100. Kristi Noem's Career Balloons into Chaos

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Tim & April Show – Episode 100

Title: Kristi Noem's Career Balloons into Chaos
Hosts: Tim Whitaker & April Ajoy
Network: The New Evangelicals
Date: April 3, 2026
Duration: Approx. 64 minutes

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Episode Overview

This milestone 100th episode of The Tim & April Show dives into the explosive controversy surrounding Kristi Noem, recent hypocrisy in right-wing politics, and larger themes of Christian Nationalism’s hold on faith and government. Hosts Tim Whitaker and April Ajoy break down recent news leaks, interrogate Christian political theater, and highlight the enduring outcry for justice, inclusivity, and compassion. The episode also touches on The New Evangelicals’ educational initiatives and offers biting, sometimes incredulous commentary on the culture war inside American evangelicalism.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Setting the Tone & TNE Community Update

[02:03–04:05]

• Hosts share feelings of exhaustion with "the weight of everything going on in the world."
• Tim plugs a New Evangelicals initiative: a free series of courses on world religions (Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism).

  “You will learn things that your evangelical upbringing didn’t tell you.” – April [03:46]

• The mood is candid and empathetic, acknowledging audience weariness.

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2. Kristi Noem Balloon Scandal & Broader Hypocrisy

[04:20–18:30]

a) The Balloon Photo Leak

• Recent leaked photos show Kristi Noem’s husband, Brian, in tight shirts with balloons – related to an online niche fetish community.
• Tim and April clarify they’re not kink-shaming:

  “What you do in your private life and what you’re into, that you have every right to be into that... Consenting adults, that’s all I care about.” – Tim [05:15]

b) Focus on Hypocrisy

• The real target is hypocrisy among Christian Nationalist leaders:

  “These are the same people that have no privacy for... other people’s lives, but ask for privacy now.” – April [07:34] “For those of us who grew up in this world of high-control religion, evangelical fundamentalism, Christian nationalism, they are so obsessed with policing people’s sex lives...” – Tim [07:55]

• Pointed comparison: If the same scandal had happened on the political left, right-wing media would be "screaming about sexual degeneracy."

c) Gaps in Media Outrage & Double Standards

• Discussion of rumors regarding Kristi Noem’s own alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski.
• Playing of a (mocked) congressional interrogation clip—satirizing the evasive, combative responses from Noem [10:44–11:45].

  “All she had to do is say no. It’s not hard to answer.” – Tim [11:54]

• April and Tim contrast the uproar over Brian's photos with the muted attention to Noem’s affairs and allegations—highlighting gendered and heteronormative bias.

  “As long as you’re doing things within that framework, like her having an affair... she’s still fitting into the cishet world.” – April [15:15]

d) Empathy for "Outsiders"

• April reflects on the pain felt by those who cannot fit into conservative Christian boxes:

  “When you’re in that world, you have no outlet if you don’t fit into those boxes.” [16:37] “I don’t have any empathy for Kristi Noem. I do have a little bit for Brian.” – April [17:00]

e) Hypocrisy in Culture War Values

• Reference to figures like Laura Loomer flipping positions on divorce when it's politically convenient.

  “All of their values are in service to their power.” – Tim [18:30]

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3. Kristi Noem’s Public Persona: Cosplay & Power

[19:57–22:45]

• April and Tim highlight Kristi Noem’s history of "cosplaying" (dressing up) as various authority figures (Coast Guard, ICE agent, nurse/ad).

  “She cosplays all the time, but suddenly when it’s her husband... suddenly it’s a huge scandal.” – Tim [21:14]

• Tim plays and mocks Noem’s cringeworthy "South Dakota nurse" ad.

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4. $200 Million Scandal: Political Grift & Misdirection

[25:39–29:41]

• Tim and April lambaste Noem’s use of $200 million in taxpayer money for a single ICE propaganda ad (compared to the Avengers movie budget).

  "The real waste was USAID feeding kids... point one percent of the federal budget. There’s the waste, fraud, and abuse in their mind." – Tim [27:53]

• Discussion of corrupt contract awards, lack of MAGA fiscal outrage, and ProPublica reporting.
• April notes Trump's replacement of key women in his cabinet (Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard), contrasting with incompetent male officials still in power.

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5. Unhinged Culture War Moments

[30:37–32:44]

• Tim and April share incredulity over viral videos (RFK Jr. swimming/working out in jeans with Kid Rock) and note the deteriorating enthusiasm among young MAGA conservatives:

  "Apparently CPAC was very empty... really no direction in the MAGA movement." – Tim [32:08]

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6. Christian Nationalism on Display: Political Theatre and Blasphemy

[36:00–56:45]

a) "Did you hear our amen?": Caroline Levitt’s White House Prayer

[36:10–39:44]

• Levitt and others pray loudly before a White House press event, boasting of their public piety.

  “What’s that verse? Jesus says... ‘Don’t be like the hypocrites who pray to be seen...’ But do it quietly and privately…” – April [37:11] “It is ultimate virtue signaling... every accusation is a confession.” – Tim [37:36]

b) The Pope, Prayers, and War

[39:53–41:42]

• Caroline Levitt rebuffs the Pope's statement, “God does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war.”
• Tim and April critique the absurdity of praying for killing (“praying for God to guide your bullets to kill other human beings...” – Tim [41:42]).

c) Paula White’s Blasphemous Trump-Easter Sermon

[43:24–56:45]

• Paula White, Trump’s "spiritual advisor," gives an Easter address conflating the suffering of Jesus with Trump's persecution.

  “No one has paid the price like you have... You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him and it didn’t end there for you.” – Paula White [50:10]

• Hosts strongly denounce the theology and political opportunism on display:

  “This is blasphemy.” – Tim [50:35]
  “It pisses me off to no end... my Lord and Savior’s death and resurrection is the reason Donald Trump is in power.” – April [53:44] “I can’t think of anything more Antichrist than this.” – Tim [52:32]

• They explain how Christian nationalism unites incompatible theological factions for political power, with “theological convictions jettisoned” [46:40].

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7. Christian Nationalist Home Life (TikTok Reaction)

[58:13–60:37]

• Tim and April mock a TikTok where a mother models patriarchal family dynamics by pretending her absent husband makes decisions for their children, to “model” biblical leadership.

  “She’s cosplaying as someone submitting to her husband... she’s just saying she’s going to make her kids think I’m submitting...” – April [59:16] “Why do you need to do that? Why? Why?” – Tim [59:29] “God never said that, ever.” – April [59:38]

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8. Breaking News and Reflections

[61:51–63:02]

• Live announcement: Pam Bondi fired as Attorney General, the latest Trump cabinet shakeup targeting women.
• Tim and April express exhaustion with the current political environment but reaffirm the importance of resistance and support for listeners:

  “I know it was a pretty intense one... but we have to keep the pressure on this regime.” – Tim [60:59] “Hang in there. You are not alone.” – Tim [61:10]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Every accusation of theirs is a confession.” – Tim [25:53]
• “As long as you’re doing things within that framework... their idea of normal is cisgender, heterosexual, patriarchal...” – April [15:53]
• “It’s ultimate virtue signaling... every accusation is the confession.” – Tim [37:36]
• “No one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him and it didn’t end there for you.” – Paula White [50:10]
• “I can’t think of anything more Antichrist than this.” – Tim [52:32]
• “They are power hungry and they look ridiculous.” – Tim [48:51]

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Takeaways

• The episode ruthlessly exposes hypocrisy in Christian Nationalist politics, particularly surrounding privacy, morality, and performative faith.
• Tim and April’s commentary cuts through both right-wing and evangelical self-righteousness, repeatedly contrasting public grandstanding with Jesus’ actual teachings.
• The ongoing tension between personal faith, public policy, and the weaponization of theology is a central through-line.
• Despite feeling emotionally drained, the hosts continually call for action rooted in justice, love, inclusion, and honest self-examination.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a candid, sometimes raw, but always incisive example of The Tim & April Show’s approach—interlacing sharp critique, humor, and personal vulnerability. By drawing connections between headline scandals and longstanding Christian nationalist patterns, Tim and April offer listeners not just analysis but an urgent call to advocacy and deeper faithfulness.

