In God We Grift

Summary

Podcast Summary: "I've Had It"

Episode: In God We Grift
Air Date: July 30, 2026
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie "Pumps" Sullivan
Guest: Kylie

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Episode Overview

This episode finds Jennifer and Pumps tackling a mix of pop culture grievances, tech etiquette, gender roles, and the intersection of religion and politics in America. With their signature snarky, candid humor, the hosts dissect petty annoyances and larger societal issues, including emoji overuse, gendered household labor, Christian nationalism, and the manipulation of religion for political gains. The episode flows from light-hearted complaints to sharp political critique, offering both relatable rants and incisive commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Movie Runtime Pet Peeve

[00:21–03:06]

• Pumps' Complaint: Modern movies are excessively long, often pushing three hours plus previews, making it a major time commitment.
• Jennifer’s Counterpoint: Enjoys lengthy movies as an escape from fast-paced lifestyles and a chance to appreciate art and storytelling.
• Notable Quote:
  • "I just think movies are too long. And I've had it." – Pumps [00:21]
  • "It's kind for me, it's nice, because it bends me away from this quick-paced American lifestyle..." – Jen [02:23]

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2. The Emoji Etiquette Debate

[03:06–13:47]

• Text 'Hearting' Overuse: Jennifer is fed up with people excessively using the heart emoji for banal acknowledgments, particularly in business or casual contexts.
• The Thumbs-Up Stigma: Discusses how ‘thumbs up’ is now seen as rude by younger generations, which both hosts reject as overly sensitive.
• Peer Pressure & Emoji Nuance: Pumps points out the peer pressure in group chats to match others' reactions.
• Instagram Double-Tap Avalanche: They bemoan the escalating culture of reacting to reactions (e.g., loving a “laugh” on a meme), deeming it emotionally excessive.
• Professional Boundaries: Kylie brings up how even choosing the proper emoji in work chats feels like a social minefield.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "Harding of certain text responses is way too strong of an affirmation... This does not warrant a heart. This is not something that is love-worthy." – Jen [04:14]
  • "Who are these soft people that think a thumbs up is rude? What kind of titty baby thinks that..." – Jen [08:32]
  • "Too many double taps, too many fake hearts." – Pumps & Jen [08:03]
  • "I’m exclusively, you know what, I’m exclusively going to use the thumbs up even when I love something." – Jen [09:01]

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3. Listener Feedback & Social Media Dilemmas

[12:53–15:58]

• Listener Comments: Read aloud for comedic effect, including a tongue-in-cheek proposal for Pumps.
• Liking Problematic Posts: Pumps and Jen discuss the confusion over whether "liking" a comment supports the comment or the post—especially when the post is hateful.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "I love how Jen accidentally became America’s most important journalist..." – Kylie reading Mark's comment [13:17]
  • "Am I liking the comment, which is what I agree with, or am I liking the hateful post? So then I get paralyzed." – Pumps [14:12]

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4. Gender and Labor in Households

[19:14–22:25]

• Case Discussion: Man wants compensation for doing extra chores while unemployed; wife disagrees.
• Feminist Rage: Both hosts express anger at the double standard—how women have historically done unpaid labor without complaint, but men expect recognition/payment for the same.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "Welcome to the American married woman forever. This is unbelievable, that it’s become an article published somewhere because now a man’s bitching about it." – Pumps [20:06]
  • "You don’t get a parade for doing what you’re supposed to do in your house." – Pumps [22:13]

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5. Christian Nationalism & Religious Absurdity

[22:25–29:13]

• Self-Proclaimed Prophets & Portals: Jennifer and Kylie lampoon a viral video where a pastor claims to have opened a 'portal' over the White House to let God speak to Trump.
• Satirical Commentary: They mock this supernatural posturing and point out how common such beliefs are in Bible Belt states.
• Google Deep-Dive: Kylie reveals the prophet also claims to have been licked by a giraffe and gone on heavenly adventures with Jesus.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "A portal just opened up over this podcast studio, and the Holy Spirit is communicating to me that she needs a straight jacket in a padded cell." – Jen [23:23]
  • "Do you really have to sexualize the giraffe? Do we really need to do that?" – Jen [26:49]

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6. The Harm of Religious-Driven Policy

[26:49–34:24]

• Study Findings: They discuss new research correlating high religiosity in US states with negative outcomes (gun violence, obesity, etc.).
• Critique of Religious Politics: Both hosts assert that religion-based policy perpetuates inequality and backward policies.
• Democratic Messaging Failure: Jennifer urges that Democrats must more bluntly call out how Republican "family values" policies actually harm families.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "You can't separate American religiosity from American inequality." – Jen (paraphrasing study) [28:30]
  • "This should be hammered over and over every day: Republican policies are an anti-family death cult." – Jen [30:28]

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7. Religion in Democratic Politics: Solution or Surrender?

