96. DOGE Disaster: Elon Musk Bros Dodge Questions on Devastating USAID Cuts

Summary

Podcast Summary — The Tim & April Show

Episode 96: DOGE Disaster: Elon Musk Bros Dodge Questions on Devastating USAID Cuts

Date: March 20, 2026
Hosts: Tim Whitaker & April Ajoy
Network: The New Evangelicals

---

Overview

This episode focuses on the underreported scandal surrounding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump-era initiative led by Elon Musk and staffed by unqualified cronies who executed massive federal cuts, notably gutting USAID and slashing jobs with disproportionate impact on Black women. Tim and April break down the viral depositions of the “DOGE Bros”—inexperienced staffers exposed for their ignorance and ideological bias during official questioning. The repercussions of this reckless cost-cutting are explored, alongside the war in Iran and infighting among MAGA personalities. The show critically ties these events to broader Christian nationalist and anti-intellectual trends reshaping American governance and culture.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: DOGE Explained (03:00–05:30)

• DOGE was created as a supposed “efficiency” department, with Elon Musk wielding broad power to cut government “waste.”
• The initiative was celebrated by MAGA and certain libertarian circles but quickly devolved into chaos, executing indiscriminate cuts across federal agencies, including humanitarian and arts funding.
• Quote (Tim, 03:57): “A lot of Americans thought giving the world’s greediest man a chainsaw to gut whatever he wants in the government is somehow a good idea. Like, what could possibly go wrong with such an unethical, immoral man just swinging a hammer?”

2. Fake “Savings” and False Narratives (05:00–08:00)

• Initial DOGE claims promised $2 trillion in cuts, then quietly revised goals down to $1 trillion, then $150 billion, with no transparency.
• The “DOGE Tracker” site publicizes wildly inflated and often false “savings,” with no evidence or receipts backing the claims.
• Quote (Tim, 06:10): “I’m looking at this website… they estimate savings of $215 billion. But when you scroll down to the ‘wall of receipts,’ there’s nothing there. Just numbers. Are the receipts in the room with us?”
• Cuts prioritized ideology over fiscal reality; most actual “savings” were dubious or outright fabricated.

3. Viral DOGE Bros Depositions: Incompetence on Display

Justin Fox Deposition Breakdown (10:00–16:30)

• Background: Young, no prior government experience, made $150,000/year to lead major agency reviews.
• Key Excerpt (Deposition, 10:52–16:20):
  • Dodges all questions about the meaning of “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), refusing or unable to define it without referencing back to an executive order.
  • Quote (Justin Fox, 12:17): “Well, it’s just easier for me to be referencing back to the EO [executive order].”
• Hosts’ Take:
  • Tim: “This dude… just stonewalls. The goal here was not about saving money. The goal was about eradicating things that made non-white people have access to government jobs.” [09:31]
  • April: “There’s a way you can answer that… that does not totally, you know, make you look guilty.”

Revealed Attitudes on Race and History (17:14–19:31)

• Deposition Clip: Justin Fox deems a documentary about Black civil rights as DEI, saying it “is not for the benefit of humankind.”
• Quote (Justin Fox, 17:36): “It’s focused on a singular race. It is not for the benefit of humankind.”
• When pressed, Fox tries to walk back his phrasing but makes clear that “focusing on marginalized voices” is viewed as inherently problematic—demonstrating overt hostility to racial equity efforts.
• Tim: “These people are racist. The reality is… these people are racist.”

The Real Impact: Discriminatory Layoffs (20:31–24:00)

• April: Black women were disproportionately impacted—33% of federal job cuts, a group that only made up 12% of the workforce. Black women’s unemployment rate skyrocketed.
• Programs assisting marginalized groups, DEI roles, and humanities funding were wiped out, largely on ideological grounds.
• Tim: “We want to show you the receipts: people in the DOGE world absolutely hold these kinds of views.”
• Supporting Data (April, 21:54):
  • Black women lost 319,000 jobs in five months, while white men gained 365,000.

4. More Bro Testimony: Nathan Kavanaugh Deposition (28:54–36:00)

• Nathan Kavanaugh, also under 30, admits to cutting jobs and funding without regret, despite not achieving the stated goal of deficit reduction.
• Quote (Kavanaugh, 29:09):
  • Depositioner: “Did you reduce the federal deficit?”
  • Kavanaugh: “No, we didn’t.”
• Grants targeting marginalized communities, DEI, or LGBTQ+ were deemed “craziest” and cut solely by personal judgment, with zero relevant qualifications.
• Key Moment: Kavanaugh boasts of “judgment from reading books,” then, when asked which books, admits “there were no books” (35:12).
• Both staffers revealed to be using ChatGPT to determine which grants were linked to DEI and should be axed.
• Quote (April, 36:36):
  • “They were using ChatGPT… to make those decisions. Not even…”

5. The Real-World Fallout: USAID Cuts and Global Results (40:14–46:10)

• Cuts to USAID have already resulted in catastrophic global impacts:
  • Malaria deaths spiking in Cameroon, mass food aid suspended in Yemen, child malnutrition surging worldwide, cholera deaths up 361% in the Congo.
  • Estimate: Already caused 600,000 deaths (two-thirds children). Model projections predict 14 million additional deaths by 2030 if trends continue.
• Quote (April, 42:30): “Peer-reviewed studies project 14 million more deaths globally by 2030, including 4.5 million children under five.”
• Despite the massive harm, USAID’s budget was less than 0.3% of federal spending.
• Tim: “People are convinced that by gutting USAID we somehow saved money. Yet we didn’t—and we killed millions in the process.” (44:11)