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Transcript

[April Ajoy]

You're listening to a new evangelicals production, The Tim and April show, where we unravel faith, politics and culture.

[Tim Whitaker]

Hello, April.

[April Ajoy]

Hello. How's everybody doing today?

[Tim Whitaker]

Well, our stream on Substack didn't start today, so we're off to a great start. Not sure what happened. I know they gave me. So substack is kind of tricky because they give you a unique stream key every single time that you have to put in and it is what it is. So sorry, sub stack people that can't even see this.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, you're apologizing to the air right now.

[Tim Whitaker]

Welcome in YouTube, friends. Please make sure to like this video. Subscribe to the channel.

[April Ajoy]

Subscribe.

[Tim Whitaker]

I am Tim Whitaker.

[April Ajoy]

I'm April Ajoy.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah. Good to see you, April.

[April Ajoy]

You too, Timothy.

[Tim Whitaker]

I texted the producer at Substack and told him what's going on and he goes, thanks, Obama. Yeah, all Obama's fault, no doubt about it. Okay, well, we have quite the show to get into today. There's been some. I don't know, do we. Do we make all the jokes? You know, do we make jokes? You know, there's. There's been some, you know, bombastic news that's dropped the week.

[April Ajoy]

I don't know, a bombshell, perhaps?

[Tim Whitaker]

A bombshell, perhaps. Oh, my gosh.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, well, we're going to get into that. But first, happy April. Can't believe we're in the month of April.

[Tim Whitaker]

Jeez, already? I know, I know.

[April Ajoy]

And a belated happy trans day of visibility, which was on March 31st.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes.

[April Ajoy]

So a couple days ago. And yeah.

[Tim Whitaker]

You know when you just have a show, you just kind of feel off, you know, you're just like, what? Yeah, like what's going on today?

[April Ajoy]

I know.

[Tim Whitaker]

That's kind of how I feel. I think I'm just feeling the weight of everything going on in the world. I'm just, like, tired. You know when you have that moment where you're like, I'm just exhausted.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I am definitely feeling that today also. You're not alone, my friend.

[Tim Whitaker]

Thank you, April. I'm sure our audience feels the same way, but I do have some good news. I do have some good news. So many people know that this show is produced by the New Evangelicals, a nonprofit organization that I started now run by Melinda Hale. And this month they're doing some very cool stuff that I want to kind of give you all a heads up about that. I think it will be really helpful for you guys. So I know a lot of people who watch the show are kind of always Looking for that better path forward in faith. Right. We're always trying to figure out how do we do this Jesus thing as best as possible. So this month the organization is focusing on intersectionality and we're offering four free courses on intros to different faith traditions. So here's what I got. I'm pull this up here. Oh, that's the wrong button. So the first two classes that we're doing in April are April 7, we're doing a class on Buddhism with our board president, Rebecca Thomas. On April 14th at 7:30 Eastern, we're doing a class on Islam with our friend Qasem Rashid. That episode will drop very soon on podcast as well. And then on April 21, we have Rabbi Joel Simmons doing an introduction to judaism and then Dr. Anat Rambhaan doing an intro to Hinduism. So this entire month on TNE Connect, it's totally free to join. You can, you can get access to all those courses. A great kind of just deep dive into different ways of living throughout the world of different faith traditions. That should be pretty cool.

[April Ajoy]

I love that. And I bet when you take those courses, you will learn things that your evangelical upbringing didn't tell you.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah, yeah, I can get. You know, I would bet a lot of money that's going to happen to you if you take one of those questions.

[April Ajoy]

And you might even learn that some things you thought were true are not. Yes, actually.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes, exactly. Exactly. So, all right, so we got that out of the way, like the video. Subscribe to this channel. Okay. Should we get into kind of like one of the bigger stories this week that kind of ballooned out of control? Blew up.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I. I blew up a balloon this week because we made a sketch on this thing.

[Tim Whitaker]

You and Beach's video was really funny. Yeah. Yeah. So. So. All right, so let's go on. April, introduce us to this story.

[April Ajoy]

If you don't know, the news dropped, I think on Tuesday. Yeah, it was on Tuesday that basically there were some pictures that were leaked of Kristi Noem's husband, Brian, of him. And Tim and I talked about it. We're not going to share the pictures here. One our podcast can't see it anyway. But also there's pictures already. You can Google it and find it. But I just want to be clear, like, talking about this story, we are not kink, shaming or shaming Brian.

[Tim Whitaker]

Right.

[April Ajoy]

In all this, we fully believe that what you do in your private life and what you're into, that you have

[Tim Whitaker]

every right to be into that are consenting adults involved. Great.

[April Ajoy]

Yes.

[Tim Whitaker]

That's all I really care about.

[April Ajoy]

Consent. Adult. Consenting adults.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes.

[April Ajoy]

What we are going to do, though, is show the hypocrisy of this world.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes.

[April Ajoy]

And so, okay, Kristi Noem, which we've talked about many times. She was the head of Homeland Security, I think. Well, I don't remember her official title, but she literally got disaster. Demoted like two weeks ago, three weeks ago, like, pretty recently she got demoted and she went through her own hearing because she spent a ridiculous amount of money on ads where she herself was kind of playing dress up. And so she got. Anyway, so these pictures leaked of Brian wearing tight fitted shirts with really big balloons underneath them. Like really big balloons,

[Tim Whitaker]

larger than life.

[April Ajoy]

You know, people are saying. Yes, people. And I guess it was part of the. The story goes that he was sending these pictures to, like, a particular niche fetish community.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah. Anyway, I think is the term for it.

[Jaja]

Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

So anyway, these pictures released Christy Noem, and I guess her people put out a statement that she was devastated by the news and that she asked for privacy and prayers during this time.

[Tim Whitaker]

You know what she wasn't devastated by? She wasn't devastated by calling Alex Peretti or Renee Nicole Good a domestic terrorist with absolutely no evidence. She wasn't devastated by the thousands of immigrants that her and her and her agency deported, like Kilmar Obrego, Garcia. That was that they were illegally deported against a judge's order. No sympathy for those people. But now that these pictures have come out of her husband engaging in something that she finds shameful or that she wasn't aware of, now all of a sudden, all of us have to have sympathy and respect for privacy at this time. And I mean, LOL on that a hard lol, right?

[April Ajoy]

These are the same people that have no privacy for, like, they put their nose in everybody's business and say, you can't do that. You can't do that. Not to mention, as you mentioned, how like ICE was going in literally invading people's private homes.

[Tim Whitaker]

Literally. Yes.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, literally. So.