[34:24–42:48]

• Democratic Pastors Fighting Back: Discusses whether Democrats should use faith-based messaging to counter Republicans—citing Raphael Warnock, James Talarico, and others.
• Hosts’ Stances:
  • Jen: Keeping religion front and center in politics is a capitulation; prefers strict separation of church and state.
  • Pumps: While religion should be separate, countering right-wing theocracy might require some faith-based outreach for voters who are reachable.
• Effective Messaging: Both agree that Democratic narratives should aggressively expose Republican hypocrisy.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "I just don’t like religion and politics at all. To me it is capitulating to the right-wing narrative." – Jen [34:58]
  • "It's death by a thousand paper cuts. We're just going to hit them with this, hit them with this." – Pumps [39:24]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Emoji Protest:
  "I'm only going to use the thumbs up or thumbs down." – Jen [09:07]
• On Parenting & Housework:
  "You don’t get a parade for doing what you’re supposed to do in your house." – Pumps [22:13]
• Satire on Prophetic Portals:
  "A portal just opened up over this podcast studio and the Holy Spirit is telling me she needs a straight jacket in a padded cell." – Jen [23:23]
• Exposing Republican Hypocrisy:
  "Republican policies are an anti-family death cult. Their policies lead to weaker families and more death and more human suffering." – Jen [30:28]
• Religion in Politics:
  "If you're personally religious, good for you. That's your business. I just don't like religion and politics at all." – Jen [34:58]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:21] Movies are too long — Pumps’ grievance
• [03:06] The overuse of emoji hearts in text and business etiquette
• [08:32 & 09:01] Rant about thumbs up being “rude”; Jen's protest
• [13:17] Listener comments and social media paralysis
• [19:14] Gender divide in unpaid household labor
• [22:25] Christian nationalists, prophetic portals, and religious absurdity
• [26:49] Study on religiosity correlating with negative outcomes
• [30:28] Failure of Democratic messaging ("anti-family death cult")
• [34:24] Should faith be used in Democratic messaging? Debate among hosts
• [39:24] Death by a thousand papercuts approach; targeting megachurch pastors

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Tone & Style

The episode is characterized by biting wit, exasperated humor, and sharp political critique. The hosts fluctuate between playful banter ("Welcome to the American married woman forever") and caustic social commentary ("anti-family death cult"), creating an animated, relatable, and unapologetic listening experience.

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Conclusion

This episode of "I've Had It" uses everyday annoyances as a springboard for incisive sociopolitical commentary, with Jen and Pumps’ frank discussion exposing the absurdities and hypocrisies of modern American life. From the pettiness of emojis to the dangers of religious extremism in government, their blend of humor and outrage delivers both laughs and thoughtful insight.

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Listen if: You enjoy smart, no-holds-barred comedy tackling both trivial and weighty issues—and want to know what things in society you should’ve had it with, too.

Transcript

[Jen Welch]

So are we supposed to start the podcast?

[Pumps]

Ready? One, two, three.

[Jen Welch]

Patriots. Gay trios. They trots. Black trees. Brown trio. All the trio. I might have missed out. We love you. All of the triple trumpers can do what? Pumps. All right, pumps. What have you had it with?

[Pumps]

Okay, what I've had it with is movies that are three hours long. I just feel like that's just way too big of a time commitment.

[Jen Welch]

I don't understand.

[Pumps]

Like, when I was growing up, way back in the day, movies were an hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes. And it's just when you have a three hour movie with 30 minutes of previews, you're pushing four hours. And that means you haven't gone to, you know, gone to lunch after if you're. Or dinner if you're trying to make a, you know, an evening or a day of it. And I just, I just think it's too big of a time commitment to ask people to do that. Now, I understand tickets are expensive, but to me, it doesn't make the movie better. It makes watching the movie like I. My body gets sore, I have to move around. I'm thinking, oh my gosh, my dogs, what are they thinking? It's gone so long. So I just think movies are too long. And I've had it.

[Jen Welch]

Question. Why do you just not go to the movie? Like, look at the time. It's three hours. I'm not a good candidate for this. And then just not go.

[Pumps]

Because all the movies I want to see are super long. And it's even like Luke and I have this deal where he wants to see like all these old movies. And it's like, okay, that's an hour and a half movie. Perfect. That's easy to do after dinner. And then you go, you find one that's recent and it's three hours. It just changes the whole complexion of your evening if you're trying to package in three hours. But if I only went to, I mean, there really aren't any because I always look at the time and it's just like I have to do a whole day. Like I have to get a dog sitter to go to the movie because they're so long.

[Jen Welch]

You know, I, I see where you're coming from. I totally do. But I kind of like that.

[Pumps]

I like, like longer.

