12. 100 Days of Trump: White House Worship While The World Burns

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Tim & April Show - Episode 12: "100 Days of Trump: White House Worship While The World Burns"

Introduction

In Episode 12 of The Tim & April Show, hosted by The New Evangelicals, Tim and April delve deep into the intertwining realms of faith, politics, and culture. Titled "100 Days of Trump: White House Worship While The World Burns," the episode critically examines the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency, highlighting the administration's impact on American society, the surprising support from white evangelicals, and the unsettling blend of religion and politics.

Trump's First 100 Days: A Critical Evaluation

Tim and April open the discussion by assessing Donald Trump's inaugural 100 days in office. They present a series of alarming statistics that underscore widespread dissatisfaction with Trump's policies and leadership.

• Economic Mismanagement: "55% of Americans disapprove of how he's handling jobs," Tim notes ([14:33]). The duo highlights that the economy has worsened since Trump took office, with 53% believing prices are escalating and 72% fearing his policies might trigger a recession.

• Immigration Policies: April expresses shock that "46% of Americans approve of his handling of immigration" ([16:15]), citing heartbreaking instances of family separations and deportations, including tragic cases involving young children.

• Governance and Ethics: The hosts discuss Trump's overreach in executive power, pointing out that "64% of Americans think the President is going too far in trying to expand his own power" ([20:50]). They compare his disapproval ratings unfavorably against historical figures, noting that Trump's 55% disapproval is the highest since the Truman administration ([20:50]).

Tim summarizes Trump's performance with stark data: Trump's approval ratings in his first 100 days are the lowest among presidents since Truman, with economic indicators plummeting and federal funding for critical sectors like medical research slowing dramatically ([23:39]).

Hate Mail and Community Reactions

Transitioning from national policy critiques to personal interactions, Tim and April read through a particularly harsh hate message they received. The message ridicules their religious beliefs, accuses them of hypocrisy, and personally insults both hosts ([04:56]–[07:12]). Tim and April respond with a mix of humor and frustration, emphasizing the challenges of navigating hostile online environments while maintaining their faith and mission.

White Evangelicals' Surprising Support for Trump

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to unpacking the unexpected and substantial support Donald Trump garners from white evangelical Christians. Citing recent Pew Research data, Tim reveals that "72% of white evangelicals approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing" ([43:18]). This statistic astonishes both hosts, given the administration's controversial policies and negative societal impacts.

• Ethics and Approval: "Seven in 10 white evangelicals rate the ethics of Trump administration officials as excellent or good," April highlights ([43:18]–[49:27]). Tim critiques this support as being rooted in Christian nationalism rather than genuine religious values, suggesting that these evangelicals worship a distorted version of Christianity aligned with Trump's authoritarian tendencies ([45:08]–[51:00]).

• Contrasting Perspectives: April contrasts the support from white evangelicals with overwhelming disapproval from other Christian demographics. For instance, "Only 10% of black Protestants approve of Trump's handling of his job as president," underscoring a racial divide within Christian communities ([43:18]–[49:27]).

The hosts lament the widening gap between true Christian teachings and the political actions endorsed by many within the white evangelical community. April emphasizes, "We don't worship Jesus, we worship a white Jesus who believes in more guns and less healthcare," pointing to the fundamental misalignment between their faith and Trump's policies ([51:14]–[57:37]).

Worship at the White House: Symbols of Hypocrisy

A pivotal moment in the episode is the discussion of white evangelical leaders conducting worship services at the White House. Tim and April express deep disappointment and frustration over seeing prominent Christian figures like Paula White and Sean Foyt praising Trump in this sacred space.

• Symbolic Worship: April criticizes the act of worshiping a president whose policies contradict Christian values, stating, "What God are you worshiping?" ([56:54]–[58:40]). Tim adds that these worship events are mere photo-ops, designed to showcase allegiance to Trump rather than genuine spiritual devotion ([51:48]–[58:40]).

• Notable Figures Critiqued: The hosts specifically call out Paula White, Calvin Robinson, Josh Howerton, and Sean Foyt for their roles in promoting a form of Christianity that aligns with and supports Trump's agenda ([53:00]–[58:40]). They argue that these leaders prioritize political power over authentic Christian teachings, effectively using worship as a tool for spiritual warfare in favor of Trump ([57:37]–[58:40]).

April elaborates on Greg Laurie's participation in White House worship services, highlighting the theological ignorance and cognitive dissonance in comparing such events to religious practices like worship in heaven ([60:03]–[67:16]). Tim reinforces this by pointing out the dissonance between preaching love and simultaneously supporting policies that harm marginalized communities ([66:14]–[67:16]).

Persecution Complex vs. White Evangelical Privilege

The podcast delves into the paradoxical narrative where white evangelicals claim persecution while simultaneously holding significant societal power. Tim and April dissect this phenomenon, suggesting that it reflects a deep-seated cognitive dissonance within the community.

• Dual Realities: April emphasizes the dichotomy between advocating for marginalized groups and supporting oppressive policies, stating, "If you're persecuted, sign me up for persecution," ([81:24]–[83:58]). They argue that white evangelicals, who often lead privileged lives, simultaneously police and oppress other Christians who embody true Christian values, such as Reverend William Barber ([75:29]–[78:36]).

• Selective Persecution Claims: Tim addresses the unequal enforcement of policies by highlighting that while Reverend Barber and others advocating for social justice face arrests, white evangelicals conducting worship at the White House do not face similar repercussions ([76:14]–[84:38]). This selective persecution underscores the power dynamics at play and the hypocrisy within the white evangelical support for Trump ([77:11]–[84:38]).

Humorous and Critical Commentary

In an attempt to balance their serious critiques, Tim and April incorporate humor, particularly during a segment involving a sloth video.

• Sloth Video Satire: They play a video of a sloth, which is absurdly connected to Christian persecution through forced cognitive association ([85:08]–[90:35]). This segment serves as a satirical take on how some evangelicals distort unrelated content to fit their narratives, highlighting the absurdity and forced connections often present in evangelical rhetoric ([86:31]–[90:35]).

Closing Reflections and Upcoming Content

As the episode nears its end, Tim and April reflect on the broader implications of their discussions. They express a desire to foster understanding and change within their community by advocating for compassion over alienation. They emphasize the importance of engaging with those who regret their support for Trump, aiming to guide them towards recognizing and opposing harmful policies without demonizing them outright ([37:40]–[40:17]).

• Call to Action: The hosts encourage listeners to participate in upcoming episodes, including a deep dive on the Apostolic Reformation, and invite the community to share story ideas and engage with the show through various platforms ([91:00]–[93:13]).

• Future Directions: They hint at experimenting with more casual, community-focused live sessions to balance the heavy topics discussed, seeking to maintain a supportive and engaging environment for their audience ([93:13]–[95:09]).

Notable Quotes

Throughout the episode, Tim and April deliver several impactful statements that encapsulate their critique and concerns:

• "The majority of Americans disapprove of the job that Trump is doing." ([14:33])
• "We are in the world's stupidest timeline." ([13:51])
• "White evangelicals worship a white Jesus who believes in more guns and less healthcare." ([57:37])
• "This is not about biblical values; it's about white Christian supremacy." ([81:24])
• "How did America elect this man?" ([14:08])
• "The cognitive dissonance is glaring." ([67:54])

Conclusion

Episode 12 of The Tim & April Show presents a scathing critique of Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, emphasizing the detrimental effects of his policies on American society. The hosts shed light on the unexpected staunch support from white evangelicals, exploring the deeper underpinnings of Christian nationalism and its divergence from genuine Christian teachings. Through a blend of data-driven analysis, personal reflections, and sharp commentary, Tim and April underscore the urgent need for introspection and change within religious communities to combat the alarming trends perpetuated by the current administration.

Listeners are left with a profound understanding of the complex interplay between faith and politics in contemporary America, urging a re-examination of values, support systems, and the true essence of Christian teachings in the face of rising authoritarianism and societal division.

Transcript

[Tim]

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

[April]

Hello.

[Tim]

Hello.

[April]

Hi.

[Tim]

Thursday and a happy first day of May.

[April]

Oh, yeah. Yes. Isn't that. Isn't that when you drop the. The good old JT meme? It's gonna be May, I gotta say.

[Tim]

You're supposed to do it leading up to May, right? Like, oh, so yesterday would have like, y'all, today's the last day of April, but tomorrow it's gonna be May, right?

[April]

Because if you did that today, it wouldn't make sense because. No, it is May.

[Tim]

It is May. Yeah, it.

[April]

It is May. It doesn't work out that way.

[Tim]

And this could just be my algorithm, but I didn't see any it's going to be May memes this year.

[April]

I didn't either. Does that mean, though, does that mean that we are old?

[Tim]

Well, I was going to. I was going to blame Trump, but maybe because we're old too. I don't know.

[April]

Gen Z and Gen Alpha's like, what. Who. What is a jt? What. It's going to be May. I don't understand. It's like, oh, back in the days of MySpace, this is a very popular thing we would always do before May came along.

[Tim]

People in the comments are saying that they saw them. So it's messed me in my algorithm, I will say my algorithm right now on Threads is almost like 99.9% sinners. Lore and conversation and just theories about the movie. Sinners. Have you seen Sinners?

[April]

I've heard so much buzz and I. I am going to see it. I just got back from Nashville last night at 2:30 in the morning. I have had no headspace for it, so I have not. I'm assuming that. I'm assuming, though, that you have.

[Tim]

I have. Beecher and I went and saw it last weekend and it was really, really good. It is a horror film.

[April]

Oh, it's horror.

[Tim]

Okay. It's vampire horror.

[April]

Okay. I.

[Tim]

So if you can. If you get like, vampire, I will say, like, I'm not really a big horror fan. Also, it's really hard for me to say that word. I can't say horror without sounding like I'm saying horror anyway. But there's some jump scares and it is gory, but it's kind of like campy gore and it's in. It's in like really dark ish scenes, so it kind of gives a lot of COVID to it.

[April]

I have a hard time with horror. I get. I get scared. So Easily. I think people who go to haunted houses need a mental evaluation. I, I, the movie. The Happening. M. Night Shyamalan. Suspenseful. I was covering my face. Couldn't do it. However, there are moments, though, where I will break out of that and be able to survive something. Like, for example, I don't like Real Blood and Guts, but I've watched the Pit on HBO Max, and it's like a medical ER show. We blew through that thing in, like, four days because it was so good. So I've heard enough positivity about Sinners where I'm sure I'll go and see it and really enjoy it.