[Tim Whitaker]

Well, here's the thing we're pointing out. Yeah, yeah. This is the problem. The problem is that just to spell it out for everyone out there, the problem is that for those of us who grew up in this world of, you know, just high control religion, evangelical fundamentalism, Christian nationalism, they are so obsessed with policing people's sex lives. They are obsessed with policing the sex lives of queer people. They're obsessed with policing the genitals of our trans neighbors. They're. They're obsessed with everyone else's sex life. And then when it happens to someone in their camp where they're, where someone is either having an affair or something like this comes up, suddenly, it's, it's go have grace and have empathy, you know, you know, have compassion for these people. And also it goes really underreported. Like, you know, I think Trump said something like, wow, that's terrible. Moving on. You know, like, there's no real outrage, the same way that there would have been outrage if this was someone on the left, for example. Let's just reverse the roles for a second. Let's imagine that it's President Harris, okay, Instead of President Trump. And President Harris's husband is discovered to have been doing this and the pictures of him are out there. Do you really think that Kristi Noem or any of the right wing media pundits would be treating it the same way? No, no. It'd be all over. It would be about the sexual degeneracy of the left. It would be about how depraved people on the left are. This is the same world that gives us the radical trans ideologies. It would be totally interlinked, interwoven into that. But because it's Christine Ohm and because it's someone on the right and it's a Trumper, oh, have compassion respect their privacy. She's so shocked. Okay, Give me a break. You think that she's shocked? They've been married since 1992. You really think that she is somehow shocked by this? Come on. It's unreal.

[April Ajoy]

I was reading an article earlier, too, and this is all alleged, but they claimed that a source inside acted like it was somewhat of a known secret and that she would tell people about it as a way to justify her alleged affair. Because another thing that is going on is there's been rumor after rumor after rumor about her having an affair with Corey Lewandowski, who was her top advisor at Homeland Security.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yep.

[April Ajoy]

And, yeah.

[Tim Whitaker]

So, I mean, we have maybe just to give some proof of why people are alleging this, because she was confronted about this affair when she was being interrogated by Congress. And here's how she responded to the allegations of having an affair. I'll play this clip for you.

[Congressional Interrogator]

So, Secretary Noem, at any time during your tenure as director of Department of Homeland Security, have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski? Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today reclaiming. And, ma', am, one that I would tell you is that he is a Special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government as an advisor, it is no authority making any decisions. Okay. For you to be. Has no authority making.

[April Ajoy]

Also a real question.

[Congressional Interrogator]

So what I would say, and you

[April Ajoy]

should be able to.

[Congressional Interrogator]

What we do at the Department of Homeland Security every single. Without any hesitation, every single day, is to protect. If someone is asked to make decisions, you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate. That should be easily. You should be wanting to answer that question as garbage because it is not about. It is about your. That kind of garbage. It's about reclaiming my time.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay, we'll stop there. It's just my head starts hurting. But, you know, all she had to do is say she couldn't deny it. No, exactly.

[April Ajoy]

She's under oath here, right? Yeah.

[Tim Whitaker]

Just say no. I mean, literally, if someone today was like, tim, are you having an affair on your wife? You know what? I wouldn't say that is tabloid. I would just say no. Next question. Like, next. It's not hard to answer. It's not hard to answer.

[Melinda Hale]

Right.

[April Ajoy]

Well, both questions. And both of them have denied it.

[Tim Whitaker]

And remember, she's super offended. I just. It's incredulous to see these people get so offended over being asked basic questions, which there are rumors around, while treating other human beings like absolute garbage. And that's not incredulous for them. They're not offended by that. They're not offended that their agency executed Alex Peretti in broad daylight. And I'm. I'm extra sensitive around that because I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota this past week and I went to Paretti's memorial and it's. I will just say it's very different seeing things behind a camera or through a screen and going there and seeing the long term effects of Renee Nicole Goode's death, of Liam being kidnapped in Minneapolis. I mean, we could talk about that if you want, for a few minutes. But I will just say that, like, essentially, Minneapolis feels like it's recovering from a freaking invasion. Like the federal government armed with guns and masks and immunity invaded Minneapolis, terrorizing the community. The community had to rise up, which they are. There are still to this day. I saw them myself, people on the street corners watching out for ice, ready to blow whistles if they come by. And the memorial of Alex Peretti and Renee Nicole Goode was absolutely gut wrenching. I mean, it was just like I wept the entire time thinking about how absolutely senseless and just uncalled for the whole situation is. And so it's just really wild watching Kristi Noem pretend to get all offended over an easy question or try to ask for sympathy because she discovered her husband has a kink that she wasn't aware of. And suddenly we're supposed to all just give her compassion and the privacy that she wants. I hope that we give her the same amount of privacy that she gave our immigrant neighbors, which is to say none, frankly.

[April Ajoy]

Well, and don't forget, I think it was Alex Preddy. It was either Alex Pretty or Nicole Good, one of them. In her initial press conference right after they died, she, she referred to them as domestic terrorists. Made that. And like, where's the sympathy there? Like those people actually were killed.

[Tim Whitaker]

And here's what I'll say. Cause I can imagine some people might be like, well, Tim, we have to be compassionate no matter what. I understand that. The problem though is that that compassion or giving gnome privacy or extending empathy is not gonna change her hard heart and hatred towards other people. And so although my political enemies don't dictate my values for sure, I still believe in those things. It's not like by extending her grace she'll be like, you know what? I'm going to rethink my positions on how I treat immigrants. No, no, it's just, it's always being used for their self advantage, for their self gain. It's just, it's just wild to watch, frankly. It's wild.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah. I also just want to point out too, like, there's been far more outrage over these pictures of Brian than I've seen of her actually having an affair, which I feel like, like one is actually more damaging to a family than the other. But that, and that, that is just so true for these conservative spaces. Like they just completely demonize and bully anything that they don't deem, quote, unquote, normal. And their idea of normal is like, you know, cisgender, heterosexual, patriarchal. Like it's, it's all these very narrow definitions of how you should be and, and the fact, like, and as long as you're doing things within that framework, like her having an affair, well, at least she's having an affair with another man and she's still fitting into the CIS het world.

[Tim Whitaker]

Right.

[April Ajoy]

Whereas Brian, and I honestly don't know much about Brian. I tried Googling him and it seems like he was pretty private from what I can tell because I can't find much about him at all. But there was actually a New York Times reporter that was in his town. He was hoping to interview Brian just on the Alleged affair on something different. And then this news broke and he went and talked to some people in the town. And apparently Brian's just very well liked, just a kind person. And like, nobody could believe that the stuff that came out about him. And. But I could imagine if, you know, and I don't know what, what his deal is, if it's a kink, if there, if there's like some sort of identity thing that may be buried deep down.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

But when you're in that world, like, you have no outlet if you don't fit into those boxes. You try to. You try to fit. You squeeze yourself into those boxes and just find small little outlets to be yourself.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yep.

[April Ajoy]

And. And that's just, that's just a. I don't know. I actually, I don't have any empathy for Kristi Noem. I do have a little bit for Brian.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, totally.

[April Ajoy]

He didn't act like, you know, he's not the one that's in the public. And I mean, obviously he still supported Christy. He's still married to her.

[Tim Whitaker]

Right.

[April Ajoy]

But in those circles, you know, I don't know what kind of agreement that, that they had, but it's just, I, it's. I hate that people. I just hate that we still live in a world where anything that doesn't fall into what a traditional conservative ideal, like, is normal, is just immediately demonized and called freak and called all the stuff like. And I probably was a little triggered too, because I know, like, my spouse came out non binary and it was like, it was something that just them and I knew for a long time before they came out. And it was very like, for example, sorry, I'm going on a little bit of tangent here, but, like, we were, we were at a conservative Christian school. My spouse came out to the president and just said, hey, I'm non binary. Like, I'm not planning to tell anybody publicly. I just want you all to know, because I want to know that I can be accepted here for who I am. And they were pretty much like, no, you can't. So we ended up moving, and it's fine, but there are plenty of people that have been divorced and were not able to lose their jobs that had, like, affairs involved. Like, the hypocrisy of what, like, especially for people that claim to follow the Bible, they demonize just the things that they don't deal with, or they do deal with it, but it's just buried deep down. So it's the hypocrisy that is so enraging about this Whole story.