[Jen Welch]

I do, because it's just like three hours that you're not looking at your phone, you're engaging in. I, I like art so much. I like the acting, I like character development, I like cinematography. The editing that it's just in such a everything. So we're so programmed for instant gratification and like our meals in the United States, we sit down at my family's the worst. Like, we want to be in and out within like 45 minutes. I think it's kind for me, it's nice, like, because it bends me away from this quick paced American lifestyle and just like sitting down and enjoying the artistry of something I like. But I totally see your points about getting. But I also just go back to just, if you're not a candidate for three hour movie, just don't go to the three hour movie.

[Pumps]

But it's always the ones I want to see. So I guess that's a me problem, huh?

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

All right. I have had it with the overuse of hurting people's texts. So here's what I'm talking about. You send somebody a text like, okay, I'll be right there. And used to, like, when they first started that you could actually do an emoji on somebody's text, it was the thumbs up. And I always did the thumbs up. I noticed that then everybody kind of segued over to the heart, so I kind of moved over to the heart. And so I'm in like some text messages with some people that I don't love. Like, heart is way overkill. And so I'm in. In this text message with this person that we do business with and it's like, okay, I'll see. I'll be there at noon. And I go to like, do the heart emoji. And I'm like, that is just entirely too strong. Yeah, like, we need to bring back the thumbs up. And I don't know what happened because it used to be the thumbs up. And I think the millennials and the gen zers were like, thumbs up is dorky. So they started loving on everything. And I just think the Harding of certain text responses is way too strong of an affirmation. I think I have used it too much where I'm like, this is not. This does not warrant a heart. This is not something that is love worthy. It's an acknowledgment of I gotcha.

[Pumps]

Right?

[Jen Welch]

And the heart shouldn't replace the thumb up because then you're diminishing the power of love and of the heart emoji. And I just can't tell you how many people that I text about something benign, something pedestrian, something completely innocuous. And I get hearts back. And I'm like, did we really love this is. This is this love. And so I want all of us to actively stop over using the heart and bring back the thumb if it is. If you're doing business and this is about or do you acknowledge that I got this message. Thumbs up is appropriate. And I. I do not think the thumbs up is dorky. I think using a heart about something that isn't love worthy or wrapped up in a lot of emotions, I think that's dorky.

[Pumps]

I have totally noticed the same thing. And I feel like once everybody else on a group tech stock starts Harding it that if you like it, then you're the. Like there's some peer pressure involved.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

But it's interesting. Like, I've gotten to where I like, differentiate this so much that just yesterday, my daughter sent me a picture of something that I was like, that stupid. She's like, don't you love this? And so as an act of protest, I just hit the, like, emoji and I thought, okay, she's gonna get the message. But then I think, are. Are people getting the message? I don't think the people are getting the message.

[Jen Welch]

Is it like, emoji the thumb up?

[Pumps]

Yeah. The thumbs up? Yeah. Versus, like, do you love this? I like it. And I even. I. I don't think there's anything worth responding. Okay. Or if. If, like, you send something I don't always, like, you can assume that I got it when it says delivered. And if it's a benign question that doesn't require, okay, I got this. Why can't you just trust that they got it, they've read it, and move on down the road? Lots of interaction on text, I think. Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah. And I, I think that the diminishing of the heart, I think people you don't know there very well and you're hurting each other's text is just too much. And then there's a. And then there's a nuance to this that I'm going to go into as well. In Instagram, in the dms, which I'm terrible at. Dms if you have a DM that I haven't op that you've sent me, and I haven't opened it in months. You're not alone. I. I cannot stomach DMS because it's just one more thing that you have to clear out besides your email box and your text messages. But here's something that is really annoying. So somebody sends you a meme, and then you put the laughing emoji on the meme, and then that person goes and hearts your laugh.

[Pumps]

Laugh.

[Jen Welch]

So you've got the meme and somebody says, oh, that's funny. And then somebody loves that it was funny. And it's just, there's just a lot of affirmations going on online that are not commensurate with the emotions. It's. I've had it. I've completely had it. There's too many double tapping. There's too much going on.

[Pumps]

Too many double taps, too many agree.

[Jen Welch]

Too many fake hearts. I know half the that I write like, okay, I'll see you there in 10 minutes. That is not worthy of a heart. That is worthy of a Gotcha.

[Pumps]

Gotcha. Yeah. No, Kylie.

[Jen Welch]

Welcome to I've had it. Kylie, what do you think about this? The hearts?

[Kylie]

I think the thumbs up has become. A lot of people think that it's rude. They think you're being.

[Jen Welch]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Pumps]

That's stupid.

[Jen Welch]

That's what I'm talking about. Who are these soft people that think a thumbs up is rude? What kind of titty baby thinks that acknowledging somebody's text with a thumbs up is rude? That is unbelievable.

