstein and eased him into establishment circles, including the infamous Bullingdon Club.

There are many British connections which have been highlighted in the recent weeks in the aftermath of the e-mails being released, including former UK Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson, former Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor), and of course, the Maxwell Family. Rep. Ro Khanna, who, along with Rep. Thomas Massie, has been at the forefront of the fight to end the cover-up of the files by the Department of Justice, stated that the revelations are “a window into [a] window into the elite impunity of this club. And, by the way, I think this is the most vulnerable the British monarchy has ever been.”

“I mean, I heard they were asking the queen questions about the Epstein class. They ought to ask the king and queen questions, and maybe this will be the end of the monarchy…. If they’re implicated with the Epstein class, not a good look for the British monarchy.”

Perhaps there is no ‘Epstein Affair,’ as pundits and media analysts continuously pontificate about. However, it is clear that there is a Maxwell Affair, which is being hidden from the general public, most importantly citizens of the United States, to once and for all destroy the republican system of self-government which was founded 250 years ago on these shores, along with the idea that all men and women are entitled to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Jeffrey Epstein, recruited for his so-called “genius” in the practice of illegal money laundering, was deployed from Great Britain for one purpose: to destroy the U.S. Republic as a productive nation committed to the general welfare of all, through physical-goods production based on scientific and technological progress. It is the British imperial system, based on the belief that men are no more than beasts, which is the greatest enemy of all mankind, and must be defeated today.

That can be done by understanding ideas, such as Lyndon LaRouche’s science of physical economy, which emphasizes human creativity, not money, as the primary driver of economic growth. Today’s Manhattan Project, featuring presentations by Dennis Speed and Harley Schlanger, will delve behind the shadows of the ‘Epstein Affair,’ and discuss what everyone else has been missing.