All politics are identity politics. Republicans have long mocked this notion, treating the very concept of “identity politics” as a left-wing fixation. In reality, the GOP’s success is entirely due to the cheapest form of identity politics: For decades, but especially now, they have worked to distract voters from the party’s ruinous policies with appeals to their identity as white, provincial and, most importantly, Christian. This campaign has been enormously successful. White evangelicals have been the backbone of the GOP for decades not because they love tax cuts for the rich and environmental degradation, but because they have been told, repeatedly, that Democrats are demonic and there is no such thing as a liberal Christian.
This is why there’s a growing panic in the Republican ranks over the campaign of James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas, and it’s not just fear that he could beat Ken Paxton, the state’s Republican attorney general. Win or lose, Talarico — a seminary student-turned-politician — embodies an existential threat to the right’s long-standing myth that to be Christian must necessarily mean voting Republican.
This is wishful thinking. Evangelicals have been aware of liberal Christian churches forever, and they hate them more than anything.
Those absurd attempts to suppress Talarico’s interview with Jimmy Kimmel tell a different story. It shows they are scared of him. Even if they didn’t need to be scared of him, showing that you’re scared isn’t a good look.
I don’t mean that Talarico can’t win. He’s a slight favorite, according to the polls. Republicans are scared of him, as they should be. They’re worried that most independents in Texas, even conservative leaning ones, will go for Talarico over the odious Paxton this year.
That’s different than saying Talarico has the potential to permanently pull Evangelicals over to Democrats in meaningful numbers. Those are Trump’s base. They’ve long been aware that it is possible to be a Christian and a decent person at the same time, and have roundly rejected the notion.
The “christian right” is a broad category going far beyond Evangelicals, and I don’t think anyone’s addressed their hypocrisy in such an appealing and convincing way before. Many will dig their heels in and stick to the tribal identity, but their claims of being real Christians are going to sound more hollow to a lot of people.
This is exactly what I’ve been saying since Talarico came on the scene. The voters are there if he can pierce the bubble and reach them, but that’s the hardest part. That’s exactly why his interview with Kimmel is on YouTube instead of regular cable.
Many of the kinds of people he’s appealing to don’t follow politics at all. They vote R because they perceive the people around them to be doing it too. He doesn’t need to convince all Christians in Texas to vote for him. He just needs to get some of them having the conversation. That is enough to shake things up in this election.
If he manages to make his case in a compelling enough way to reach voters in other states then the GOP is absolutely fucked. Low information Christian voters are the foundation of the party. There aren’t enough Nazis in America to replace them if the GOP loses a double digit percentage of them.
He is very Christian and perfect for Texas. Talarico being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel that wasn’t aired on tv because of the FCC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLDE9LrGpNk
(Currently at 12 million views)
Very Christian, but he is what I would expect from Christians.
I wonder if he is doing so well because he’s actually popular, or because Republicans have picked the worst candidate imaginable.
yeah, it’s hilarious how much they contrast - paxton, whose entire career has been grift and crime, vs. a guy who looks like he just left teaching bible school.
I think that’s why he’s the perfect weapon. You can’t look at that guy and say he isn’t sincere or knowledgeable in his religious beliefs, and he draws a straight line from that to his political position. His sincerity must come over as something exceptional if you’re used to listening to GOP politicians. It’s not going to win over every voter but I think it will cause a few to really question themselves.
I felt much the same way. Like, when he dropped this - that God loves transgender and queer children, and that they, too, are made in his image. - dude yes, this is the way.
so when he tossed trans kids under the bus I was pretty fucking bummed out.
I’m not in texas, still will tell fam there to vote for him, but fucks sake human rights are human rights and if you’ve already staked that out, you’re doing right. to backpedal now is just… fucking fuck.
This is a really tricky issue for him, not saying he handled it the right way. Voting the right way in the Texas House but seemingly walking it back in a Fox interview isn’t great, but I don’t know how to handle it better. Trans kids in sport is the wedge issue of the moment and if he takes a confrontational hard line about that on Fox news it would instantly alienate him from the audience he is trying to reach. I don’t think you can realistically be the guy who appeals to right wing christians and the guy who consistently champions trans rights. Getting people to break out of identity politics isn’t easy and wedge issues exist to drive people back into their tribal mindset. Not a battle you can win.
That’s why I’m saying he’s the perfect weapon, not the perfect politician. Honestly the whole clean cut white christian thing gives me the creeps and I wouldn’t leave him alone with my kids on that basis alone. But I do think he’s the right guy in the right place at the right time.
There’s no such thing as a right wing Christian so there’s only hypocrites, bigots, and liars to try to appeal to but otherwise, sure, that’s the rhetorical line he needs to draw to get those hypocritical votes.
There’s no such thing as a right wing Christian
No such thing as a true Scotsman
Yeah but is that 12 million Texans the ones who must vote for him? Doubt it even close to anybody who needed to hear his message heard it.
Ohh, I saw some of that. The religion part got a little ooky.
I’ll preface this by saying I’m not religious at all. I think the fake Christianity running rampant in today’s world is the cause of so much strife. I’m also not a resident of Texas.