[Kylie]

It makes sense though, when you think about all the stuff we talk about with Gen Z and the workplace and just they, they're bubble wrapped. So now a thumbs up hurts their feelings. So now we all have to be.

[Jen Welch]

I'm exclusively, you know what, I'm exclusively going to use the thumbs up even when I love something for.

[Pumps]

So you're protesting pettiness.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah, yeah, I am. I'm only going to use the thumbs up or thumbs down.

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

Which I do the thumbs down quite a bit, actually. When somebody says I'm going to be 10 minutes late, I go, because that's how I feel.

[Kylie]

Right.

[Jen Welch]

Like you're going to be 10 minutes. I'm already here, so that's a thumbs down. Like, why can't we just tell people how we feel? Why are we walking in minefields? What's wrong with saying, I'm disappointed that you're going to be 10 minutes late? I'll get over it by the time you're here. But for those 10 minutes, I'm a thumbs down. I'm a thumbs down emoji.

[Kylie]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

What's wrong with that?

[Kylie]

Nothing. But they're like, well, I need you to be like, it's okay, but it's not right.

[Jen Welch]

When somebody, if somebody were to do a thumbs down for me, if I said I'm 10 minutes late, I'd be like, I get it. Yeah, I understand. I do deserve a thumbs down.

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

This is the same group of people, I'm guessing, demographically that their mommies go with them to work, that they have, you know, their husbands or wives respond to their bosses. I mean, if you are going to get. If you are so triggered by a. A like that, you think it's rude. I can't even imagine how your personal daily interactions go, especially at a workplace that just seems to me that it's impossible for you to live.

[Jen Welch]

Let me make sure I understand this, Kylie.

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

So if somebody sent me a text that said the meeting place will be, you want to meet tomorrow noon, blah, blah, blah, the meeting place will be the McDonald's on Fifth Avenue. And if I responded, thumbs up, a person could perceive that as rude.

[Kylie]

Yeah. Like you could take it as, you're not that excited to go. You're not.

[Jen Welch]

That's what this is for. That's what the thumbs down is for. I mean, it's. I'm really struggling that somebody would put that much into an emoji.

[Kylie]

Yeah. And that's why now you have to

[Jen Welch]

use a heart everywhere. I'm not. I'm never using the heart again.

[Kylie]

It's it. You should use the broken heart one.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah, it's it. I. I succumbed to this, and I became a harder. And then I looked at it. That was emailing a guest to the podcast or texting a guest to the podcast, and I'm, like, about to heart something. And I was just like, this is crazy. I don't know this person. Why am I sending them a heart emoji that's coming on way too strong?

[Kylie]

It's funny you say that, because just last week we had like a group chat for work that we're all in with some other people, and they sent some update. And I sat there and I thought about, do I do the heart? I don't know these people. This is professional. Do you use the heart in a professional setting? And I debated it. I went with this. I went with.

[Jen Welch]

With a thumbs up.

[Kylie]

I did go with thumbs up.

[Jen Welch]

Do you think they thought you were rude?

[Kylie]

Probably. I mean, in my emails, I have to work hard not to use an exclamation point every sentence to make sure I sound nice. Because people think things sound rude if you don't over heart exclaim. I mean, it's just. It really is a minefield.

[Pumps]

I should.

[Jen Welch]

I'm not going to cater to these people. No, I. I'm not.

[Pumps]

I.

[Jen Welch]

You can't cater to somebody's soft sensitivities like this. Like, it's business. It's Thumbs up emoji. It's here are the facts, here's what we're doing, here's how we're meeting. And I appreciate a non fluff email. Yeah, I hate a fluffed up email.

[Kylie]

And they say the same thing every email. And everyone uses the same corporate terms and you have to get through that to find the one thing you need.

[Pumps]

Yeah.

[Kylie]

All right, I've got a couple Spotify comments about some recent episodes. This one is from Mark and he says, I love how Jen accidentally became America's most important journalist. She's like the avatar, master of home decor, petty grievances, elder care in parentheses, pumps and reading, Republicans for filth. Heart emoji distinctly.

[Jen Welch]

See, that's heart because he. That's a love, that's a loving message.

[Pumps]

Yeah, I agree.

[Jen Welch]

And it's about me.

[Kylie]

About you.

[Jen Welch]

So I mean, obviously a thumbs up would be so rude. Thumbs up would have been so rude there. No, I mean, I send people when I want people to know. I am a huge sender of hearts. I send the pink heart and the hand hearts all the time. So. But I'm talking about the liking of the messages.

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

Don't you think we're conditioned? Okay, this is. I'm glad you brought this up. We're conditioned on Instagram. Like you like everything and the like is a heart. That's what you push. And so here's my dilemma. I often get stuck on this. So I don't like something like the message is a hateful, hateful Republican message. And then somebody makes a comment and then I'm like, what is my like going for? Am I liking the comment, which is what I agree with, or am I liking the hateful post? So then I get paralyzed. I don't do anything.