[Tim]

You can handle it. Just know Vampire, right? And then.

[April]

Got it.

[Tim]

Yeah. And it's, it's. I would say it's pretty light on the horror side.

[April]

Perfect. But it's good, though. Everyone's raving about it.

[Tim]

Oh, no, it's excellent. And there's so many, like, symbolism and layers and that's why my threads is all of that.

[April]

Okay, got it.

[Tim]

Talk about that. So it's probably why I missed the it's going to be maybe memes this year.

[April]

I guess we're on the wrong side of the Internet because to your point, I didn't see one either. Not, not one. But then again, my for you page is like, Charlie Kirk, Mark Driscoll, Ali Stuckey, and then like one Deconstruction Influencer. That's, that's my entire. For your page on, on Instagram, on all of my accounts. So I get what I deserve, I guess. I don't know.

[Tim]

Yeah, a lot of suffering. Well, speaking of suffering, we got, we got some hate mail.

[April]

Oh, yeah, we did, didn't we? Yeah, we should read that. It's actually kind of funny. Also, friends, welcome to the show, by the way. We are live, as you all know. If you can give the video a. Like, that'd be so awesome. And subscribe to the channel. But yeah, we, I mean, we don't get a lot of hate mail, April. I feel like overall, it's, it's pretty mum. Usually we get. So we get, we get the occasional mean comment, but that's the Internet, right? It's how it goes. But we did get, like, a real dm. That was pretty brutal. So why don't we start by reading some fan mail? Yeah.

[Tim]

Yeah. Fan mail. I should call it fan mail. Yeah.

[April]

Yeah. Here you go. Here we go.

[Tim]

We're not going to name this person. It's real person out there, you know?

[April]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim]

No, no. Shade or hate or whatever. He's dishing back to us.

[April]

Right?

[Tim]

So here's a message that we got in our dms. Making fun of other people's religious beliefs and practices on how they worship their God is not the flex you think it is. It's gross. So much hypocrisy too. You love illegals but don't love Christians with an apostrophe. S. I'm confused. Tim also creeps me out. He looks like he has some sort of creepy fetish porn addiction. And the April chick looks like your average basic Karen. Glad you two made a dumb show. We all really needed this.

[April]

Wow.

[Tim]

I. I'm a little offended by the Karen situation. Like, why can't he call me a demon or a Jezebel, like a real man?

[April]

Yeah, right up. What a low level insult. I mean, this is like low hanging fruit. I will say, you know, like, like the first half of this, the first half of this, I'm like, okay, I. I kind of get this. Except for you love illegals but don't love Christians. As if undocumented immigrants are incapable of being Christian. Like, it's. It must be impossible. You can only be a Christian or an undocumented immigrant. You can't be both. It's impossible. You have to love the other.

[Tim]

Not to mention he missed the whole like, part of our story where we are still Christians.

[April]

Yeah, right, Right. But then he goes to, he looks like me, has some sort of creepy fetish porn addiction. Like, why would you think that? I don't. Okay, that's a weird. I mean, bro, you know, make fun of my eyebrows, make fun of, of my thinning hair, make fun of the fact that I talk too much. I don't know, like, I could give you a list of things that you can mock about me that, that would actually be more on point than he looks like he has some sort of creepy fetish porn addiction.

[Tim]

Right. And also, like, even if you were like in defeat or something, you know, like, we don't keep shame here.

[April]

I'm not for the record, but I agree. We don't king shame, you know, for people have their things and that's for them to discuss because. But anyway, yeah, we did get some. We. We got some fan mail and it feels real good. Oh, wait, wait, someone. Okay, Tammy. First up, Tammy, I'm happily married, but I will read this comment. He thinks that because you're sexy. Tim. Tammy, you know what? I'm going to. I'm going to walk around the pep of my stuff today. Like, look at that. The Internet. Thank you so Much.

[Tim]

So let's not have any more comments like that. We don't need this going to. Tim said it doesn't.

[April]

I promise. I live all day. Like, you know the Internet, you're just like. You always wonder how you're perceived online, just in general. Forget like about like, you know, that kind of stuff. You're always just wondering like, I think I come across this way. And then someone will say something where it's like, no ma'am, you come across this way and it's like, oh, okay, good to know. I think I, I deal with that all the time. But maybe it's just me, right?

[Tim]

Yeah, maybe it's just me. Well, super basic Karen. No, sorry. Average.

[April]

Average.

[Tim]

Average. How rude.

[April]

You're an average basic Karen. That's what it says.

[Tim]

Yeah, that's kind of redundant. Average basic.

[April]

So I was, I was away for the past two days. I got home at 2 o'clock in the morning because I was at the Post Evangelical Collective. This is actually interesting. It's, it's, I'm not going to call it a denomination, but it's a bunch of people. A lot of us, a lot of them are like you and me. April kind of grew up in the evangelical world. A lot of pastors, leaders and they, they form this, like this network of different churches that are, you know, fully inclusive and affirming. And they do a conference every year and I went out to it and it was actually really good. It was really good and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I'm gonna pull up their website and give them a little shout out. So this is their website and they say that they. The Post Evangelical Collective exists to connect, cultivate and resource Post Evangelical churches. We are church leaders, artists and other stakeholders who find ourselves estranged from the dominant expression of American Christianity. So I know a lot of people out there ask me, I'm sure they asked you to, April, do you know of any good churches that we could attend? You know, affirming churches, churches that are inclusive and trying to, you know, be anti racist, etc. And the post Evangelical Collective is a network of churches trying to do that. So I had a great time and it was, it was nice being embodied with people. I think that's the reason. I think that's like my, my biggest reason. I go to events in person. It's so much better than doing a camera and doing it digitally. Being able to spend two days with people, embodied, have the conversations, you know, connect with folks. It's just really nice. Especially folks who see a lot of the same problems and issues that we see with the church and with politics. So I had a really good time, for sure.

[Tim]

That's great. And I think, I think one thing we've all learned in this chaos is that in person, community is really important. To meet people locally and to join collectives that can. Where you can meet other people that are nearby and to fellowship. Fellowship together. Not to use like a Christianese evangelical word, but, you know.

[April]

Well, I mean, I, I think that, April, you and I realized this too. Like, when you lose your church community, you. You realize like, how important it was like to your soul just to have people in your corner that you were with. You know, like the, the sense of belonging is really important. And I feel like one of the real downsides of deconstruction or whatever you want to call it, renegotiating faith, is that you can lose some of those communities that you were a part of and you. It's hard to find another one. And, you know, look at this point for me, like, do I miss church? I mean, I miss parts of church. I miss the sense of belonging and sense of community. And so I think that groups like the post evangelical collective and others that are trying to build networks of people that are trying to center around healthy, inclusive theologies and think about how do we promote the well being of all of our neighbors, not just some, and how do we think about community in healthy ways? All that kind of stuff is really important because you and I, we do digital content. We do this work. This is kind of our contribution. Right. Exposing Christian nationalism and talking about it and letting people know online that, hey, you're not alone in your faith journey and in what you're seeing. But we can't fill the gap or the need of. You need people in your local community that you can hang out with and feel seen and feel connected to. So being there was, was just really nice. It was a good time.

[Tim]

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, in other good news, Canada had an election.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

And the Liberal, not the far right dude. The Liberal won. And I think this is fascinating because at the beginning of the year, the Liberal Party was down by 20 points. Like, they had a comeback with a huge swing to win. And I think a lot of it is because they saw what Trump was doing and what was happening in America because we elected a far right dude. And Canada was like, no, thank you. No, thank you.

[April]

Oh, no. Oh no. April, we're so back. America is back. We're winning. We're crushing it. I'm not sure why Canada would not follow our lead. We are exceptional after all.

[Tim]

And.

[April]

And go far, right? I mean, look how it's working out for us. Our health care is being decimated. We're defunding everyone. We're killing cancer research. We're deporting children as young as 2 years, 2 years old to different countries. I mean, why would, why would you not vote for this? It makes complete sense to me.

[Tim]

Yeah. Yeah. So congrats to Canada and Mark Carney for, For winning that. You know, I'm a little bit jealous, but I gotta be honest. Like, why shouldn't we just have done that too?

[April]

I gotta say, Canada's looking better and better every day. You guys got, like, afford health care over there, right? That sounds real nice.

[Tim]

No kidding. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So the last thing we got to do in this section before we move on to our main story is Trump's golf tracker.

[April]

Boom. I'm ready for it. I knew where you were going. Yeah. Okay, so here's, here's the update. I will say Trump's golfing habits have dropped a little bit. He has spent 23.76% of his percentage of his presidency golfing, which is down from, I think, 24.6% last time. So he dropped a whole percentage point. Huge, of course. Massive. And he has officially spent 24 days golfing out of 101 days in office. So there we go. That's the.

[Tim]

So he's, he's his. He's under a quarter. He was at a quarter and above.

[April]

Yeah, yeah, he's down pretty much today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep. Just like our economy, he's trending downward, so it's great.

[Tim]

Oh, well, speaking of Trump, he. We recently just went through his, his hundred days. Like, you know, I feel like we need to, like, almost cheers. You know, we survived 100 days of Trump so far. We're here. Woohoo.

[April]

Doesn't it feel, though, like it's been so much longer than 100 days? It feels like. It feels like in Jumanji, Robin Williams, when he comes out of the game, he's like, what year is it? That's what it feels like for me. I'm like, I'm like, wait, it's only been 100 days? Because it feels like it's been years.

[Tim]

I know, it really does. It's gone by so slow and it's just been nonstop chaos.

[April]

Oh, my God.

[Tim]

We've got a bunch of charts to show you.

[April]

We do, we do.

[Tim]

From, like, his approval ratings down, there's like, these charts are not surprising. If you've been paying attention at all, what Trump is doing, they're not surprising.

[April]

I mean, look, here's the reality, right? The majority of Americans disapprove of the job that Trump is doing. 55% jobs approval. Sorry? 55% of people disapprove of how he's handling jobs. The economy is worse than, you know, since Trump took office. 53% of Americans agree with that. Prices for things that you want or need. Most Americans say that those prices are going up. The likelihood of Trump's policies causing a recession. 72% of Americans. So 7 out of 10Americans say that is likely. We are 100 days in this guy's presidency. We live in the stupidest timeline. How do we elect this person? How did America elect this man? And now 7 out of 10 say the likelihood of Trump's policies causing a reception. A recession is likely. It's unbelievable.

[Tim]

You remember that movie, how to lose a guy in 10 days?

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

Like how to destroy democracy in 100 days.