[Tim Whitaker]

No, that's exactly. I mean, even so racist. Laura Loomer, who's just not a good human being, she commented on X that, okay, now they can get divorced and moved on and move on. And then I thought to myself, wait, isn't she part of the party of, like, family values and how they don't want divorce even be legalized in America, but suddenly, again, like, no problem here. Go ahead and get divorced. Like, it's always. All of their values are in service to their power, right? So the value of divorce only matters if it's applied towards their enemies or to the culture or Christian nationalist utopia that they want. Right. If it's Trump who's divorced three times, no problem. God is still using him. Right. If it's. If it's Kristi Noman, her husband, who has some kind of either fetish or kink, whatever the right term is for it, you know, and it's somehow problematic, just get divorced, no big deal. But if it is, you know, a progressive or if it's a whatever, if it's. If it's a woman who's facing abuse and wants the right to divorce her husband for no. No stated reason, suddenly that's a major problem and no false divorce has to get repealed. Right. I don't know how else to say the same thing over and over, but it's just. It's blatant hypocrisy, which is what we witness every single day. Every single day we see this kind of hypocrisy, and it goes completely unchecked by the very Christians that claim to be following Jesus. Blows me away, man. Blows me away. Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

And it's not like Kristi Noem herself is a stranger to dressing up.

[Tim Whitaker]

No.

[April Ajoy]

And pretending to be.

[Tim Whitaker]

No.

[April Ajoy]

She's not something that she has no credentials to be.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah. Here we go. We got a few different ones. Here she is with the Coast Guard hat on. Here's another one.

[April Ajoy]

This is her job, too.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah. This is ultimate cosplaying here, but only, unfortunately, with deadly consequences. Right? Here she is as a prison warden. Warden, warden. Here she is as a Coast Guard crew member. This is. You know how, like, how with, like, the Barbie line, there's a different version of Barbie for everything. This is what this is. It's like Coast Guard Barbie, Ice Agent Barbie. That's what it feels like in this case. Here she is. This is this. And this is one of the worst ever. I mean, one of the worst pictures.

[April Ajoy]

She's still human beings behind her that she's using As a prop, this will

[Tim Whitaker]

go down in the history books as just one of the most egregious moments in American history. Here she is taking a picture in front of, you know, a bunch of prisoners who look like, you know, maybe potential gang members. And here she is pretending that she's some kind of, like, ice patrol agent. Here's another one of her with a camo get up. I think she had a flamethrower in this shot later on. And there's one more here. Oh, yeah, there's a Barbie picture isn't loaded. Oh, here it is. Her and her husband in a pink outfit. And Barbie. I mean, this is what she does. You know, she cosplays all the time, but suddenly when it's her husband and it's something that is, you know, I guess, more taboo, suddenly it's a huge scandal. And then again, Brian's going to face the heat more than Christine oem. I also did pull her ad of her pretending to be a doctor. Should I play that, too?

[April Ajoy]

Yeah.

[Tim Whitaker]

This is her back in the day. This is not recent.

[April Ajoy]

I think it's the nurse.

[Congressional Interrogator]

Let's get some help in here, stat. We've got close to 20,000 open jobs in South Dakota, including for nurses, so I'm helping out. It's how we fill them. South Dakota is the freest state in the nation. We work hard, but we don't pay any state income tax, so you get to keep more of your own money. That should get your heart racing.

[Tim Whitaker]

South Dakota Freedom works here.

[Congressional Interrogator]

I think I took a wrong turn.

[Tim Whitaker]

There you go. There's the.

[April Ajoy]

Sorry. Honestly, I kind of felt like her entire role in Homeland Security was like her playing dress up.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah. Also, I just want to point out here that South Dakota on the. There's a website center on healthcare. They give South Dakota A C in terms of healthcare quality, so. So this image of Noam taking a wrong turn or bringing this guy out on the gurney to like, what looks like the back, back end of the. The building is probably a little too close to home, given how bad their healthcare is. So.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah.

[Melinda Hale]

Hey, everyone, Melinda Hale here, executive director of the New Evangelicals. Thanks for listening to our podcast. I just wanted to take a minute to personally invite you to be a part of our community. At tne, we're creating space for people of faith who care about justice, compassion, and living out the teachings of Jesus in real, tangible ways. As a nonprofit organization, not only do we offer thought provoking podcasts, but on our new app and online platform, TNE Connect, we We offer free educational resources, additional content and a space to connect with like minded people for meaningful conversations and encouragement. So if what we're doing has been helpful to you, if you've learned something, felt, seen, or been challenged to grow, head over to theneweevangelicals.com to join TNE Connect or make a donation. Your support means the world to us. Thanks for being a part of the movement.

[April Ajoy]

Daily commute doesn't have to be boring. TikTok brings podcasts, news, highlights, mini learning clips. Ten minutes, one new idea. Turn traffic time into upgrade time. Download TikTok now. There was one other person I we wanted to bring up. Do you want to bring up Nancy Mace's tweet?

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, yeah, sure. That too.

[April Ajoy]

Nancy Mace has been probably the biggest villain towards trans people in this administration. Like, she's kind of made it her whole MO to just be just honestly just straight up mean about the existence of trans people or just any gender bending, gender fluid identity. So I was interested to see what she would have to say about this as someone who in her mind thinks this is like the worst thing ever. Right.

[Tim Whitaker]

Because to be clear, like, the picture is of Nome's husband, like, you know, with like two big balloons in his chest pretending that he has, you know, breasts and like, dressed in like, more we can say traditionally, like what would be women's clothing. Right. So obviously it would be some form of cross dressing for Nancy Mays, which in her mind would be like transgender or something like that. Right. So it's a slam dunk case for Nancy, given who she is as a transphobic person, frankly.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, but this is what she tweeted about it. She said the media wants to talk about Brian and Kristi Noem's personal drama and indiscretions. I want to talk about who is getting deported, who got paid, and who's stealing from taxpayers. Different priorities. Let's focus on what matters.

[Tim Whitaker]

Wow.

[April Ajoy]

I actually agree.

[Tim Whitaker]

No, for sure.

[April Ajoy]

Focusing on what matters. I don't think what Brian does in the privacy of his home matters either. The same that I don't feel feel like any trans person or anyone. Like, they are allowed to exist.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yep.

[April Ajoy]

And B, and it's the hypocrisy is so infuriating.

[Tim Whitaker]

I don't want to like, belabor, but I mean, dude, Kristi Noem spent $200 million of taxpayer money on a 60 second ad for ICE. $200 million.

[April Ajoy]

It's a lot of money for us

[Tim Whitaker]

for a 60 second ad. What was the cost of the Avengers movie? Like I think it was under that. You know how many big budget productions you can make for $200 million or less? Like a lot. A lot of full produced, well done movies. And she apparently spent that money on a 60 second ad, by the way, paying a company a large sum of money that was recently created for this, for this project. So. Oh my gosh. Like I'm just, I'm so. It's just very exhausting day in and day out, April, to see the nonstop onslaught of everything that they say. Every accusation of theirs is a confession, right? They talk about wanting to stop waste, fraud and abuse. Then when they get into government, they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on ads that are useless. Or in Pete Hegsett's case, they're spending a million plus dollars a month on lobster and on steak and donuts. So talk about waste, waste, waste, waste. But suddenly none of that matters because you know what the real waste was, April? The real waste was USAID feeding kids across the. Across the world. That accounted for point one percent of the federal budget. There's the waste, fraud and abuse in their mind.