[Jen Welch]

I've been there. I totally know what you mean. It's like, it's like Donald Trump. It's like a left leaning account. And they're like, Donald Trump and Melania killed baby goats and drank their blood and they're like trolling them or whatever. And I think, oh, I, I want to like that, which is love, because it's a heart. But then you think, are people going to think that, like I support the killing of these goats and drinking of the blood? I've been there a million times.

[Pumps]

It's so weird.

[Jen Welch]

Kylie, what is this a boomer thing? A Gen X? Are we.

[Kylie]

No, I don't think so. And I think you have to worry because it shows you who likes it. So it's going to say, Ms. Welch loved that. Donald Trump and Melania killed a goat. Right.

[Jen Welch]

And drink their blood.

[Kylie]

We just need to get rid of all the. The emoji. The reactions.

[Jen Welch]

Yes. I do like texting with emojis, though. I'm a big. I include like the cry emoji or hearts. I like the eye roll emoji. Yeah. There's certain emojis that I quite enjoy using, but it's the reaction emojis because

[Kylie]

it's just another thing I have to do. Another response. There's, like, now layers of responses. Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

You just can't go through your stories or whatever. You have to like everything to keep it moving.

[Kylie]

One last comment from Spotify. This is from Johnny Pot Seed, and he says, hey, pumps. 48, Italian American, Indiana farmer here. We should break bread together sometime.

[Jen Welch]

Totally agree. Johnny Pot Seed. Totally agree. What do you have to lose?

[Pumps]

I mean, that's in my realm. Like, I don't want to get too young, but 48 seems about right.

[Jen Welch]

I think that seems kind of hot.

[Pumps]

Yeah. And Native American. I'm all down with that.

[Jen Welch]

He's Native American.

[Kylie]

I think it was Indiana American.

[Pumps]

Indiana farmer. Okay. I'm done with farmers. I'm fine with that too. I didn't see the A. Either way.

[Jen Welch]

It's like, what did I miss there? All right, that's. I. I agree. I think you should go break bread with Indiana. Yeah. I just think here's the thing. Like, we're. We've been reduced to talking about three hour movies and liking text messages versus.

[Pumps]

Yeah.

[Jen Welch]

The selfishness of you not dating. For us and the listener.

[Kylie]

Look at the.

[Jen Welch]

That we're talking about. Look at how unimportant and insignificant everything we've just done here is. What a waste of time for the listener. Now, if you dated that Native American from Indiana and broke bread with him, think about all of the episodes that we could have there.

[Kylie]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

Especially if I had sex.

[Jen Welch]

Exactly.

[Pumps]

That'd be a real stain sealer.

[Kylie]

All right.

[Jen Welch]

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[Pumps]

This enrages me. This enrages me to the point. Welcome to the American married woman forever. This is unbelievable that it's become an article published somewhere because now a man's bitching about it. When you have had women that have not had their own money, their own checking accounts, that have to do every thing for the house and the kids, and now it's a problem, you, you You. That's what I say.

[Jen Welch]

I agree with you. And I just think that this is a lot of men. I remember one time when the kids were little, Josh would say, I babysit the kids last night. I'm like, no, you didn't babysit your kids. You lived your life in the house where everybody lives together. You were just living your life on a Friday night. That does not constitute babysitting when they're your kids. A woman would never say, I've absat my kids on Friday night. It's impossible because the kids live in the house, the husband lives in the house, the wife lives in the house. Y' all are just living your life on a Friday night. It's not babysitting.

[Pumps]

And that I have heard that ever since I've known people that have had kids. The husband will say, well, it. She went out and I babysit. It's like, what the, you can't babysit your own kids. And here's the thing, too. This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I was married and you know this, I would come home after doing something, whatever it was, maybe it was even entertainment. And I would get, I did the laundry and the laundry would be in a big wad out of the dryer, sitting somewhere that it hadn't been folded or I unloaded the dishwasher. Big deal. You unloaded the dishwasher. I unload the dishwasher every day. You don't get a parade for doing what you're supposed to do in your house. Like, it's just these men, it's just unbelievable how much credit they want and how much they want to be coddled when they're asked to do the same thing that their spouse has done for years and years and years, Decades, forever.

[Jen Welch]

Completely agree. And this brings me to our next story. Maga. Christian nationalists have lost their minds even worse than yesterday. Here is self described prophet and pastor Donna Rigney claiming she opened a portal over the White House to speak to Trump. Play the clip. We're all done. The next day, Father explained to me, he said that now that this was opened, this portal was open over the White House and over Mar A Lago. Donald Trump was going to easily be able to get intel from the Holy Spirit.