[April]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Tim]

How to lose your sanity in 100 days.

[April]

Yes. So on the issues now, this actually was kind of interesting to me. 46% of Americans approve of his handling of immigration. Now, I got to be honest, April. I know that America has a racism problem. I know we're built on white supremacy. I'm still very surprised that almost half the country, after what we've seen over the past few months, approves of Trump's immigration policies. Deep. And yeah, yeah, it's wild to me. That one really shocks me.

[Tim]

Yeah. Because not only is Abrego Garcia still in El Salvador.

[April]

Yep.

[Tim]

In like, falsely, like by accident, not intentionally. Still there. There's like every day I feel like there's this new horror story of they, you know, they deported a woman and her two year old. They. They deported. I think it was a four year old that had cancer with her mom. They deported parents of another two year old, and that two year old now is in the American foster system. Literally ripped their parents. Like, honestly, that's. That is such a big, like, my biggest nightmare is having, like, someone take my children away from me.

[April]

For sure. Yes.

[Tim]

I, I cannot imagine what these families are going through where one parent or both parents or children, you know, are. Are being deported, not together. Like, they are literally tearing families apart. This is the party that's all about family values. And they're literally coming in and ripping families apart a lot of times based on false information. And these are people who are not violent, who have committed no crime other than being Here without proper documentation. Some of them have proper documentation and they're still deporting them 100%.

[April]

And think about this too. I mean, for how long during the Biden administration, how often do we hear from right wing pundits talk about how the government is kidnapping kids? Oh, this bill will allow the government to kidnap children, you know, who might be going through gender dysphoria, whose parents don't affirm them. Look out, big nanny state government, that was such a fear mongering talking point. And now their government that they elected is actually ripping kids away from their parents for no reason, by the way, and they are silent. Or even worse, they approve of that. And I just think it's, it's a really, it's a really discouraging reality that even after all that we've seen children being ripped away from their families, people mistakenly deported to death prisons, and our government saying, sorry, we can't get them back, nothing we can do. After all of that, 46% of Americans approve. Come on, come on. That is just like, that's mind blowing to me. Go ahead.

[Tim]

I was gonna say last week also, not only, I mean, kidnapped is a great, is a right term for a lot of these people as well. They're just going in and just taking people from their workplace, from their homes. Like when they're there in court doing the thing legally. Like so many terrible things are happening. But they're also harming actual American citizens too. Like last week in Oklahoma, they went into a home, ice raided a home and pulled out a mom and her three daughters. It did not even let them change and get like, put on proper clothes, like pulled them out of beds to raid their home because the previous tenant was someone that they were after. They weren't even after this family.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

And like those, they're going to be traumatized now forever. Like that is, that is terrible.

[April]

That's why we've said for a long time that for right wing, especially Christian nationalists, it's not about small government, it's about who gets to wield the power of the government. They have no problem with the government now illegally raiding homes without warrants and taking people away under no, without any cause. Suddenly, suddenly there's no big government to fear. Right. Suddenly that narrative is not being talked about. Why? Because now they're the ones in power. So anyway, a couple other I think points here on this slide and we'll get to a few others. 61% of Americans disapprove of how he's handling the economy. 61% of Americans disapprove of how he's handling relationships with other countries. The tariffs obviously are really unpopular and recent turmoil in the stock market, you know, so overall, he's failing. A couple other, I think, important pieces too, that are key. 64% of Americans think that the President is going too far when it comes to trying to expand his own power. 57% think he's going too far when it comes to closing federal agencies. 56% say he's going too far when he takes measures against political opponents. So ultimately he has a, I mean, look, his, his, his report card is here, April, and it's an F. It's a big fat F. You know, the majority of Americans disagree and disapprove of the job that Trump is doing. Few other things like comparison wise. Right. To kind of put this in a big picture perspective here. Trump on the far right of this graph has a 55% disapproval rating. That's the highest. That's the highest it's been since the Truman administration, which is crazy. It's crazy. So he's largely.

[Tim]

What I was going to say. That's the highest it's been since Trump last term. Right.

[April]

Oh, sorry. I was, my bad. I was trying to say like, like in history. This graph goes from, from Truman to Trump, and out of, out of all the presidents from Truman to Trump, he has the highest disapproval rating, even outdoing himself since 2016. Yeah, sorry if that came out weird, but my point is that like, it's a record. It's unprecedented. We can say, like for his first 100 days in office, America says, you suck. You're doing a terrible job. Which again, unprecedented. You won't hear that from right wing media, but that's just the reality.

[Tim]

Yeah. He only has a 39% approval rating. And if you look, if, look at this chart, you know, Biden, the first hundred days, 52%.

[April]

Yep, yep.

[Tim]

Trump, Trump is the only one that was also kind of low in the first hundred days. 42% from his first term, Obama was 69% Repuva rating in his.

[April]

Don't forget, April, I'm not sure about how, how you grew up, but I was taught early on that Obama was going to destroy the country. Obama was going to, was going to remake America into a Marxist socialist nation and he was killing the country. But the data shows that he had a 69% approval rating in his first hundred days. It's, oh, my God, like the, the amount of gaslighting that we suffered under the hands of talk radio and like evangelicalism about Obama and even, even Clinton. Clinton, for those of us who remember that, it's unbelievable because they were so wrong.

[Tim]

I just want to, and just to show a Republican who's not Trump. So the last Republican president that was not Trump was George Bush. And in his first hundred days he had a 63% approval rating. So 100%. Yeah.

[April]

It's also side note, isn't it kind of wild that the last Republican president before Trump was Bush?

[Tim]

I know that feels like so long.

[April]

Ago and it's so stark. Like what a shift from Bush to Trump. I mean, Bush had plenty of problems like any president does, but Bush to Trump, that, that, that's wild to me. Okay, I have a few other ones here. So let's, let's look at the economy a little bit more closely here. Here's the dollar value. The value of the dollar has plunged, plunged under Trump. I mean, this graph is, this graph is crazy. It is so wild to hear these people say that we're so back, America's being made great again, fulfill the mandate. And this is the result. Like in the first hundred days, the value of the dollar has plunged under the Trump administration in 2025.

[Tim]

And that is, that's Nixon down there.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

With him.

[April]

Nixon, yeah.

[Tim]

He's lower than Nixon.

[April]

I mean Reagan, I mean 1981, Reagan, you know, plus 10%. And here we are in 2025, Trump negative 10%. So it's just, it's wild to watch it, to witness. As far as markets go, in his first hundred days, markets fell very sharply under the Trump administration, as we all know. So that's another data point here. And I thought this was interesting. Federal funding for medical research slowed dramatically under the Trump administration in the first hundred days. And you know, the reason why we're, we're starting with this is because this is just data. This, this is measurable data. This isn't opinion, this isn't punditry. We're just going off of the data from, based on polling, based on the numbers. And it's clear the Trump administration has tanked our economy, has tanked our society in the first hundred days, which is contrary to the fire hose of propaganda that you're going to hear from right wing media say, we're so back, we're doing so great. America's being, America's being made great again. It's not, it's not, it's, it's failing well.

[Tim]

And he just did an interview with what was the journalist's name was it on ABC where Trump did an interview with. I'm blanking on it. Let's see.

[April]

Terry Morin.

[Tim]

Yeah. So it was with an ABC News exec exclusive where he. They showed him the MS.13.

[April]

Oh, I had that.

[Tim]

Or they brought up the. The. You know, they're the White House proof that Abrego Garcia was part of Ms. 13.

[April]

And.

[Tim]

And keep in mind, he was still never meant to be deported. Like, it was a. It was a account error, a clerical error that they admitted to was a mistake. But now that he's there, they've tripled down to say, well, it's fine that he's there because he's actually Ms. 13. So the White House literally pulls up this Photoshopped picture. Do you have. Do you have a copy of that image that.

[April]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim]

I think it was Carolyn Levitt that shared it. So when the White House shared it, I. From my understanding, they have the MS.13 above the knuckles to say, like, these are what the individual symbols stand for. Right.

[April]

I mean, it's very clearly like, someone, like, put this in a PDF reader and just put the text over the knuckles of these symbols. It's clear as day.

[Tim]

Right. It's so obviously Photoshopped.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

Like, clearly Photoshopped. And also, it's problematic anyway to say, like, someone's tattoo is proof of something. But regardless, so they shared this. So then Trump is in this interview, right, where he brings this point up. Let's just. Let's just play it. Should we just. Let's just watch it.

[C]

He wasn't a member of a gang. And then they looked, and on his knuckles, he had MS.13. There's a dispute. Wait a minute, Wait a minute. He had MS.13 on his knuckles tattoo. He had some tattoos that are interpreted that way, but let's move on. Wait a minute. Okay, Terry, Terry. He did not have the letter MS.13. It says MS.13. That was photoshopped. So let me just. That was Photoshopped, Terry. He had. Hey, they're giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doing the interview. I picked you because, frankly, I never heard of you. But that's okay. I picked you, Terry, but you're not being very nice. He had ms.13 tattoo. We'll agree to disagree. I want to move on to something else. Terry, you want me to show you the picture? I saw the picture. And you think it's Photoshopped? Here we go.

[April]

Here we go.

[C]

Don't Photoshop it. Go look at his hand. He did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them. I want to turn to Ukraine. I want to get to Ukraine. No, no, no, no. He had Ms. As clear as you can be. Not interpreted. This is why people no longer believe. Well, the news. Because when he. In El Salvador, they aren't there, but let's just go. They aren't there when he's in El Salvador. They weren't there now, right? No, they're in your picture, Terry. Ukraine. Sir, he's got MS.13 on his knuckles. All right, okay, we'll take a look. It's you just service. We'll take a look. Why don't you just say, yes, he does, and, you know, go on to something else. It's contested.

[April]

You. There is an ancient proverb that says, don't argue with an idiot. He'll bring you. He'll bring you down to his level and then beat you with experience. And, like, I mean, this guy Terry, by the way, props to this journalist because he gave Trump so many outs. Hey, let's just move on. Hey, I don't think that's the case. Let's move on. And Trump's like, no, no, I'm going to park here and prove to you. I'm going to. I'm going to hammer this point home that he had MS.13 tattooed on his head. Like, what.

[Tim]

Can we. Can we look at that picture one more time?

[April]

Yeah, no, here it is, the tattoo.

[Tim]

Of Ms. Oh, my gosh.