Talarico talks like someone that I think a Christian should sound like. It doesn’t sound like he’s trying to justify his bad actions by saying “God told me to.” He genuinely feels like a nice person who happens to be religious, instead of someone who thinks they’re nice BECAUSE they’re religious.
GOP is doing lasting damage to the GOP
…there is no such thing as a liberal Christian.
American Christians are a weird bunch. They are big fans of Old Testament God who was a giant asshole. He was a basically a bronze age war God that demanded absolute submission and kept killing people for sometimes bizzare reasons (like he killed a bunch of kids for laughing at a bald dude).
Big J came around and said: hey all that Old Testament shit sucks. Don’t chop your kids dick’s off and kill people that aren’t like you. Just chill and love each other, that’s the way to go. It’s why most Christians around the world don’t circumcise for example, because Jesus fulfilled the law and abolished it.
I’m an atheist honestly and don’t care what people believe or don’t believe in as long as they just mind their own business. Also don’t be a hypocrite and follow the god damn rules Jesus set for you if you’re gonna call yourself a Christian.
It’s why most Christians around the world don’t circumcise for example, because Jesus fulfilled the law and abolished it.
The reason why most christians don’t follow jewish law is that Paul wasn’t fond of it. His interpretation won against other branches (including that of John, Jesus literal brother), hence the laws were abandoned for gentiles.
Nobodsy knows what the fuck Jesus might have actualy taught, but the author of Matthew is quite clear about it:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-19)
One might note that he says all that business and then violates a bunch of the laws.
They are big fans of Old Testament God who was a giant asshole.
Here’s the thing about The Bible: it says all kinds of shit. Much of it contradictory. And so you’ll find that the parts of The Bible people subscribe to are always the parts that reinforce their existing ideology, because it can then be weaponized as a sort of justification of their views. So, those people are just giant assholes using “the word of God” as justification to continue being assholes.
Which is probably why official churches were very important in early Christianity. You can’t let the masses interpret it themselves.
He was a basically a bronze age war God
I have long said that people are ridiculous for thinking that bronze age philosophy is applicable for daily life. Also, evidence is that Yaweh was a Sumerian Earth god that was picked up by the Hebrews during their nomadic times.
Yeah. There was a lot of syncretism back then, everyone kept copying the homework from each other. Slap a new name or just modify the one they had a little bit and bam its our God now.
he killed a bunch of kids for laughing at a bald dude)
This is my favorite bible story. God sends bears from the woods to do it. The Bible is fucking bananas sometimes.
(like he killed a bunch of kids for laughing at a bald dude).
He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”
And no, I won’t apologize for referencing A Christmas Inheritance by the Apocalypse Players.
Don’t threaten me with a good time. If he can win those idiots over, I could see him becoming president at some point, which would be great if he is dismantling the toxic Christian nationalism that has plagued the USA forever.
I appreciate that he os fighting them on their own turf and pointing out that they‘re charlatans. But he‘s just more religion in politics.
He actually talks about how his faith is personal and drives his morality but it has no place in government.
He would be an example of a religious person in politics, but he wants government to be secular.
Better an honest Christian pursuing actually Christian policies (feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming strangers, caring for the sick, treating criminals with dignity…) than a conservative “Christian” with load-bearing quotes.
Standards are low
Perfect is the enemy of good. Mediocre improvement is better than great failure.
I wish it plays out like this. I really do.
But the cynic in me says that the two biggest reports I’ve seen on Talarico’s lead were both from Kalshi and Polymarket. A couple of people stand to grow very rich(er) if the odds are in blue’s favor but red manages to win… Which is why I both doubt the blue numbers from these sources and believe they would take… shall we say, further action in order to help their odds if it turned out to be necessary.
Paxton is for sure taking the win, it’s already decided.
A bit of cynicism and skepticism is healthy, but you don’t have to do the GOP’s job and manifest the outcome for them. I.e. do more to get out the vote for Talarico, and pre-emptively block or actively counter the methods used to help Paxton’s odds. Cook Political Report puts Texas as a Toss Up, so neither Paxton nor Talarico’s win is likely or assured.
If a county reduces voting locations in bluer districts, offer more services to transport voters to the polls in those areas. If there’s attempt at interference, put that to the courts. In fact draft up a suit that prohibits federal agents of any kind from “monitoring” poll locations, in case Trump decides to fart some kind of threat out in the next couple months.
I don’t follow how you got to that last sentence. You’ve seen 2 questionable polls, so that’s absolute proof Paxton’s already won?
I hate that we treat sports betting as the equivalent of a poll, but it tracks with how politics is sports for people who think they’re too smart for sports.
Here’s some hope: (This data is from 2024, so with the current political climate, it is probably even better for the Ds)
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/will-texas-ever-turn-blue-heres-what
Vote early from October 19th to October 30th. If you live in one of these counties, you can vote at any polling station in the county you are registered.
Yeah but they are “Christians” first, assholes second. They would not vote for him because he hasn’t promised to torture Latinos or further weaponize law enforcement against minorities. Those are key elements in their voting decisions.