[Kylie]

Hallelujah.

[Jen Welch]

That God was going to easily be able to give him wisdom for decisions he has to make. That this, it's just open, open communication that, oh, that God will easily be able to speak to him and he'll hear him. So it's interesting that she says this because A portal just opened up over this podcasting studio and the Holy Spirit is communicating to me that she needs a straight jacket in a padded cell. And also the Holy Spirit is communic me that Donald Trump is an embarrassment to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit hates his guts. And so we're not, you're not the only people that have the portal, Donna Rigney. We have a portal as well. And I mean it. Let's just start doing it. Let's just start our podcast with a little light tongue talking every episode. I mean, why not? Why do they get to do all this crazy and claim they have all this existential connection to all of this? I mean, this is so insane. And here's the problem. Here's the problem, you guys. P.S. and I are from a Bible Belt state. You would be shocked at how non fringe this is in Bible Belt states.

[Pumps]

You would be shocked how non fringe it is. And I just one thing I wanted to point out is that the host. Did you notice Doe Eyed Kelsey was going under her breath? Amen. Amen. You all are an embarrassment to each other. You're an embarrassment.

[Jen Welch]

Why didn't you just say amen when I was talking about my portal?

[Kylie]

Amen. Amen.

[Pumps]

I'm gonna start doing that. I'm gonna start doing hands up when you, like, when you start going off like on an IHOP news or something.

[Jen Welch]

Amen.

[Pumps]

Amen.

[Jen Welch]

Yeah.

[Pumps]

This is so crazy. But here's the deal. I cannot tell you how many of these people, even family members, that'll be like, you know, I was down on my knees and I was praying and, you know, I just. God just told me, whatever the deal, you know, he just told me he just hit. Here's one. He just hit me over the head. This is what you need to be doing this. And I remember, like, you know, in my deepest, darkest days, like, it was like, get on my knee. Please help me. Just help me, help me, help me, help me. Looking for anything. I. I am convinced that these people that are like, okay, God told me he hit me over the head. I. He opened my eyes, like I saw everything. It's like what they wanted to do the whole time. And they're just saying God told them to do it. I don't know, it just. But it's crazy. It happens.

[Kylie]

It.

[Pumps]

It's going on. Don't discount it. Amen.

[Kylie]

I just did a quick Google on Donna and I just want to share. She's opened other portals before and then she also, I guess Jesus takes her on field trips to Heaven and hell, of course. And in her book here, these bullet points say on one heavenly excursion, she said a giraffe came over and licked her. A gorilla welcomed her. Cats, dogs and an elephant greeted her. And she rode the giraffe with Jesus and was pushed on a swing by the gorilla.

[Jen Welch]

Here's, here's what's important to point out about this. These people have an option, like we all do, in supporting or not supporting somebody for president and not supporting or not supporting a certain style of government. All of these people are Donald Trump supporters. She's opening portals for Donald Trump and the gorillas and the monkeys and the giraffes and all this bestiality that she's engaged in. It sounds like some really weird, sick giraffe licking.

[Pumps]

Giraffe licking.

[Jen Welch]

Giraffe licking, really? Do you really have to sexualize the giraffe? Do we really need to do that? All right, this brings me to the next point. Everybody knows that the Republican Party is an anti family death cult. And now a new study is proving it. What I've been saying for three years now, let's pop this up. Religious US States have higher rates of gun violence, illiteracy, obesity, incarceration, and antidepressant use. The study goes on to say, pop this up, Kylie. The question isn't whether to eliminate religion. It's whether we'll stop letting religious ideology drive policy decisions about education, healthcare, guns and poverty. Based on the data, the answer should be obvious. You can't separate American religiosity from American inequality. The most religious regions in the United States are also the poorest. The most religious voters support policies that weaken education funding and social safety nets. The most religious communities are most hostile to science based interventions, etcetera, etc, etcetera. So if we were to form hypotheses here, I could say, now I've lived in Oklahoma and I've lived in New York, and this is anecdotal, but the people in Oklahoma pray a lot more and they will not shut the up about praying. They pray in public, at meals, they want to pray before their kids basketball games. They pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. I haven't seen any praying in New York since I've been here. Does prayer not work? I mean, you know, like, how are these states with all of this prayer and all of this knee bending to these fascists? It's just, this is why the MAGA regime wants people to not be educated. And this is why they want a Christian nationalist state. Because these people in these red states continue to vote for Policies that harm them. And they do it because they feel like God is telling them to do it. With the portals and the giraffe.