[April]

I mean, April, I'm pretty tattooed. You know, my. My arms are done, my hands are done, my chest is done. I've gotten a lot of tattoos in my life, and I will get a lot more, hopefully. And I. I mean, there is no one there in. There is. There is no universe that. That the MS.13 typography on this picture is a real tattoo. Like, and you don't have to be a tattooed person to know that. It's just so clear. And Trump is doubling down on national TV thinking that he's owning this journalist, that he's, like, you know, taking it to the man. He's. He's talking back to the media. And he looks so stupid because he's foolish. This is a foolish man. And we are such a laughingstock. We live in the world's stupidest timeline. This is the stupidest timeline that we could have been born into.

[Tim]

There are moments where I see things like that, that Trump's done. And this I would feel I would put up with Sharpie Gate. Do you remember that? With the hurricane in Alabama.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

Where, like, I can't decide if he's just that stupid. And no offense to stupid people out there, you know, like, if, if he's like just that idiotic or if he's pushing that intentionally because he knows his people will fall for it. I can't decide. I think he's just stupid. But then it's hard for me to believe that we actually elected somebody that really believes that that would be a real tattoo.

[April]

Well, this is the thing, April. You and I, we're very big on non dehumanization. Right. We make it a point to be as charitable as possible to our political opponents. And I don't think it's dehumanizing to call Trump stupid. I think that's just a fact. Like he's factually not an intelligent person, especially when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's so clear that he lies more than he tells the truth. And that's been documented. The New York Times did a whole piece in 2020 at the end of Trump's presidency, and they documented like 35,000 plus lies with receipts. This person is not a, he's just not, it's. What do you say to this? This is the, this guy.

[Tim]

Oh, sorry. I was just gonna say I would not be surprised if he would. Is like an undiagnosed pathological liar.

[April]

Oh, I'm not, I wouldn't be surprised. Who would be surprised by that? I mean, just, just hear him talking, anything, it's crazy.

[Tim]

I mean, and some of the things that he lies about are really stupid. Like, like, you know, inconsequential lies where you're like, there's, there was no need for you to lie about that, and yet you did.

[April]

And this guy has the nuclear launch codes.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[April]

How did we elect him? I, I, these are the questions I asked myself.

[Tim]

I'm just saying was supposed to be fiction.

[April]

It's, it's unbelievable. Was there another one I wanted to pull up about his actions in this.

[Tim]

In this same interview?

[April]

That's right.

[Tim]

That's right. Thank you. He asked Trump, like, what would you say to people who voted for you, but would say that this is not what they signed up for and that they don't approve what you're doing?

[April]

Yeah, let me get that pulled up here. I have it right here, which I.

[Tim]

Have seen quite a few Trump voters posts that say, this is not what I voted for, you know, and are regretting their vote now, which I guess is good. You know, we want people to wake up sooner than later. But let's just play this clip.

[April]

Here we go.

[C]

Concern that people are worried, even some people who voted for you, saying, I didn't sign up for this. So how do you answer those concerns? Well, they did sign up for it, actually. And this is what I campaigned on. I said that we've been abused by other countries at levels that nobody's ever seen before. We were losing three to $5 billion a day on trade.

[April]

Okay, can I just say something? He's right. He's right. No, on this he is. He's right. He campaigned on that. He campaigned on immigrants being poisoned to the blood of our country.

[Tim]

On tariffs. He said he was going to do tariffs.

[April]

He campaigned. And I'm not a psychologist, I don't study sociology, so it's not my expertise. I would love to talk to someone who studies this to help us better understand how people, you know, voted for this. And then when he did what he said he would do, suddenly his approval rating, you know, tanks to a record low in the history of, like, you know, our recent presidents. I. That's what I don't get. Like, guys, he is doing what he told you he would do. I mean, during. During the election, right? The. The Haitian immigrants, they're eating the cats, are eating the dogs. Like, he. This was no surprise. We all knew this was happening. So I don't know. I don't know how it works, but he's completely correct here. They voted for this, and he's doing what he said he would do. And now you're crying about it. And I struggle, April, with, like, the balance between. On one hand, I'm, like, so angry about the people who voted for this, and on the other hand, I don't think that shame compels people to. To, like, admit that they were wrong and to change and do better. So I don't want to come across, like, ultra harsh to the average, you know, person in America who just voted for Trump thinking, yeah, make America great again. But at the same time, it's like, guys, how were you not paying attention before you pulled the lever for this guy? Like, like you didn't really do your civic duty by being informed before you voted for this man. And now we're all dealing with the consequences of your actions, including citizens, U.S. citizens as young as 2 years old that are being ripped from their parents arms and deported to foreign countries. Like, this is on you guys. It just is, you know?

[Tim]

Well, I think there's a couple reasons. One, I. I think they probably thought he would do a lot of this, but that it would not affect them. Right? That it would just Affect, you know, the other people. Right. And, you know, I remember during the election, I was saying a lot of these same things, like, and that's the frustrating part, right? We were listening to what he said, right. And we're believing what he said and said. Like, hey, he's literally saying this. And I remember back then there were a lot of conservatives and conservative talking heads that would say, oh, well, he didn't mean it like that, or, you know, he's not really going to, you know, he's just being like, hyperbolic. He's, he's just exaggerating and, you know, blah, blah, blah. But like, he, he's really doing everything that he said he would do. So on one hand, it's very frustrating because we tried to warn them. Like, we were screaming, be a dictator day one. Like, he wants to be authoritarian. We've never seen a more authoritarian U.S. president. Right. Like, in my lifetime, I don't know, ever.

[April]

If you look at the numbers of executive orders that he signed, it is, it is by far way above the person behind him. Like, it's not even close. Like, you're absolutely correct.

[Tim]

Yeah, Yeah, I like. And like the whole, like Project 2025, they're like, oh, that's, that's not real. That's a boogeyman. He's never heard of Project 2025. Right. But. And a lot of what he's enacted is directly from the Project 2025 playbook. All that being said, I do think, and this, this might be unpopular, so I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna say that up front, but I, I think we should have maybe try or just try our best to have some grace for the people who are waking up, you know, and, and are saying, oh my gosh, I regret this. Yes, it's super annoying that it took it impacting them for them to wake up, but I do think we are in such a dire situation right now. We need as many people to fight against this regime as possible. And I don't think it's very helpful to just immediately demonize and alienate all these people who are waking up out of this. And I'm not saying that they don't deserve, you know, I told you so, like, they 100% deserve that. Like, but I also just think to try to be that soft landing because we don't want them to be the only step that they make. We want them to keep making more and more steps to realize that human rights actually matter and that all people are worthy of human dignity and respect and to eventually get to this place where they are also supporting of equity, of immigrants, of people of color, of other marginalized groups, of queer people. We want them to keep going and from coming from that world. If they get attacked, as soon as they make that first step is going to make them turn right back around. And I'm not saying I agree with them, for the record, like, it's a. It's a. It's a bad system, it's a bad mindset, but we want people to change.

[April]

Exactly.

[Tim]

Like, we want people to be better, to be better human, to start voting for better people.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

You know, so, you know, I think it's a fair. It's a fine balance to try to navigate, because ultimately we're all going to suffer from this Trump administration, and we need more people to join this fight to get him out of office.

[April]

Yeah. I mean, I was changed by stories and people holding space for me. Right. Even when I didn't deserve it. I was not changed because I was called a homophobic asshole online. It didn't do it for me. It was people who were like, hey, I'm curious. I have questions. Have you considered this? It was friendships, it was people who. Who were kind to me that maybe think, well, maybe there's something more going on here. And again, that's not to negate the very real consequences of the Trump administration. In fact, I would say that we have an obligation to protest, to petition our legislature, our, you know, our. Our congresspeople and representatives to stand up to what Trump is doing in the White House.

[Tim]

Right.

[April]

100%. And when it comes to how we treat our neighbor, right, the guy who voted for Trump down the street, how we talk to that person matters. And if we are, I told you so, and what are you doing? And you're horrible, and you're vile and. And, you know, you're not like me. I'm the good guy, you're the bad guy. That kind of binary thinking, I don't think is going to welcome people into a better way of being. I think it will only further alienate folks to just kind of double down and to make things worse. And that's. I'm with you, April. Like, I share the same sentiment. We have to find a better path forward. And we're on the same planet, right? We're. We're on the same planet as these people. We have to find ways to make it work. And I think that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can resist and oppose these harmful policies. We can protest, we can participate in that way of being in America to hopefully change policies and systems. And on an individual level, we can.

[Tim]

Right.

[April]

Dare I say, love our Trump neighbor. Well, and. And ask them questions and hold space for them to hopefully compel them over time that, hey, there are better ways to think about this. Like, I mean, what human being, when you talk to them, would really say, I'm so glad that we deported a four year old who's a US Citizen.

[Tim]

Right.

[April]

Like, there has to be some level of humanity that we can appeal to, even for our Trump neighbor, where they go. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. And it's that little crack in the door that I think can help expand it to. Okay, let's keep thinking about that. You know, do you think it's loving, you know, to hate trans people the way that we do? But you have to start somewhere. And as someone like you, April, who grew up in that way, it took time, but it was people who changed my mind. It wasn't being called names online.

[Tim]

Yeah. And it was people appealing to my goodness, too. Like, I thought I was a good person when I supported all of these things. Like, I thought it was just the better right thing to do. And so, you know, you. It's frustrating, like, and I get that. And I also, you know, move with caution. Like, don't give all these people, like, giant platforms to be, like, you know, the voice of the left, you know, by any means. Like, we. We have to move with caution and set our boundaries that are healthy for us. But I do think, you know, we don't want to just be, you know, the other side of the coin of this, like, fundamentalist thinking. And I think giving people a second chance is a good thing to do.

[April]

Yeah, I agree.

[D]

Hi, my name is Angie. I live in Southern New Hampshire, and I am a monthly donor to the new Evangelicals. I decided to donate because I've experienced the wonderfully supportive TNE Facebook community. I have been deconstructing and decolonizing my faith, and it's been a tremendously lonely journey because I don't have anyone else to talk to about this. When I joined the TNE Facebook group, I felt so welcomed and included, and I have thought many times I have found my people, and this just feels wonderful. We have all had different experiences with evangelicalism. We are all at different stages in examining our faith traditions. Everyone in the group doesn't share the same spirituality, but the thing that we do share is that we are of one mind and being supportive of each other. I believe in the work that tne is doing, I want others to experience this, too. Thanks so much.

[April]

Okay, well, do you want to. I mean, look, here's. Here's where things are going to get a little interesting, April. Because while it's true that America as a whole does not like what Trump is doing, there is a group of people who overwhelmingly supports the past hundred days of the Trump administration. Now, April, I mean, you're no mind reader, but if you had to guess what group of people in America would say, by an overwhelming majority, we love what Trump is doing, who do you think it would be?