[April Ajoy]

For context, the original Avengers movie was made, had a $220 million budget. I don't even understand where that money went.

[Tim Whitaker]

How do you spend, first off, how do you spend $200 million period? How do you spend it on a 60 second ad? 60 second?

[April Ajoy]

It was just the one. It wasn't a series of ads.

[Tim Whitaker]

I'll double check.

[April Ajoy]

I mean, I think you're right. I heard that too, but that's like the Avengers comparison is blowing my mind.

[Tim Whitaker]

Hold on, I'll look it up. Check it out right now maybe that included the like. This is from ProPublica. Okay, so according to ProPublica. It's loading on my screen. Man, everything is so slow today. Oh, look at the picture they chose

[April Ajoy]

over see another cop.

[Tim Whitaker]

Kristi Noem. The cowgirl.

[April Ajoy]

Who is the real Kristi Noem? Will she please stand up?

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay, so according to this firm tied to Kristi Noem secretly got money from 220 million DHS ad contracts is what it says here. One of the companies is run by the husband of Gnome's chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Nome and her aides. DHS invoked the emergency at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer funded campaign. So there's a lot of evidence that this money was all insider baseball. It was all insider trading. It all went to people in the administration who got enriched again on off of taxpayer money, which makes Me ask the question, where are the fiscally responsive, responsible MAGA people? Like, why aren't they outraged at the fact that their hard earned money that according to them was stolen from them by their government, is going to enrich people who have no business getting enriched by that kind of money. $200 million.

[April Ajoy]

That's wild.

[Tim Whitaker]

That is crazy. Crazy. Oh my. I mean, I'm looking over the article. It's just. It's wild. It's wild. Oh my gosh. Anyway, yeah, so that is a thing. I mean, that is absolutely a thing.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah. Well, we'll see. We shall see what happens. Can I just say, just as a sidebar too, I've seen rumors and I saw CNN report today that there is some talks behind the scenes that Trump might also replace Pam Bondi. And then I've also seen some chatter online about possibly replacing Tulsi Gabbard also.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay.

[April Ajoy]

And I want to know, like, listen, I think they're all terrible. Like the whole cabinet is awful. But it is also a little bit irking me that the person that the people that Trump is getting rid of first are women and not like the incompetent RFK Jr. Or Pete Hegseth. Yeah, I mean, they're all terrible. It's not like any of them are have the credentials for their job.

[Tim Whitaker]

You're right, though. Maybe I'm just. Maybe I'm more in my feels today. I'm just feeling the weight and it's also a rainy day. I'm just like, I'm over it. I'm so over it. I just. You're right. RFK is a walking nightmare. We are experiencing measles outbreaks in the U.S. measles outbreaks in the U.S. because of their ridiculous anti vaccine agenda. Don't forget. Do. Do you remember that video of RFK and Kid Rock working out?

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I was literally just thinking about it. He dude went, I got to find it in jeans. He went swimming in jeans.

[Tim Whitaker]

Well, I got to find out. Oh yeah, here it is. Hold on.

[April Ajoy]

A crime, I think.

[Tim Whitaker]

Hold on.

[April Ajoy]

I can't even imagine how jeans wet jeans would feel on your skin.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh wait, is this a song on here? Oh yeah, I'm not gonna play because. Yeah, we'll get copyright struck. But I will just say it.

[April Ajoy]

Can you mute it?

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah, I muted it. Here's the audio. There you go. I mean, it is just. It's weird. First off, I go to the gym.

[April Ajoy]

It's homoerotic.

[Tim Whitaker]

I go to the gym semi often. And like I will tell you that no one Wears blue jeans in the gym. It's. It's bizarre. And look, not for nothing, but, like, Kid Rock isn't exactly the, like, epitome of fitness, you know what I mean?

[April Ajoy]

But, yeah, just I think I'm trying. Doing a push up in the back.

[Tim Whitaker]

I don't know what to do.

[April Ajoy]

Jeans are killing me, though.

[Tim Whitaker]

Killing me, killing me. He cold plunges in glue jeans. Oh, my gosh. We are living in a movie, April. We're living in a world that is just so unbelievable that our government is doing this stuff. You know what I mean? Like, the stuff that our government puts out from official accounts is truly unhinged behavior,

[April Ajoy]

really.

[Tim Whitaker]

But maybe it's a good time to say something that is positive. I mean, there's a lot. There is good news, of course. Did you see the article from New York Times that they were. They were at cpac and a lot of young MAGA people, like, a lot of, like, you know, kids in their 20s and, like, mid-20s and 30s, are really, like, disappointed with the state of the MAGA movement. And apparently CPAC was very empty and there was a lot of. A lot of complaining about there being really no direction in the MAGA movement. So that. That's a positive for me. I'll take that 100%.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I'll take that also.

[Tim Whitaker]

Total win.

[April Ajoy]

So it is kind of dying.

[Tim Whitaker]

I hope. I don't know. I hope so. All right, let's cut to a break briefly. We'll hear a word about tne and then we'll get into the Christian nationalism nonsense that we get to cover today for Easter, because Easter is coming up. Yeah. All right, be right back. Foreign.

[Jaja]

My name is Jaja. I'm from Waco, Texas, and I've been a listener of the TNE podcast for about a year now and have really appreciated the nuanced breakdown of current events, theology, and politics that Tim and the TNE team provides. I am a donor and supporter of tne, not only because I hope to see Yalls work expanded and the information further shared, but also because I am a listener who is probably, like many of the listeners, a person who has oftentimes become disillusioned by the Christian church in America and evangelicalism. And I have found a lot of encouragement and empathy from the work that TNA does, and I'm excited to be able to continue supporting Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.

[Mint Mobile Advertiser]

I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not Just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

[April Ajoy]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] hey everyone.

[Melinda Hale]

Thanks for tuning in to the Tim and April Show. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Melinda Hale and I am the executive Director of the New Evangelic. Under our media umbrella, we have three incredible podcasts for you to enjoy. We have the new Evangelicals podcast hosted by T and E founder Tim Whitaker and features one on one conversations that dive deep into theology, history and biblical understanding. Of course, we have the Tim and April show which focuses on current events from a faith based perspective. And our newest show, Advocacy Hour, hosted by myself and T and E board president Rebecca Thomas, spotlights ways where you can put your faith into action and actively show up in the world to advocate for justice, equity and compassion. If you haven't yet, please subscribe to all all of our shows as it only helps us as an organization reach a wider audience. Now, what you may not know about our organization is that outside of our media, we also offer free educational courses, free content and resources to help people in different parts of their journey. Everything from educational starter packs on anti racism, resources on how to be an ally, and we have a special component called TNE Action that gives you actionable items on how to show up in the world. Right now, everything that we offer as an organization is completely free. But if you want to help us sustain our work, from media to educational resources, you can do that by becoming a monthly donor at just $5 a month or making a one time donation. Either way, thank you so much for supporting the New Evangelicals. And you can learn more about what we offer and what we do by going to the newevangelicals.com now back to Tim in April.

[Tim Whitaker]

Thanks, Melinda. Super nice.

[April Ajoy]

Thanks, Melinda.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay, so. Oh gosh, where does one begin?

[April Ajoy]

I think we begin with Caroline Levitt.

[Tim Whitaker]

Classic. Okay. We can if you want. If you really want to cover her, we could do that.

[April Ajoy]

Okay.

[Tim Whitaker]

The first one we should do then

[April Ajoy]

is the amen one.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay. That's what I thought. So. Because I.