[Pumps]

The portals and the giraffes. You know, the thing is about it is it's, it's interesting that you have. And it's, it's magnified now more than ever. It's always been true, but it's magnified now more than ever that you have. You know, over 80 or 90% of super evangelicals support Donald Trump and the discrimination, the sexism, the misogyny. That's his platform, that's what he likes to talk about. You know, that's what Pete Hegseth likes to talk about it. And so for me growing up, it was like, if you're not, I mean, there was never even a doubt I would be a Republican. And so when I see that like through line through there it is. That is absolutely correct. The hate, the entitlement, the inequality. You look at the bottom 10 states, all Republican. Oh, I just, it's just really. And the thing is if I took this study and set it down in front of my mother, she just wouldn't be able to wrap her. How did it get this way? It's like, it's real easy to understand how it got this way. Bigotry, entitlement, narcissism.

[Jen Welch]

But the fact that your mother would be shocked by this tells you what a piss poor job the Democrats have done in messaging. This, this should be hammered over and over and over all day, every day. Republican parties. The Republican policies are an anti family death cult. Their policies lead to weaker families and more death and more human suffering. And it should be over and over and over. The most religious place in the world are also the cruelest. And this should be message high and low. The fact that the Republicans are still able to campaign on the lie that they are great ambassadors of the economy tells you to me what an indictment that is on counter messaging. And why do the Democrats not message well? Why do they not counter message well? Oh, it's because all of these parties are set up to service corporations and corporations solely want profit. And so this idea that oh, government needs to be run like a business, that's why we want a businessman to run be our governor or to be our president or to be our senator is the dumbest thing anybody could ever say. Government should be run exactly the opposite of a business. It should be putting public safety first and foremost over profits every single time because corporations will rat you every chance.

[Pumps]

Yeah, no, you're completely right. And I've heard that in circles run the government like a business for decades. Absolutely.

[Jen Welch]

All right. And now we have a Democratic past. Democratic pastors run to reclaim Jesus from Trump's Republicans. All right, so here is the article, and it goes on to say in Congress, now there's Senator Raphael Warnock, who leads Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. Was pastor. But the last white Democratic pastor in Congress was Bob Edgar, a Methodist minister representing Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1987. Now, in these midterms, fewer than seven white clergy or ministers in training representing the Democratic Party are vying for congressional seats from Iowa, Texas, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas and Tennessee. They're mostly political newcomers. Three of them are women. But they're united in aiming to reclaim the Bible from Republicans and using Christian teaching to support more liberal policies on immigrants and the poor. Then you have, you know, it talks about James Talarico, etc. So here's what we need to discuss. Is this the antidote? Is it the antidote to keep religion in the political discourse? Or is the antidote to say religion has no place in government, it's separation of church and state? I just think that this, while well intended, is harmful. I think it's harmful for Warnock and Talarico and others to keep religion in the center of the political discourse because it shouldn't be in the center of political discourse. If you're personally religious, good for you. That's your business. I just don't like religion and politics at all. And to me, it is capitulating to the right wing narrative that, oh, we're going to be able to turn some of these Christians to vote for us versus saying if you want to practice your faith, swing for the fences. The problem is the more religion you allow into government, then you're going to allow the other religions in that you don't want. So we just have to keep it completely separate.

[Pumps]

Right.

[Jen Welch]

And then talk about social justice and talk about helping the poor. But if you're going to bring up religion, bring it up as a critique as to how the Republican Party has weaponized it. Attack, attack the religious hypocrites in the Republican Party. Point out what a, what an abject hypocrite little Moses Mike Grinder Johnson is. Point out What a hypocrite J.D. vance is. Go for the jugular. But. And then if you're going to talk about how your faith instructs you to do xyz. But I don't know, I just, I'm so tired of religion Being in the middle of American politics and no other Western countries is, does religion have this type of role in government? We got the crazy Christians, we were lied to and oh, we came over here for our religious freedom. No, they came over here because they wanted to be more religious. That's why they came over here.

[Pumps]

I completely agree with you. It should be completely separate. I mean totally, completely separate. However, the kind of my counter would be we have it is now everywhere. You cannot turn on an administration hearing an interview on Fox News. That is not, you know, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, God said this, God said that. I mean we are so far down the rabbit hole it seems like we'll never crawl back. And my opinion is if you, these, you know, white supremacist Christian nationalists, they're, they're gone. Write them off, see you later. But there are hopefully, and maybe I'm being optimistic, there are hopefully some religious people that see what's happening and they just think, well, Democrats just hate God or whatever. I mean that doesn't sound like a moderate position. But anyway, if someone like a James Talarico and a Raphael Warnock who is super religious, that believes in social justice, that uses the Bible as a tool for good, for protection and inclusion, I think that's really the only way you're going to reach some of these people, the ones that are reachable. Because if you just go into these groups in rural Oklahoma, which again this is optimistic. Rural Oklahoma, you have a James Tall Rica that sits down and says, you know, this is where I think our government is abusing people and how it is not religious, it is not in keeping with Jesus's teachings or whatever, whatever his spin would be better than mine, that that is going to be able to plant a seed better than somebody just saying, we're not talking about religion, which we shouldn't be, I get it, but in government. But those people are going to take the tech that, you know, they hate God, Democrats are evil, that kind of thing. It's easier to believe. So I think there's a, they're kind of.