[Tim]

White evangelicals.

[April]

Oh, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

[Tim]

Wait, before we get to this video, do you want to do the Pew research? You want to do this video first?

[April]

We're doing it. This was a mistake. Hey, I'm live. Okay? It was. It was a mistake. Look, it's gone now, okay? It's gone. But no. Yes, there is research. There is research on this. This is from Pew Research. This is from April of this year. This is not old data.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[April]

This is recent. About 7 in 10 white evangelicals rate the ethics of the Trump administration officials as excellent or good. That's the first stat, and we'll unpack that in a second. The other one is clear majority of white evangelicals approve of Trump's handling of job. 72% of white evangelicals in this country that were polled approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing. I do not get surprised super often, April. I don't. I don't. I am shocked. I am shocked. I am shocked. I am shocked. I am. Maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe folks watching or listening are like, tim, you're. You're a fool. Of course they'll be. I just. I cannot believe that after 100 days of this, the economy is tanking. We're deporting. People shouldn't be deported. The. The.

[Tim]

The.

[April]

The cruelty. I mean, the dismantling of our humanitarian wing of the government, the lies, Doge billionaires in the White House, all that stuff, and they go, 72% approve.

[Tim]

I know. I mean, I wish I could say I was shocked, but these are the same people that think Donald Trump is God's chosen to save Christianity and genuinely believed he's some sort of Christian hero of the faith. Because here's. Here's why they approve. Trump is giving them access to his power. Trump is letting them do worship events at the White House. Trump did that huge Easter, like, Holy Week fest that they bragged about. Trump started this. You Know the task force to weed out anti Christian bias.

[April]

Yep.

[Tim]

Which is just the dog whistle for this Christian nationalism that these people are all circling in, because it's all about power. So of course they're going to approve of what Trump is doing because of what he is giving them. And it's hard for me, I don't know if they fully know the ramifications and the harm that Trump is causing. All sorts of groups of people, like, there's a piece of me that has to think, like, surely they just don't know. Like, if they knew, surely they wouldn't be doing it. But, yeah, it's, it's very disappointing because I. White evangelicalism is like where I came from.

[April]

Same.

[Tim]

Their, their absolute worship of Trump was a huge wake up call, which was kind of like the catalyst which we've talked about. The catalyst of me realizing something is off here. Something is right.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

You know, at least they're being consistently hypocritical, you know, so here's.

[April]

For those listening on podcasts, here's how this breaks down. OK, so 50% of Protestants approve of Trump's job. 72% of white evangelicals approve. 51% of white non evangelical Christians approve. Only 10% of black Protestants approve of Trump's handling of his job as president. Which, by the way, just once again proves how the black church is, is the conscience of America. It is like the soul, you know, it is. It's the moral compass of the country. 42% of Catholics say that Trump's doing a good job. 51% of white Catholics think he's doing a good job. 26% of Hispanic Catholics approve of Trump's job. And lastly, 26% of religiously unaffiliated think that Trump is doing a job. So ultimately, listen, this falls across racial lines. I mean, largely white Christians in America in the majority say, yes, Trump is doing a great job, while other groups of Christians who are not white say, no, he's really not. I guess it's to be expected, you know, and I, I think it. Once again, to your point, April, I think about this often. How did I get out? Because like you, I was. I was built to be. I was built to be another statistic. I mean, I was in a world that was the white evangelicalism. And I, as a straight white man, I was. The system was built for me to become some alpha bro male who had to take back the country and vote for Trump to make America great again. Like, I was on that path.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[April]

And it just is. It's Wild to me. Even though I guess it's not super surprising, it's still bewildering to see that after all of the harm this administration is doing, after all the lies, 72% of my own tradition say he's doing great. And I honestly, April, I think that the reason why it's, it's bewildering to me is because I was someone who took my faith and still takes my faith incredibly seriously. And it's because I take my faith seriously that I cannot reconcile how any Christian could support Trump, even just on the truth telling aspect. Right? The Bible says all the time that lying is not good, that you shouldn't have a forked tongue. I believe that. I believe that your yes should be your yes and your no should be your no. And Trump embodies none of that. Right? And somehow the people who would tell us that, that, that, that they're true Bible believing Christians who have a biblical worldview and that we are just, you know, woke fake Christians somehow they're the ones who think that Trump's doing a great job and we have to, we have to believe them because they're true Christians. I'm like, guys, it's just so ass backwards. I don't know how you come to these conclusions.

[Tim]

Can you pull up that graph one more time? Yeah, I just want to shout out, I want to shout out black Protestant church 85 disapprove of Donald Trump. Like we could be learning from the black church. I mean, always. And now again, 100.

[April]

100. And this is the other graph that I, I skimmed earlier. Seven in 10 white evangelicals rate the ethics of the Trump administration, of Trump administration officials as, as excellent or good. That means Pete Hegseth. That means Pete Hegseth. Seven in ten white evangelicals say these are the ethics that our God represents. Think about that for a second.

[Tim]

That's wild. And we, after everything we just talked about, too, with what they're doing with immigrants, though, shutting down free speech, how they.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

I mean, we are going to save this for later, but they literally just arrested Reverend William Barber and some other people for praying in the Capitol Rotunda. Like, yes.

[April]

It's just so listen, no more. You know, we say how the right isn't dog whistling anymore. I'm not going to mince words anymore. This is a white supremacist Christian nationalist movement that is hell bent on making America white Christian and conservative and fundamentalist. Okay? That's what this is. They will imprison other Christians if they need to. They will arrest other Christians if they need to. This is not about biblical values. This isn't about the Ten Commandments in public schools. This is about something much more sinister and much more dangerous, and the data bears that out. There's a reason why 7 out of 10 white evangelicals rate the ethics of Trump administration officials as excellent or good because they are defunct Christians. They don't really worship Jesus. They worship a white Jesus who believes in more guns is a. Is. Is better. Less health care is better. Don't take care of kids in schools. Don't take care of people who are on the streets and who are needy. No, no, no, no. That's not what the government is for. The government is for us to. To superimpose our religious zealotry and everyone else in hopes that America is made great again. That's what this is, and it has to be treated as such. It's. It's the American Taliban. I'm sorry. It is. That's what we're dealing with.

[Tim]

Let's. Let's play that video of this White House worship. So many people posted it. This is why they approve of Trump. They are equating the fact that they can go in and have these little photo ops. I don't know which video is this? Who posted this one?

[April]

Someone on Instagram. I'm not sure who posted it, but this is the best take that I was able to find.

[Tim]

Okay. I also just want to point out that Chris Tomlin.

[April]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tim]

Who I feel like is, like the most vanilla of the Christian CCM artists. Like, every single song you sing. And church worship, probably at least one of them in any sets from Chris Tomlin. He's like. I don't know. I feel like he's mostly stayed out of controversy, so seeing him, of all people, share, like, worship at the White House and share this clip, like.

[April]

Right.

[Tim]

It's just. It's so disappointing. Surprising, but unfortunately. But disappointing. Yeah.

[April]

Friends, as you watch and listen to this, keep in mind that these people are doing this as this administration does. Everything that we just talked about, to the least of these. Okay, this is. This is how they respond to Trump's dehumanizing policies that are destroying lives around the nation.

[Tim]

Yeah. Oh, that's Sean Foy.

[April]

There he is.

[Tim]

Holy.

[April]

Holy forever. Okay, we're going to pause it right there now in this room. Okay. I'm going to go. I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going to scrub through this video. On the left here is Paula White. You can check out our deep dive on her she is the whole reason.

[Tim]

She's filming it too.

[April]

Yeah, she's filming it. The whole reason why Trump got to where he is in America and in politics is because of Paula White. Again, see our video from Monday for the full deep dive as you scroll through, there were two people I want to point out here. First off, right here. See this guy, this guy is Calvin Robinson. He is a so called priest. He's been defrocked from multiple denominations. Most recently he gave a Nazi salute at a pro life rally when, when that whole debacle with, with Elon Musk happened. And then he was defrocked from his ultra conservative denomination. And now he's in the White House worshiping God, quote, unquote, you know, thanking him for the Trump administration. And then if you keep going, this guy on the right, right here, right here, he's, he's on the back, right. This is Josh Howerton. He's a megachurch pastor in Texas. He is someone who talks about the needs for us to build walls. And you know, he just espouses the Christian nationalist nonsense.

[Tim]

And there is very misogynistic. He's the person that went viral last, I think it was last year for talking about a woman's wedding night and how that, that basically the woman doesn't care that she's there for one thing, that the, the husband puts up with all of the wedding stuff for the wedding night for what she puts out then.

[April]

Yep.

[Tim]

Like Josh Howard Rose. Yeah.

[April]

And then of course, of course, mega grifter, Sean Foy. Sean Foy. There's a, we're going to do a deep, we'll do a deep dive on him at some point. Huge, massive evangelical worship grifter. Makes a lot of money doing this, owns multiple houses now and also believes again that he's a proud and openly proclaimed Christian nationalist. He believes that, that, that they have to take over all spheres or all mountains of government and of media and of culture. And for him and this worship, this is more than just, than just performative. He believes that in the spirit realm, he's calling down angels to protect President Trump from demonic forces that will, that would, that, that would make America great again. Like they really, this is, I know that we laugh at this stuff sometimes, but he really believes this. So for him, this is an act of spiritual warfare. What Trump, Sorry, excuse me. What Sean is doing is he is literally kind of like what Paula White was doing in our last video, you know, calling down angels right over the President. It's the same kind of idea here. Worship is a weapon. He'll say. Worship is spiritual warfare is what he'll say. So for him, this is a war, and this is a huge conquest for him and his God that now they're singing these songs. And the fact that Chris Tomlin, one of the biggest worship leaders in the country, shared this as a positive, it's unreal. It makes me ask myself, april, so you know, what God are you worshiping? Like, I really would like to know, because I do believe that we worship different gods at this point. You know, I used to be someone who would say, well, like, you know, you know, we're all Christians, and I agree, we are Christians, these people are Christian, but they worship a very different Christian God than the one that I follow, because there is no teaching of Jesus, there is no ethic of Jesus, there is no lesson from the Sermon on the Mount that would justify getting in bed with power like this. In fact, the story of Jesus in the wilderness, right? When the devil tempts Jesus with all the worldly powers, Jesus rebukes him and quotes scripture, Adam. But these Christian nationalists bow the knee and kiss the ring and go, yes, please, give us the worldly power. They behave in antichrist ways. And I think it's a real travesty that here we are in 2020, 2025America, and we have these people thanking God that he elected Donald Trump as he destroys families across the country. What a cruel, despicable God to worship, Frankly, I'm just going to say it.