[April Ajoy]

This is, this is her coming out. I've seen reports before where she. She shared a video months ago of her of them praying.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

Before she goes out to do these press conferences. And so I just thought these people are just so, like, they wear their faith on their sleeves without actually following their faith, without actually doing anything. So I just thought, this is like

[Tim Whitaker]

so, so on Brand. Here we go. Listen to this.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah.

[Caroline Levitt]

Good afternoon, everyone. Could you hear our amen in there? We just said a little loud prayer as a team. In this Holy Week, President Trump and the first lady are joining in prayer with Christians celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[Tim Whitaker]

I am. My flabbers are gassed.

[April Ajoy]

What's that verse? Jesus says, and when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who pray to be seen. Yes. But do it quietly and privately, like, literally.

[Tim Whitaker]

Well, because they have received the reward in full.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah. Maybe she thought there was a loophole because it said who prayed to be seen and she just wanted to be prayed to be heard because they didn't see her. Maybe it's like one of those gray areas.

[Tim Whitaker]

You know what it is? It is such. It's ultimate virtue signaling. Like, again, every accusation is the confession she comes out. Did you hear us pray to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

[April Ajoy]

Do you?

[Tim Whitaker]

I mean, again, if she actually gave a flying crap about the Bible or about Jesus, she would obviously see the major difference between the Jesus she claims to worship and the administration she represents.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah.

[Tim Whitaker]

I don't know how you. I don't know how you brag about praying to Jesus. The same Jesus had told you to welcome the immigrant and to welcome the stranger and then brag about all the immigrants and strangers that you were either deporting or that you're killing or that you're kidnapping and disappearing. Call me a radical Marxist lunatic, I don't know how you square that circle,

[April Ajoy]

but because so many, like white evangelicals in America, their faith is just based on words and lip service and saying you're a Christian. And so they'll look at Caroline Levitt coming out and talking about Jesus and talking about Easter and literally being like, we just prayed. And to them they're like, oh, she's such a great Christian.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes.

[April Ajoy]

You don't actually have to look at what they actually are doing. The neighbors, they're loving. If they're following the teachings of Jesus because it's so much about just performance and belief, not action.

[Tim Whitaker]

That's it. And even belief, it's a specific belief. It's not the belief in the risen Jesus, it's the belief in, like, this white Jesus that tells you to kidnap your neighbors and to hate trans and queer people. That's what we're talking about here. I mean, April, you and I have covered this, but you and me would probably agree with, like, many conservative commentators like Ali Stuckey on pretty Christian Orthodox beliefs like the virgin birth, resurrection, et cetera. But because we have different politics, we are not Christian. We are heretics. And she is the true Bible believing Christian, right, that supports a regime where Caroline comes out and says, did you all hear us say amen? Aren't we amazing Christians? Aren't we? Be so proud of us. Okay?

[April Ajoy]

The way she does her little, like.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

Pep in her step, too. Okay, Did y' all hear our amen?

[Tim Whitaker]

Same press conference. Another clip here that I think is worth listening to.

[April Ajoy]

Check it out yesterday, and I quote him, God does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war. Can you comment on that?

[Caroline Levitt]

I think our nation was A nation founded 250 years ago almost on Judeo Christian values. And we've seen presidents, we've seen the leaders of the Department of War, and we've seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation's history. And I don't think there's anything wrong with our military leaders or with the President calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas. In fact, I think it's a very noble thing to do. And if you talk to many service members, they will tell you they appreciate the prayers and support from the Commander in Chief and from his Cabinet.

[Tim Whitaker]

So the context is that the Pope made that comment about how God does not hear the prayers of war. And again, like Caroline, just.

[April Ajoy]

The Pope.

[Tim Whitaker]

The freaking Pope again. Catholicism precedes Protestantism by like a thousand years, okay? They are the OG Christians, okay? They have a huge world of Catholic thought and theology. And he's absolutely right. And to hear her just so flippantly be like, well, you know, we at the Department of War pray. It's like, again, just like, put two and two together. Do you hear yourself? You're praying to the. As the Department of War. You're praying to the Prince of Peace, for God to guide your bullets. That's what Pete Hegseth prayed for. I think we covered it last. Last week. You're praying for God to guide your bullets to kill other human beings their marks. Yeah, yeah. Come on, guys.

[April Ajoy]

It can't be really violence.

[Tim Whitaker]

Well, Christian nationalism is a violent religion, right? It is built on power and domination. And violence can always be used in service to those aims. If they're on the side of Being the violence giver. If they're on the other end of that, then suddenly it's a huge problem, which, by the way, rightfully so. I think violence as a whole is not a good thing for the world. Right. It only creates more chaos. But you're never gonna see them want to be peacemakers. They're gonna want to be enforcers for their conquest, ultimately. Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah. So, okay, we got one more little Christian nationalist.

[Tim Whitaker]

This one, guys. I'm not gonna lie. This one sent me. This one sent me. It's a little bit longer. Trump. Yeah, go ahead.

[April Ajoy]

I was gonna say, I think this is at the White House Easter line.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes, yes, I was just gonna say that. Yep. In fact, you can see Franklin Graham to the right here. So on at the podium is Paula White. This is Trump's spiritual advisor, who also heads up the Faith Council in the White House. She invites a lot of her friends to worship in the White House with her because in her theology in the new Apostolic Reformation, she believes that worship, music and prayer are weapons of spiritual warfare to claim territory for the kingdom of God. So for her, this is not just about political power. This is a spiritual reality. So here she is. And again, guys, like, if you're driving listening to this, just buckle up, because this one, this might be one of the most wild videos I've seen in a minute. So here's what she had to say, and maybe we'll pause if we need to. Cause it's a longer clip.

[Paula White]

But as I prayed, it was like the Holy Spirit just zoned me in and said, tell President Trump how thankful you are for him. And I think I'm.

[Tim Whitaker]

I already hate it. I already hate it. I'm sorry. I already hate it.

[April Ajoy]

There's, like, so many children that are starving and.

[Tim Whitaker]

Right.

[April Ajoy]

Like, schools being bombed, like, all these things, but God took time.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes, yes.

[April Ajoy]

Tell Paula White.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes.

[April Ajoy]

You need to tell Donald Trump thank

[Tim Whitaker]

you for being best friends with a pedophile. Like, what are we thanking him for?

[April Ajoy]

Right.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay, we just started. We'll keep going. They stood up. They are giving this a standing ovation. Who's the guy on the left? Who is that? I'm blanking on his name. Who just walked on the guy?

[April Ajoy]

That's Robert Jeffries.

[Tim Whitaker]

Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Robert Jeffries, another mega church pastor. Sorry.

[April Ajoy]

Also Franklin Graham. Is he clapping, too?

[Tim Whitaker]

Yes, they're all clapping. And the room stood up for that comment.

[Paula White]

And I felt like I was conveying the heart of God for all of us, that we are thankful for the greatest Champion of faith.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, my God.

[Paula White]

That we've ever seen in a president. And we honor you because of your bold, unwavering conviction and stand for religious liberty here in America and around the world. And you recognize the power and the name of Jesus Christ. I remember when we told our first briefing, you can now pray again and worship again.

[Tim Whitaker]

I can.

[April Ajoy]

I stupid.

[Tim Whitaker]

I am losing it. I'm not going to curse, but, God, I want to. I am losing my. My gosh darn freaking mind.

[April Ajoy]

Like we can worship again. When have you ever not been able to worship?

