"'If their message is "white people are superior," the pool is smaller. So, they look for on-ramps to recruitment,' said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project....

Rural areas are seen as fertile ground for white nationalism. They tend to be more conservative, less trusting of government and white, said Fisher-Birch with the Counter Extremism Project.

'Maine is attractive for a number of different reasons. It has the largest percentage of people who identify only as white. That’s a big point for these groups,” he said. “But because it has many parts that are so rural, they see opportunity in building community, living off the land and off the grid.'"