[Tim]

I have one message for Chris Tomlinson, and that is that, Chris, you are not a good, good father.

[April]

Wow, you really went for it.

[Tim]

I know.

[April]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's. This is. These folks have been trying to do this for a long time, and they have access to the power that they want, and this is the result. You know, I mean, this is what Christian nationalism wants. They want people deported. They want a very white America, and they will stop at nothing to get it. And that's what we're witnessing. And the worship is just discouraging.

[Tim]

Frankly, it actually infuriates me. I saw several different clips of that video from different angles. There was one angle. I don't remember who posted it, but there were probably at least like five or six people in, like, the little section that I saw that were filming it with their phones, which just clearly shows to me they're doing this for the photo op to be able to go back to their constituents, to their congregants and their churches, to the people that support their ministries. To be like, look at us. We're in the White House.

[April]

That's right.

[Tim]

Christian president has let us in the White House. We're worshiping in the White House. It's all about how things appear, and not about actually following the red letters and not about actually taking care of the poor, the widow, the marginalized. It's all for show. It is theatrics because it's a lip service. It is lip service to a God that would have flipped those tables 100%.

[April]

100%. It's. It's optics. It's optics. There is no. The fruit is not just rotten. The fruit is poisonous because it's killing people.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[April]

You know, and. And. And it's a tough one to swallow, man. It still is. All these years later, it's just like, how was I a part of that? How was I in that world? How did I. How did I not see it the way that I, you know, I see it now, and it's just really. I think it's telling, you know, you want to know why 72% of white evangelicals support Trump? You just saw why. You know, the worship stuff. Yeah. It's wild.

[Tim]

Yeah. So another thing that happened, I think. I don't think it was this worship service, although it might have been. It was around the same time. But Greg Laurie, who is a preacher, made this post because he was supposed to go to this worship event. His name was not on the list initially. So he made this post of his video. He's like, I'm not on the list. I. You know, I filled out new forms. But he writes this whole thing where he compared not getting into this White House worship event as he turned it into a sermon illustration about not getting into heaven and not having your name written down. I don't know if he said the Lamb's Book of Life, but that's what he means when he says that.

[April]

Oh, I had it.

[Tim]

Let's see.

[April]

Oh, wait, here. I got it, I got it, I got it. Do you want the video or just the. The text?

[Tim]

Just do. Just read the text. Let's do the text.

[April]

Here you go. Yeah, there you go.

[Tim]

So he says, can you zoom in on that? Yeah, it reminded me. So my name wasn't on the list. Yes. Pastor gets denied at the door. It reminded me of something far more serious. What Jesus said will tragically happen to some people one day when they step into eternity. They'll expect to be welcomed into heaven, but their name won't be in the book of life. Thankfully, in my case, I was able to fill out the very official form I had apparently forgotten to complete earlier. Whoops. And they let me in. No harp music or pearly gates, but a tremendous worship service packed with White House staff members ready to praise the Lord. I shared a verse from the book of Esther and reminded them that, yes, God has placed them there for such a time as this. What an honor it was to be there. And don't worry, I made sure my name is on the right list too.

[April]

You know what's so interesting about this? It just shows the theological ignorance of these so called, you know, spiritual titans of the faith, like Greg Laurie. He says here, right? What he says, it reminded me of something far more serious. What Jesus said will tragically happen to some people one day when they step into eternity. They'll expect to be welcomed into heaven, but their name won't be in the book of life. Yeah. You know why? You know what? You know what Jesus says? Only those who do the will of my Father will enter the kingdom. And what is the will of the Father? Well, what does Jesus teach? It's taking care of the poor and the orphan and the widow. And what you did to the least of these, Greg, you did unto me. Imagine posting this and thinking it's a slam dunk. You know, post as you brag about going into the White House to worship God, thanking him for a president who does the very opposite of what Jesus himself says is. Is based on you getting into the kingdom or not. Which, by the way, if we're going to get real technical, the kingdom and heaven are not the same thing. They are different things. We equate that because we've been taught that. But the kingdom of God is not the same thing as heaven in the scriptures. Okay, a whole different discussion, but like the utter ignorance, but yet confidence. Right? Because Greg really believes this. Greg thinks that this is coherent. Greg Glory thinks that he really did something here. And he, he actually did. He. There's egg on his face. He show. He showed his whole rear end, essentially. You showed your whole rear end. Read the Bible, Greg.

[Tim]

Going to a White House event, right? And your name is not on the list. And Greg just walks out and the first thing he thinks is like, man, this must be what it feels like to knock it into heaven.

[April]

Yeah, right, right.

[Tim]

Like man. Like equating White House with that pitchy, everyone's half off beat claps. That's the equivalent of getting into heaven.

[April]

It sounds like hell to me.

[Tim]

Were you, were you ever taught that? I remember in Sunday school, occasionally they would Say that, like, there would be some children's pastors that would be like, oh, when you get to heaven, you get to do whatever you want. Like, you could build a roller coaster that kicks you from Saturn to Jupiter and blah, blah. And I, like, I remember thinking, like, oh, that heaven's gonna be awesome. But then there would be some that would be like, oh, no, when you get to heaven, we get to worship God.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

24. 7. Although there's no 24 day. But they're like, every moment of every day, you are just gonna be singing and worshiping, and you're going to love it. And I remember thinking, no, that sounds awful. And then I feel really guilty for feeling that way. But I'm like, I want to go play a board game. You know, I want to go have a drink, like, a cup of coffee and chat with a friend.

[April]

I want to fly. I want to fly to heaven. That's. I want to do. Yeah. No, invisible. I. I had to be. I don't know. I guess I was, like, 13 or maybe even younger when I. When I had that realization of, like, wait, so we're going to stand and sing songs to God forever? Am I a bad Christian? Like, how do I. If we're saying, I don't want to do that forever? Like, how do you use the bathroom? Like, do you even do that? How does that even work? Like, I. I want to play with my friends and fly around in heaven and, like, you know, eat ice cream and. I don't know, it might be a.

[Tim]

Little more appealing if they were talking about, like, the music from Sinners and the Blues, which, I know you haven't seen it, but, like, soulful. Actually, like, good music. Like, you and I were, like, used to that white worship music where it's so repetitive.

[April]

Just do the bridge over. You pretty much are gonna sing what a Beautiful Name. You're gonna sing what a Beautiful Name for all of eternity, and you're gonna do the bridge over and over again. And let me tell you, as a drummer who's played that song, you can only do that bridge so many times in different ways before you run out of options. Like, you can only do a full dropout with just the drums so many times before. Like, okay, we gotta. We gotta move on, guys.

[Tim]

I think the bridge that I ever probably did the most was from oceans. Oh, because you started slow. You build it back up, you bring it back down. And you build it back up, you bring it back down. Oh, that song got me through some times, though, so.

[April]

No, I mean, look, okay, on a side note, I was talking to someone at the post Evangelical collective, and we were saying how, like, it kind of has hit me, and this is a personal take, so if you don't agree, that's okay. But my issue is not that, like, the music or even the lyrics of so many of these songs are. Is bad or even toxic because many of them are actually quite beautiful. It's what it's tied to that makes it so, like, toxic. It's the fact that some of these songs don't even live up to their own words and that there's always conditions underneath of it. Right. That's what makes this stuff, I think, so. So damaging for us. Like. Like, we assume that these lyrics to these songs that we grew up listening to and singing really mean what they say, and then we discover that there's all kinds of conditions. Like, I think about the song Reckless Love, you know, the overwhelming, whatever it is, Reckless love of God. And I'm like, that's a beautiful song. If they were fully inclusive when they sang it, like, could you imagine if, like, you know, they meant, like, there's nothing that you can say or do or who you are that would keep you away from God's reckless love. That would be beautiful. But instead, we know what it's tied to. So, anyway, a sl. You know, a little bit of a rant there. But some of those songs, I agree, April, they're actually quite gorgeous and beautiful. It's a shame that. That. That they don't mean what we think they mean.

[Tim]

Yeah, well. And I think part of my biggest frustration when, like, in Trump's first term, I was still going to a pretty white evangelical church at the time. And I remember I would be singing these same words, and to me, I meant the words, like, when I was singing about how God loves all people.

[April]

Same.

[Tim]

But I was standing beside people, other Christians, who I, during the week, would post the most hateful, dehumanizing things about these marginalized groups of people on Facebook, like, just during the week. And I found myself just getting angry. So it's like, how can you sing these words to a God, to. To, like, a Christ who died for everybody? And then during the week, hate on some of the most vulnerable communities, like, it was just so inferior. And that's what still infuriates me to this day. It's. It still happens.

[April]

That Greg Laurie thing that we just shared, I mean, it shows the cognitive dissonance. Like, Greg is quoting Jesus. Jesus says only those who do the will of my father. Will enter the kingdom. And Greg's like. And that's why I'm going to the White House to thank God for what Trump is doing as he does the opposite of what Jesus taught us to do. And it somehow it works in my head. It just. Yeah, I think that's why so many of us left. We, like, we went, wait, I thought that we were on the same page here. But our values are way different. They're way different. You know, Jesus says that these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And like, that verse is just so. It keeps. It's in my head all the time because it's just so true. It's so true.

[Tim]

Yeah. Yeah. So the next thing in the news this week, we're way over time. Another thing that happened this week which actually ties into what we talked about last week with the Pope and the anti Catholic stuff that we see from evangelicals. So Lindsey Graham, who I do not believe is Catholic, is he.

[April]

Oh, no, I. I don't think so at all.

[Tim]

I think he's just like, Protestant evangelical.

[April]

I'll look it up. But I'm pretty sure he's just typical, run of the mill white evangelical.

[Tim]

Let's. Yeah, let me see. Yeah, I think Baptist.

[April]

He's Baptist.

[Tim]

Yeah, he's Baptist. Okay. So he posts this tweet, someone asked. He. He shares this interview of someone asking Trump about the Pope and who would be the next Pope. And Trump kind of jokes and says, oh, I'd love to be the Pope.

[April]

Right.

[Tim]

So Lindsey Graham tweets this video and along with it says, can you read it? Because that's too small for me to read.

[April]

I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate. But I would ask the. Is it papal? Papal.

[Tim]

I'm not Catholic, people. I believe I would ask the papal.