[Jen Welch]

I agree with. I see what you mean and I get your point. Totally. But when I think about the people that I know, that would be quote, unquote changeable. We're talking about the people in your social circles because you were in such, embedded in such religious social circles. So those crossings, Christian school parents and if a Talarico style politician came in and started talking about these things, I would hope that they would say, oh yeah, that's what Jesus really does, wants to do But I don't think they would. The conversations I had with these parents were so alarmingly cruel. When I had conversations about health care or about gay people, they genuinely don't care and they use their religion as an excuse to not care. And so it's a great point you bring up because you want to believe that people in that world would hear the things that, that Jesus advocated for and go, yeah, we've really lost our way. But they have been roped into it, manipulated into it, that they use it to justify their cruelty in this real mind, mind bend kind of way. Because the meanest people I've ever met are the most religious. I mean just I, I'm always, it always took my breath away. A lot of those crossings, Christian school parents, how cruel they were and how they just said it and they didn't feel it as being cruel or they felt it as being super entitled. Like the parents who left my son's basketball team because there were back black players on it and then move to an all white basketball team and how they bragged about it.

[Pumps]

Right.

[Jen Welch]

And does that message, as a message of Talarico penetrate those people?

[Pumps]

I believe not, not everybody, but I believe that there are some that at the very, very, I mean like I believe summit will reach. Then I believe there are some that it will be like, maybe that's a little eye opener. It's something they'll digest, they'll think about and it may change how they look in the future. I don't think it'll be an overnight change, but it's death by a thousand paper cuts. Like we're just going to hit them with this, hit him with this. Just like this whole, you know, J.D. vance kind of Catholicism and let's deport everybody and be racist facts. And then you've got the Pope that's saying, you know, Jesus said welcome the immigrant, the poor, whatever. You're seeing the majority of Catholics rally around the Pope. Now I Understand Pope and J.D. vance are a false equivalency, but I just think if you put it to people like, because you say it very, very plainly, very plainly. But you are one of the first people that I ever said like, if, if you believe in the Bible and you believe the teachings of Jesus, then why aren't you outraged about, you know, the mistreatment of marginalized people, the picking on marginalized people and then people you kind of. So I do think it's, it can be informative, but you kind of have to meet people where they are.

[Jen Welch]

I think, I think you're I think you're probably right. I. I think there is a percentage that it would be good to culturally inject that into. I think that where. And I agree that that needs to happen. I think that from an overall holistic approach to winning campaigns. Do Democrats pander to these people or do they try to get people off the sofa that have never voted before? And so. But I do think you're. What you're saying pumps is a really important thing because I speak a lot on ihup news about the cultural rot of America. Democrats messaging that if you're such a big Jesus person, then why are you for letting sick people go bankrupt? I think that that's really, really good messaging and that could, if they take that back over and are very confrontational about the hypocrisies and not just other politicians that wear their religion on their sleeve, but voters who wear their religion on their sleeves. I agree with you. Death by a thousand papercasts. Now, there's some that are just. And they're always. Yeah, but I agree with you. If it can inject something. And here's the thing, while they're at it, I think they should put a lot of pressure on mega church pastors.

[Pumps]

I completely agree. That's they. They need to go after them so hard, ferociously.

[Jen Welch]

The biggest crooks in the United States of America are mega church.

[Pumps]

It's going to be real interesting to see what happens in Texas with Talarico in Ken.

[Jen Welch]

I think they're going to cheat. I think he'll probably win, but we'll never know because remember how Trump, he wanted the 2020. He called Georgia and he was like, I need 11, 000 votes. And the governor, they're like. And the Secretary of state's like, no, no, no. Well, you know, Governor Hot Wheels immediately will be like, how many votes you need? Okay, I got them. You know, it'll be so. I just don't know that we're ever going to know some of these red states. They're going to cheat. And all in the name of Jesus, I guess, because I think Governor Hot Wheels is a big Christian, too.

[Pumps]

Oh, yeah. All right.

[Kylie]

That's really.

[Jen Welch]

I, I like that. I like your. I like your take. I like your optimism pumps. I think that. I think it. It's could be. I think it. We need a little bit of it. All right, well, that's all we have for this episode. Please buy my book. Pre order it. It's called Not Today Fascists. The lies that God is here in the truce that will Reunite us comes out October 6th. But the pre order helps me a lot.

[Kylie]

And.

[Jen Welch]

And we will see you all soon. I'll tell you what I've had it with. Let's hear it. I've had it with that.