[Tim Whitaker]

I think she's talking about in the White House, which, by the way, there were Bible studies held under the Obama administration. It's just. It is. It is insane. It is. We are living in insanity. These are like. They are brain. And by the way, I want to highlight something here that most people are not going to be able to recognize because you and I grew up in this world. Let me be very clear about something. The guy on the left, Robert Jeffries, is the pastor of the largest Baptist church in Texas. Paula White is a megachurch pastor that comes out of the prosperity gospel movement. They do not agree on almost anything theologically. Robert Jeffries doesn't even believe that Paula White can be a pastor. He doesn't believe that women can be pastors. Okay. Robert Jeffries doesn't believe in speaking in tongues or the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And yet here he is next to Paula White, affirming her delusion that the Holy Spirit told her to tell Trump, thank you. That's why we say that Christian nationalism is all about political power. They will jettison their own theological convictions to work together for power and control. And this picture says it's a thousand words or more. It's wild. It's wild. Okay, I can do this. Here we go.

[Paula White]

Begin to shout and praise and say thank you, Lord, and sing in their highest ways for your unwavering recognition that the strength of a nation is through almighty God. And you have not backed away from any of this. Thank you for allowing me to serve you, to serve people of faith and to serve the American people. I've heard many people take credit for you being here or for some of your victories and for being in the sacred office of the president.

[April Ajoy]

Can you pause for a second?

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah, I caught you.

[April Ajoy]

Trump has the weirdest, weirdest resting face.

[Tim Whitaker]

How do you even do that?

[April Ajoy]

Right? He just looks completely disinterested.

[Tim Whitaker]

He also. He. Yeah, yeah, okay. Because he doesn't care. Trump does. This is. This is what is so wild about this situation. Does anyone listening to this stream really think that Trump gives a flying flip about Paula White's theology or about Jesus or God or. No, he doesn't care about any of it. But Paula White is convinced that the God of the universe is telling her to thank Trump.

[April Ajoy]

I think it's really cute that you just said flying flip.

[Tim Whitaker]

I'm trying to be better.

[April Ajoy]

There's a couple people in the comments that are offering us money to cuss.

[Homeschool Mom]

Ooh.

[April Ajoy]

Listen, our boss said no more cussing.

[Tim Whitaker]

We're trying to keep it to be a family friendly show. Okay?

[April Ajoy]

We must. We resist the temptation.

[Tim Whitaker]

You cannot serve both God and money, everyone. Nice try. Get you behind me, Satan.

[April Ajoy]

Not today, Satan.

[Tim Whitaker]

Okay, let's keep going.

[Paula White]

The truth of it is, is you are here because of God and because of you.

[Tim Whitaker]

Look at him clap. I'm sorry, his. His. His clap is. Can I. Can I say something a little bit rude here? His clap is pathetic. It is so wimpy. He's a.

[April Ajoy]

What are you doing?

[Tim Whitaker]

It's just. And he pats them on the. You know what it is? These people are obsessed with power. They are power hungry. They are power hungry and they look ridiculous. Ridiculous. Okay, breathe.

[Paula White]

And I just wanted to share this thought and pray over President Trump. Jesus taught us so many lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection. He showed us great leadership. Great transformation requires great sacrifice.

[Tim Whitaker]

Before she goes forward, I just want to highlight here that she completely glossed over the actual teachings of Jesus. This is a pastor. This is a pastor. And she glosses over the teachings of Jesus because she knows they're not compatible with anything Trump does. And to compare a ready Trump to Trump's leadership to the leadership of Jesus is wild to me. Because Jesus taught his followers that if in order to become the greatest, you should become the least. He washed his disciples feet. That's his leadership, not Trump's. Oh, my God. Okay, you ready? This is where it gets crazy. People aren't ready for this. Are you ready?

[April Ajoy]

Yeah. Buckle up.

[Tim Whitaker]

Just making sure.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah.

[Paula White]

And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn't end there for him and it didn't end there for you.

[Tim Whitaker]

I am appalled. This is. I'm gonna use a Christian term. This is blasphemy.

[April Ajoy]

No, it's straight up blasphemy.

[Tim Whitaker]

We are literally. This was in honor of Easter. Again, for people who don't know. I mean, Easter is. For devout Christians, Easter is not just about the Easter bunnies or a holiday. It represents the resurrection. It represents that God incarnated through Jesus defeated death. And the Christian has hoped to look towards a future where death doesn't have the final say. It's a very holy and, like, you know, mystical holiday for us. And for Paul the White to desecrate what is such a beautiful time of celebration and resurrection by comparing Jesus, the man who was murdered by the state, to a man who is murdering people on behalf of the state is so unbelievable. It's. It's wicked. Like, it is just wicked to watch

[April Ajoy]

her do this with everything that's happening too. I honestly thought that the Jesus Trump comparisons would stop by MAGA people because, I mean, his popularity is getting low. He's starting wars, is not going well.

[Tim Whitaker]

Not at all.

[April Ajoy]

But I really do think MAGA Christians and these Christian leaders like Paula White, Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffries, the people that enabled Donald Trump and used God and weaponized scripture to put this man in power, they're either going to go down as just like straight up sinister, evil people that did that, or they're going to go down as the stupidest people in the history of the world. Like, I don't understand. It's gotta be one or the two. One of the two. They're either fully aware of what they're doing or they're truly can't see him for how obviously terrible he is.

[Tim Whitaker]

I can't think of anything more Antichrist than this. I really cannot. I cannot. I could not. And again, imagine somebody doing this to Joe Biden. I would. I would also be appalled. But, like, you think the right would be all over it? Yes. Yes, they would. You think Ali Stucky. We have a whole hour long podcast about the blasphemy of comparing Jesus to Biden.

[April Ajoy]

Yes.

[Tim Whitaker]

But again, this is the world that makes books like this. Christ Trump the Persecution of a Man. Okay, this book is published. This is a published book. It's crazy. Oh, my gosh. Okay, let's keep going. We're almost done here, but wow.

[April Ajoy]

More.

[Paula White]

God always had a plan. On the third day, he rose. He defeated evil. He conquered death, hell and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up because he was victorious. You were victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this. Because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hand to.

[April Ajoy]

This pisses me off.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, I'm livid.

[April Ajoy]

I'm living someone who loves Jesus. I was, like, given my entire life to following Jesus, reading his Word and trying to be as Christlike as possible. Hearing this woman say that my Lord and Savior's death and resurrection is the reason Donald Trump is in power pisses me off to no end.

[Tim Whitaker]

I'm right there with you.

[April Ajoy]

Who laid down his life for the marginalized.

[Tim Whitaker]

That's right.

[April Ajoy]

And literally ate with prostitutes, ate with tax collectors, ate with everybody that we're told were bad people. That he was there with the sinners. He stood up for the marginalized and fought for the marginalized that his death and life was supposed to lead to. Donald Trump, the serial adulterer who was not only just accused. Paula. He was almost cussed.

[Tim Whitaker]

I know, I know. I'm back there. I want to curse.

[April Ajoy]

Convicted, Paula.

[Tim Whitaker]

Convicted. He's a convicted felon, and he's unrepentant. Trump is the most unrepentant man to walk the planet. He has a credible accusation that the FBI found credible of a woman claiming that he abused her as a child. He was best friends with a prolific pedophile. He's all over the Epstein files. His administration is killing people in the streets and kidnapping immigrants, and she has the audacity to compare him to Jesus freaking Christ, the Middle Eastern Palestinian Jewish

[April Ajoy]

man who said, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah.

[April Ajoy]

And what you do to the least of these, you do to me. What are you doing?

[Tim Whitaker]

How do these people get in power? How do they actually get an audience and see them as a spiritual leader? Like, how. This is like the. Maybe this is the clearest case I've seen yet in my six years of doing this. Of something that is so. It should be universally bad. Like, every person out there who's a Christian mag is supporting or not. She'd be like, wow, Paula White is on one. Maybe we should rethink about having her be the spiritual advisor in the White House for Christian issues, because she is the Lulu. Angry.