[April]

Conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility. The first Pope, US President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke.

[Tim]

First of all, he's got to be trolling because he's not Catholic, and there is this anti Catholic sentiment in this situation. But, no, I can't tell.

[April]

I. Like, here's the thing.

[Tim]

I mean, there's zero chance, there's zero percent chance that Trump could be the Pope because he's not Catholic.

[April]

Is Lindsey Graham, like, a jokester, though? Like, I mean, he doesn't. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that's like, hey, hey, team, watch this. Tweet. It's hilarious.

[Tim]

Listen, what if Trump was the next vote? Lindsey Graham. I actually used to really like Lindsey Graham during, during the 2016 primary. He was very anti Trump and anti Cruz because he, he ran, he was running for president in that same primary. I don't know if you remember.

[April]

Yeah. Oh, how did I forget?

[Tim]

He dropped out and I, and I think he went on the Daily Show. Was it with Trevor? I think it might have been a Trevor. No, I'm trying to remember. But he got asked if he, who he'd choose between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump because I think at that point it was between the two of them. And he said, that's like choosing between being poisoned or being shot in the head. And he said, so I'll choose Ted Cruz because maybe you can find an antidote in time.

[April]

And here we are now. I'm excited to think that Trump could be the new Pope.

[Tim]

People like Lindsey Graham frustrate me because you see moments where his true self comes out. Like what he said about Trump and Ted Cruz back in 2015 was probably when it was. It's funny, makes it seem like he's, he's logical, he thinks things through. He's even had moments during Trump's first term where he showed courage. I think, I think he was one of the ones that spoke out against January 6 initially too, for sure. But he always goes back like, always ends up kissing the ring. So I don't know what they have on him. I, I feel like they have to have a bunch of stuff on these Republicans that, that show ounces of courage every once in a while.

[April]

I mean, that's how though Marco Rubio was, Remember Marco Rubio in the beginning was like, Trump is horrible. Trump is terrible. We, we, we played that clip a few weeks ago. I mean, J.D. vance, his own VP, call them Hitler. So.

[Tim]

Right.

[April]

I think, honestly, I think that the allure of power will make you renegotiate, you know, your once held moral values and then justify them to make it okay again. I mean, listen, if someone is like, yo, I'm running for President, I might win. Want to be my vp. Like, if you're looking for that kind of political power, how that's a very alluring out offer. So, yeah, what I said back then doesn't really matter anymore because make America great again. Like, I can see how people can do that. But it is like really wild to watch. Right? It's wild to watch all these Republicans who were like Trump. I mean, even talk radio, Ben Shapiro, Michael Michael, not Michael Mark Levin, he's a, you know, Trump is a charlatan. He's a con man. And now they're all behind him. It's, it's been wild to see him realign so many people to his side. For sure.

[Tim]

Yeah. I mean, I will say the, the Trump administration has been trolling a lot lately. Like with that ASMR immigrant video they posted a while back with the golden statue in Mar A Laga, Gaza. Like, they, this is a trolling administration. And the Trump website recently was selling Trump 2028 packs.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

And then when asked about it, they said they were trolling and they, they.

[April]

Did that tweet about Kilmar never coming back to America. Right. Remember, they rewrote the New York Times article and was like, fact check, Ms. 13 gang member is not coming back to America. And again, don't forget, it's the cruelty that makes people like Sean Foyt and Greg Laurie go to the White House. They like that the administration is doing this. They like the way that the admin regime is handling this stuff publicly and privately. They're attracted to the bully because they worship a bullying God. The God that they worship is wrath based. The guy that they worship is built on vengeance and power and has to be worshiped 24. 7 and is jealous and is going to burn most people in hell forever because they're the enemies of God. It makes sense why they like Trump because that's what Trump is. Trump is vengeful. Trump is prideful. He demands, you know, he demands 100% loyalty or else he demands worship 24. 7. Whatever he says is absolute truth. The parallels, they're unprecedented. I mean, it makes sense when you see it like that. And so again, just another reason to be so discouraged about like, the direction of our faith that all of these white evangelical leaders really think that this is the guy. And I think it also shows too that they don't really care about Christianity or the rights of Christians, broadly speaking, in America. Because to your point earlier, Christians were arrested in the rotunda, in the Capitol for praying, which is the very thing you would think would be mainstream right wing news, right? Oh, my God. Christians were arrested in the Rotunda just for peacefully praying and expressing their faith. This is a freedom of religion issue. This is a freedom of speech issue. This is whatever, you know, insert thing here. Well, not if you're a progressive Christian, not if you're a black Christian, not if you're focused on social justice. So here's the story, friends. This is the picture says a Lot of says a lot here. So on the left is Reverend Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove. And then you have Reverend William Barber and two others who are not named in this picture. And they were praying in the Capitol, in the rotunda, in the Capitol building. And they were praying, you know, for justice and all that stuff. And they were arrested. They were arrested for peacefully praying in the rotunda. And you're not going to hear a peep from those white evangelical leaders who a few days ago were praising God in the same area in the same government buildings for Trump.

[Tim]

They were praying. So this, this is a statement from Barber's group, Repairs of the Breach. They said in a statement that the arrest occurred after an interfaith gathering of leaders from across the nation delivered a moral message to the nation this morning at the U.S. supreme Court seeking to sound the alarm on the immoral bud cuts and proposed budget cuts being pursued in Washington, D.C. at the expense of the poor, working people, children, women and families. So they were literally praying for marginalized groups and got arrested. If this was Sean Foyt who has done worship services in the Capitol rotunda, where is.

[April]

I have it here.

[Tim]

Has not. Has not. I don't. I have no memory of him being arrested there.

[April]

Here's. I mean, I'm going to play this, you know, without any music as you're talking of him. This is him in the capital rotunda leading, doing a. I mean, this is much louder than praying quietly or even chanting. He has an acoustic guitar in a building that's meant to amplify voices and he's bragging about it. And you know, if he was arrested under the Biden administration. Right. This was 2023 and Sean did this and he was arrested. Oh, the satanic Biden administration arrested a Christian. We're facing attack acts like never before. But, but if progressive Christians do it and they do it in, in the name of Jesus against, according to them, the conspiracy of cruelty and pleading the power of the mercy of God over. Over the country or over the nation. Suddenly they get arrested and silent crickets. Not a peep.

[Tim]

And I want to point out, too, they talk about how Joe Biden is this anti Christian or was this anti Christian president despite going to mass every Sunday.

[April]

Yep.

[Tim]

That Sean Foyt did those worship services while Biden was president. He was not arrested.

[April]

Yes, exactly.

[Tim]

Boebert even attended one and like posted about it. They were doing worship, like impromptu worship services in the Capitol rotunda. Not. Not arrested. And they still claim that Joe Biden was this anti Christian president. Here you have progressive people coming in to pray against a budget that is going to negatively harm marginalized groups. People who are already struggling will struggle even more and they get arrested. Underneath the president who claims to be wanting to weed out anti Christian bias, like we're seeing a tale of two Christianities. There are two different versions of Christianities happening right now. You have one that seeks power, that has power currently, but they're the ones claiming Christian persecution. And then you have people like Reverend William Barber who are actually embodying what Jesus said to do, standing up for the marginalized and getting arrested. But that's not Christian persecution.

[April]

Let's just read the Bible for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. This is just Jesus. Like, this isn't left. This isn't right. This is the very thing that, that we're told these Christians believe in. And Reverend Barber has that on his, on his scarf that he is wearing in this picture. And he's chanting this, he's saying this, and he's being faithful to the teachings of Jesus, advocating for the poor and the marginalized in this country that our billionaire class in our Christian nationalist class intentionally overlooks for the sake of their own power and their own benefit. Right? This is, I mean, Jesus himself was an immigrant. He was under the boot of empire. He was unhoused. You know, he was not seen as someone in the, in the halls of power. He spoke truth to power. He was on the underside of society. Jesus was not in the White House ever. He was in the, he was in the slums. He was in the inner cities. He was in rural America. He was in Appalachia. That's where you find Jesus with the poor and the lowly and the marginalized. And what does he teach? What does Jesus teach? Blessed are the meek, Blessed are the peacemakers. Right? Not blessed are the powerful. No, it's the last shall be first in this kingdom. And these Christian nationalists completely adulterate the teachings of Jesus and twist it for their own sick power grabs. And to the point will they. Where they will arrest other Christians who are actually being faithful to the teachings of the very Jesus that those people claim to follow. It's unbelievable. It's crazy.

[Tim]

And just to be fair to, to show the both sides, so the Capitol Police, U.S. capitol Police spokesperson said that they were arrested for demonstrating inside the Congressional buildings Which is not allowed in any form to include, but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc. In this case, they started praying quietly and then began to pray out loud. That is when we gave them multiple warnings to stop or they would be arrested. They did not stop. But again, Sean Foyt has done worship services in this same place and was not arrested many times.

[April]

There was one that went mega viral where the place was full and they were singing. So again, it's. It's not about. It's not about the principle. It's about who gets to do it. It's about Christian privilege. This is Christian supremacy on display. And really, we should say it's white Christian supremacy, because it's not about Christianity. It's about a very specific flavor of Christianity being elevated above everyone and everything else.

[Tim]

And if Sean Foyt had been arrested for doing that in the rotunda, it would have been on the headlines on Fox News. They would still be talking about it. It would be a story they would never shut up about.

[April]

Of course, Sean would be. Would be tweeting it everywhere. Guys, you're not going to believe it. I was worshiping our great God in the rotunda when police arrested me just for peacefully worshiping. This is what happens when the Biden administration's in power. This is the demon crat agenda. I mean, you. April, you know the talking points. You know the talking points, right? Because that's just. That's how they operate. But the hypocrisy is glaring, and it's just more. It's. It's just a reminder of, like, what we're facing in this country. It's a shame that these Christians got arrested for advocating for the poor and the needy, literally doing what Jesus taught them to do. That's radical Christianity. It will cost you something, you know, and we're really seeing a tale of two Christianities, like you said.

[Tim]

Yeah, yeah. And the only thing I'm unsure about, I don't know if Sean Foyt had, like, got permission ahead of time to go in there. I know at least one time he'd posted, like, impromptu worship inside the rotunda. But regardless, it's still very hypocritical.