[April Ajoy]

Clapping and clapping.

[Tim Whitaker]

Clapping.

[April Ajoy]

Standing ovation. Look at Robert Jeffries. Blood on their hands. These people have blood on their hands.

[Tim Whitaker]

Look at this man clap. I'm going to lower the audio. Look at that man clap. It's just.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, we can't see.

[Paula White]

I just wanted to share.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, you can't see it. Sorry, sorry. My bad. I was so. I was so enraged. Look.

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, that was Satan.

[Tim Whitaker]

Look at him. Look at him clap.

[April Ajoy]

It's just.

[Paula White]

And I just wanted to share.

[April Ajoy]

This is a real weak clap.

[Tim Whitaker]

It's so pretentious.

[April Ajoy]

It's almost like his body. His body is being like, we know this man's terrible. So it's almost like his body is fighting against him.

[Tim Whitaker]

Look, I don't know what happens when we die, okay? If there is a judgment, if there is, if all the stuff that we believe is true, wow, they're going to be in for it. And I'm going to be in the first fricking row of popcorn being like, mm, mm, mm. Tell em. Because I do not know how your cognitive faculties can read the words of Jesus and then say that about Trump in comparison.

[April Ajoy]

Whoo.

[Tim Whitaker]

And that wasn't even our weird Christian bleep.

[April Ajoy]

That was an entire weird Christian section.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, my God. Okay, well, now that we're done raging out on that, friends, if you're enjoying this stream, please make sure to give this video a like and subscribe to the channel. Don't forget, the New evangelicals is doing a whole month on intersectionality when it comes to different faith leaders and introductions to different faith traditions. Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. You can find all those things at TNE Connect. Go to thenewevangelicals.com connect to get involved. It's totally free. Going to be a great time. Hopefully you'll learn something a little more credible than Trump is just like, Jesus. I, I Something tells me you definitely will. So if you're looking for that better path forward in faith, by all means, ignore Paula White, go to TNE Connect and sign up, because my freaking God. All right, let's get into our final and hopefully more fun segment than that weird Christian. Okay, do we just hit play and see what happens?

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I think this is like a homeschool mom. Her stuff showed up on my feed a couple of times, and this one showed up on my feed as well.

[Tim Whitaker]

Buckle up, friends. Here we go.

[Homeschool Mom]

Some of y' all aren't gonna like this, but in my house, when the kids are like, oh, can we go do this today? Can we go do that today? Can so and so. Come over. Can we have this for dinner? You know what I say? Let's ask your daddy. Daddy ain't even here while we asking Daddy. Because I want my kids to understand he's the leader of this home. So even though I can make these decisions all by myself because my husband actually doesn't care, most of the time, my kids are gonna think that he does because I want them to see a strong man lead a house, and I want them to trust that their daddy is the leader of a house because I want my Daughter to know that when she marries a man, she needs to marry a solid leader. And I need my daughter sons to know that they will grow up to be a salad leader because God said so. Just saying.

[Tim Whitaker]

There you go.

[April Ajoy]

Ew.

[Tim Whitaker]

I don't want to hear the word daddy ever again.

[April Ajoy]

Also, she's cosplaying as someone submitting to her husband. She's literally like her herself is just saying I'm going to make my kids think I'm submitting to my husband.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yep.

[April Ajoy]

But just saying she's not.

[Tim Whitaker]

I'm really in. Yeah. Why? Why? Like, why do you need to do that? Why? Why?

[April Ajoy]

So God never said that ever.

[Tim Whitaker]

Like, there's no Bible verse that says go ask your husband before your kids can go outside and play. It's not the text.

[April Ajoy]

Even based on the umbrella graphic, you got God and then your husband and then the wife and then the children right underneath the wife, meaning she should have dominion even on a complementarian theology.

[Tim Whitaker]

But no, no, no. Even when selfishly, I don't want to get a thousand phone calls while I'm not at home with my wife asking me a million questions about what she can and can't do. I'd be like, stop. Make your own grown up decisions. I don't know. To tell you, take the kids out and play. I don't know. Why are you calling me?

[April Ajoy]

I feel bad for her daughter. Like, she wants her daughter to grow up knowing she's gonna have to find a man to lead her. Like, empower that young girl. She can make her own decisions.

[Tim Whitaker]

Women. Yeah. I'm so tired, April. I'm so tired.

[April Ajoy]

It's been a year.

[Tim Whitaker]

It's been. We just got started. It's only April. Hey, it's April. I'm talking to April.

[April Ajoy]

No, it's my month.

[Tim Whitaker]

It's your month.

[April Ajoy]

I once did a. I ran for student government at my college and my slogan was make it April all year long.

[Tim Whitaker]

Did it work?

[April Ajoy]

Yeah, I got. I did. It did work. I got voted. It worked. Yeah, it's great.

[Tim Whitaker]

Great. All right, friends. Well, listen, thanks for coming in and hanging out with us for today's livestream. I know it was a pretty intense one, but that's what we do every Thursday, 12 o' clock Eastern. Exposing Christian nationalism and letting you know that there's a better path forward in faith. So hang in there. You are not alone. This is tough stuff for sure, but we have to keep the pressure on this regime. The good news is that, you know, I think about the no Kings March a record amount nationally, 8 million plus people were out there. There is a lot. I think. I think the younger generation of MAGA people are not hopeful, which could be good or could be bad because they could be going more to the right. But I do think that there is. With midterms coming out, there is an opportune time for us to really push back this kind of Christian nationalism and this Paula White, you are Jesus, Donald Trump nonsense. So hang in there. You are not.

[April Ajoy]

There's breaking news in the. In the chat.

[Tim Whitaker]

What? What? What happened?

[April Ajoy]

Pam Bondi was fired.

[Tim Whitaker]

What?

[April Ajoy]

Hold on.

[Tim Whitaker]

I'm looking it up.

[April Ajoy]

I'm fact checking it in real time. I literally just talked about this.

[Tim Whitaker]

It's breaking news. I got it. Pull it right up here. Boom. Here we go. Pam Bondi ousted as Attorney General. Wow. This updated a minute ago. You heard it here first, folks. And on cnn. Maybe you heard it here second. Yeah. She'll be replaced by Todd Blanche. Yep. Bondi was in attendance for Trump's address to the nation on Wednesday. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. Yeah, yeah. Yep.

[April Ajoy]

I swear, if they fire another woman before they fire a man.

[Tim Whitaker]

I mean, Pete Heggs, that should be toast.

[April Ajoy]

Social RFK Junior.

[Tim Whitaker]

Oh, my God. Yeah. 100%. Who would you. Who would you want gone first? I think rfk,

[April Ajoy]

Really? I think Pete Hegseth with the war, like, someone who's not so, like, gun happy.

[Tim Whitaker]

I was thinking the vaccine stuff, but you're right.

[April Ajoy]

Or trigger happy. I mean, honestly, would they both just need to be gone?

[Tim Whitaker]

No, I totally agree.

[April Ajoy]

So that's true. The vaccine stuff's important, too. That's like a. That's a more slower death than.

[Tim Whitaker]

Yeah, yeah.

[April Ajoy]

The bombs that Pete Hegseth is in control of.

[Tim Whitaker]

Same.

[Paula White]

All right, friends.

[Tim Whitaker]

So thanks for being here. It means the world. And we will catch you on the next live. So I'm Tim Whitaker.

[April Ajoy]

I'm April Ajoy.

[Tim Whitaker]

I need my right button. Where is the button? Wow, my screen. I'm all messed up today. Oh, there it is. Okay, See you.