[April]

Well, even if he did. Right. That's the whole point, is that. Is that Sean has access to people who can give him permission to make exceptions to the rule while these people can't. Can't get that right. Reverend Barber, who, by the way, if you own a Reverend Barber, he's been around for a long time fighting for these things. He's not someone who's, like, new on the scene, and the fact that he can't get access to have an exception made for peacefully doing this. But, Sean, Ken, again, just tells you who has the power in Washington. And for these people, that's a sign that God is blessing their mission, right? Oh, we have access to the President. We have access to King Cyrus. Surely God has put us here for a reason, to help the king do the will of God, because we represent God on Earth.

[Tim]

I have a. A little bit of an update that I found that specifically compares these two situations. Sean Foyt and Reverend Barber. So the difference between Barbers was. His was during the day. Sean Foyt's typically took place in the evening after most people left the Capitol, but it's unclear whether or not it was officially sanctioned and that foi. Sean Foyt has claimed to have snuck in to the rotunda to hold worship on multiple occasions, but Capitol police declined to specify whether it was permitted.

[April]

So I'm trying to see if there's a video. So. Here. Yeah, here. Oh, yeah. Look, look, look. I mean, this is. This is them in the rotunda. There's a whole video on this. Packed. Yeah, I had the sound off because I don't want to hear it, but, I mean, there's people in here, and this is loud. This is. There's maybe 85 people in here doing this in the same area where they were arrested. So. Yeah, I don't buy it, but.

[Tim]

Yeah, No, I know. I just. I. You know, we're just trying to be fair and balanced.

[April]

No, for sure. Thank you. Thank you, April, for being fair and.

[Tim]

Balanced, which was what Fox News little motto used to be, which. They're neither. Either of those.

[April]

Oh, my goodness.

[Tim]

All right, so let's. Let's get to our finale, shall we? So, speaking of. You know what? I don't even know what. Why'd you just gasp?

[April]

Where's my button?

[Tim]

You lost a button for.

[April]

You know, for. For the little stinger for our. Weird.

[Tim]

I can just do my own version if you lost it.

[April]

Oh, no, I have it here. You ready? I'm gonna play it now.

[Tim]

Okay. Weird.

[April]

Perfect. There we go.

[Tim]

Okay, so this video is actually a few years old. It takes place at the ark encounter in Kentucky, which is Ken Ham's ode to creationism.

[April]

Yes.

[Tim]

I guess he built. He built a giant replica ark, he claims according to the Bible. Yep. I've been there. Creative liberties were definitely taken. And honestly, we could do a whole episode on the ark encounter and the Creation Museum, because I went there last summer for research, and it was wild, a wild experience. But this takes place at the Ark Encounter. They do have this kind of, like, zoo section with actual animals, and I don't want to give it away. This was shared by him at Meta, who's the friendly atheist. He is a great person to follow, and I think he even captioned this. And I agree that if you've never seen this video, you will not expect where this ends.

[April]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not going to understand why we chose this video to the very end. So just. Let's just go with it.

[Tim]

Buckle up. So for those listening, it is a woman with Ark Encounter Polo. She works there. She's giving a demonstration. She's talking about sloths. There's a sloth hanging from a tree. A real sloth in this video.

[April]

Yes. Buckle up. Here we go. Enjoy.

[Tim]

These guys have moved very slowly in the trees, but believe it or not, these guys can actually swim very well. So that's one of their. That's one of the structures they use to protect themselves in the wild. So if a jaguar is chasing them and they happen to be over a river or lake or something like that, they will actually just fall out of the tree into the water, and they can swim really fast, and they can actually hold their breath for up to 22 minutes. Minutes. So once again, that slow metabolism can kind of come in handy when you're trying to get away from a jaguar. Well, that's awesome. We were talking beforehand. Yes, the sloth. This one is fast for sloth, but he's still slow.

[April]

Why?

[Tim]

Because sloths, by definition, are slow. That's how they are made to operate. And it shouldn't surprise us. They move slowly. And in today's lessons, we see something that should not surprise us as well, and that is Christians are persecuted. Sloths move slow while Christians are persecuted. That kind of happens because of who we are.

[April]

Wow.

[Tim]

This is why this group of people thinks they're persecuted. Like, imagine just like Sloss or slow. Christians are persecuted.

[April]

The sky is blue. Christians are persecuted.

[Tim]

Such a reach. Like, he hurt himself with that stretch there. Connecting those two things.

[April]

When I first saw this video, I was like, why is this making the rounds like this? This is so boring. I don't get it. Oh, my God. What? What did he just say? I'm sorry, what? Why Christians are persecuted. And of course, what's so funny is that we just played a video of a bunch of Christian leaders who are all really rich, singing and praising God in the White House thanking God for the President. So I don't know how you do both. Like, are you persecuted or is your God giving you everything, Everything that you want and giving you President Trump to shape the nation how you are. Like, I don't. Which one is it, guys?

[Tim]

Oh, my gosh. It's. It's just part of that persecution complex. It's just like it. It exists. It just lives underneath everything in white evangelicalism. Like the. The cognitive dissonance. You have to. Have to believe that you are persecuted as an American Christian while also not being persecuted. Well, well, but still believing that you are.

[April]

But, but case in point. But case in point, this dude is employed by a far right Christian organization that. That has a zoo and does the ark encounter and makes millions of dollars a year. And he's like, but also, Christians are persecuted, dude. If you're persecuted, sign me up. Like, sign me up for persecution, if that's what it means. Like, think about that for a second. These Christians that claim persecution are like the most privileged people in America. Are. Our societal calendar operates around Christian holidays. How much more privilege can you get when the entire society that you inhabit, the multicultural and pluralistic society, by the way, might I add, that you inhabit, revolves around your Christian holidays, and you're like, we're persecuted, man.

[Tim]

Persecution looks real nice example of how, like, youth pastors and preachers in general can turn anything into a Sturman illustration. I mean, that one had no connection whatsoever. I give that like 0 out of 10 for connecting those two things. But, like, the way that this, like, evangelicals will Jesus duke anything, you know, like, why can't we just enjoy the sloth encounter, Brian, or whatever your name is. Like, I just want to look at the sloth. It's like, well, you can't enjoy this because Christians are persecuted.

[April]

Yes, yes. Which is why. Yeah. Oh, I don't even know what to say these days.

[Tim]

It's kind of like, what's that. What's that character on snl? The Debbie. Debbie Downer. It's like, yeah, while you're here enjoying these really cute, adorable sloths, just remember, Christians are persecuted.

[April]

Yeah, of course. Yeah. Life is so tough. You know, between the video we shared last week and this one, I don't. I'm just speechless. You know, we got defying graves for me, and then we got this. And sloths equals Christian persecution. Again. Like, the ark encounter makes millions of dollars a year. I just. I don't understand how you can say that with a straight face, but. Right. You know, here we are Here we are.

[Tim]

Yeah.

[April]

America, baby.

[Tim]

Also, just as a sidebar, if you see some. Some kind of cringy Christian video throughout the week that you think would be a great, weird Christian option. I know I said it. I. I almost didn't. You. You felt. You heard the hesitation.

[April]

I heard it.

[Tim]

You're watching. But send it in. What would be the best you could? DM us on Instagram. Tim and April show on Instagram.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

What would be the best way to send it in?

[April]

Probably that way. Just DM it. Yeah. DM it over to us. Probably the easiest way so we can see it. That'd be great. We're always looking for some weird Christian videos that we can talk about because sometimes you have to laugh a little bit. We just. We gotta chuckle. We gotta chuckle. This is one of those.

[Tim]

Oh, we also are accepting story ideas. So a new story or this. Oh, we have a Google form.

[April]

We do.

[Tim]

Yeah. Cassidy just sent it in the guest chat.

[April]

Okay, cool.

[Tim]

Well, but maybe we could put the Google form in our show notes. Maybe that's easier.

[April]

Yeah, we can do that. That's easy. So you can. You can DM us. You can do a Google form. You could email us. You could. Our P.O. box have a P.O. box. You could do that. So a lot of options. Well, like the new evangelicals has one, you know, so you could just send it there. So.

[Tim]

Oh, look in the chat right now.

[April]

There it is.

[Tim]

The Google Farm. Can you tell this is live? Just a reminder. This is live.

[April]

This is well produced, April. We put a lot of work into show prep. Yep.

[Tim]

And just like this is live, Christians are persecuted.

[April]

Just. Just like that.

[Tim]

Yep, Just like it.

[April]

Yeah. We want to stay alive. Like, alive because we're persecuted in America. There it is.

[Tim]

Yeah. So send us story ideas. Hope everyone has a great week. If you haven't subscribe to our channel, like this video, it helps push it out there. Leave us a review. Wherever you listen on podcasts would be much appreciated. Appreciated. And Monday, we're dropping a deep dive on the new Apostolic Reformation. So the more charismatic side of Christian nationalism with special guest Matthew Taylor. Yeah. And it was a great conversation. So, yeah, I think that's it. Do you have anything else?

[April]

I do. I have one more thing to say. This is. This is. This is like more show stuff. April and I have been talking about the show, which we love doing, and we're thinking about a few other ideas that we might be testing out in the upcoming months, I think. April, one thing about going live that's fun is that if you do it at the right time with the right stuff. It could be a little more casual, a little more like community. And so we're, we're toying around with an idea of going live later at night and being a little more, you know, doing something, responding to something, watching something that's a little more humor and just having a good time, maybe, maybe bringing some friends on. So just stay tuned because we're, we're kind of experimenting with the channel. The channel is brand new and it's been doing really well. It's been really amazing to get, you know, people responding to it and, you know, and watching our content. But we're always thinking about, you know, like an After Dark kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, we're thinking about something like that. Yeah.

[Tim]

I think your mind out of the gutter.

[April]

Yeah.

[Tim]

I already know you have a weird fetish.

[April]

No, no, it's not like that.

[Tim]

Like that.

[April]

Yeah. My weird fetish is watching cringe Christian movies online on YouTube with people.

[Tim]

Yeah. My kink is laughing about religious trauma.

[April]

Yeah. And watching sloth videos that link to Christian persecution. You know, like a real glutton for punishment over here. Sarah, thank you so much for the super chat. That means the world.

[Tim]

Thank you.

[April]

Yeah, all super chats, all donations go to make this show possible. Anyway, friends, so we are. I'm just saying that we are. This is a new channel, right. This is a new format. We're only about a month and a half, two months into this. And so there's still ideas that we're toying around with. And I think that doing this with you, with the community and thinking about some ways to laugh and have fun, even though we cover such serious. Such serious stuff and topics is important. So we are just thinking about some, some, some ways that we can do that. So.

[Tim]

Yes, cosine.

[April]

Cool. Well, have a great week, friends. We'll see you back here on Monday. Bye.

[Tim]

Bye.

[April]

Sa.