6. The War Machine: Prioritizing Militarism over Aid (47:21–50:41)

• While aid and healthcare are gutted, the Pentagon seeks $200 billion more for the Iran war (“to kill bad guys”).
• Pentagon wastes millions on lobster, steak, and luxury goods for top brass while Americans go without basics.
• Quote (Tim, 48:20): “All of a sudden, we have the money—just not for healthcare, just not for feeding children. We have it for weapons and war.”
• Tim: “Growing up as evangelicals, we were taught America were the good guys. But in reality, we are quite often the bad guys.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• April (About DOGE site): “Are the receipts in the room with us? No, they’re not.” (07:30)
• Tim: “This is what happens when the private sector is allowed to invade the government and just take a hatchet to it. It’s cruel. It’s self-serving. All the fruit of this is rotten.” (32:14)
• Nathan Kavanaugh, after being asked about empathy for those who lost jobs: “No, I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit… No, we didn’t [reduce it].” (29:09)
• April: “I want to point out, Black women made up 33% of the federal job cuts.” (23:45)
• April (on global impact): “USAID cuts have already caused the death of 600,000 people, two-thirds children. And the toll will continue to grow.” (42:30)
• Tim: “We have to, I don’t think we’re angry enough at just the level of injustice.” (57:38)

---

Infighting & Satire: MAGA Meltdown (60:00–69:00)

• Comedic breakdown of the Twitter spat between Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin, including Trump’s melodramatic, effusive defense of Levin. Marjorie Taylor Greene jumps in, siding with Kelly to call Levin “micro penis Mark.”
• April: “Notably, Trump did not say that Mark did not have a micro penis.”
• For a segment, the show adopts a satirical “gossip hour” tone, lampooning the pettiness and dysfunction of MAGA-aligned personalities.

---

Lighthearted Segment: Weird Christian Altar Call (71:47–78:30)

• Tim and April comment on a viral video from a church altar call where a pastor embarrasses a young drummer (“Eddie”) for playing drums at the wrong moment.
• April: “That poor kid. He’s got to be, like, maybe 17. He’s going to need therapy for this moment.”
• The hosts discuss cringeworthy moments from church and growing up as preacher’s kids.

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:00] – What is DOGE? Doge Bros background
• [05:00] – DOGE’s phony “savings”; disinformation
• [10:00] – Justin Fox’s DEI deposition (incompetence; racism)
• [17:14] – Viral moment: “not for the benefit of humankind”
• [20:31] – Impact on Black women; employment data
• [28:54] – Nathan Kavanaugh’s deposition: lack of empathy
• [40:14] – USAID cuts: global death toll, humanitarian impacts
• [47:21] – $200B Pentagon ask; military-industrial complex waste
• [60:00] – MAGA infighting: Megyn Kelly, Mark Levin, “micro penis” saga
• [71:47] – Weird Christian: cringeworthy altar call
• [78:30] – Outro & wrap-up

---

Tone & Language

The tone is irreverent, informed, and passionate—alternating between analytical critique, biting satire, and moments of levity. The hosts are candid about their outrage and moral clarity, centering Christian values of justice and compassion as a counterpoint to the cruelty and racism they see embedded in current policy.

---

Final Thoughts

The episode serves as a vital, accessible explainer on how ideologically-driven, anti-expertise politics have real—often deadly—consequences, particularly when enabled at the highest levels of government. Tim and April underscore the importance of both staying informed and building inclusive, justice-oriented faith communities as antidotes to Christian nationalism and institutional rot.

---

Recommended follow-up: For a deep dive on USAID, Tim cites John Oliver’s recent segment; also recommends advocacy and educational resources at The New Evangelicals (www.thenewevangelicals.com).

---

[End of Summary]

Transcript

[A]

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

[B]

Hmm. Hello. Hi. Welcome, everyone. Tim and April Show. We are live. I am Tim Whitaker.

[A]

I am April Ahjoy.

[B]

Welcome in. We got a lot to go over today on the show. We're covering something that I think the media hasn't really made as big of a deal as they should have. But I mean, that's also understandable because we're currently in a war that. That no one wants. No one besides the industrial war machine wants this war. So a lot to get into. If you are watching live on YouTube. Thank you so much, friends. Welcome in. Please make sure to give this video a subscribe to the channel. We drop videos on Tuesdays and go live on Thursdays. If you're watching on substack via our friends at Lincoln Square Media. Hello, welcome in. If you could lightly tap the heart button, it would really help us out.

[A]

A gentle love nudge.

[B]

A gentle love tap. Boop.

[A]

Yes. Yeah, it's. My girls were home for a snow day this week.

[B]

Again.

[A]

Yep. It was so weird. It was like 70s over the weekend and beautiful and spring and then snow.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And I don't even want to think about why weather is being so weird like this. Climate change is weird. Real doesn't matter. Moving on.

[B]

Oh, I thought you were going to say that it's God's judgment that we're under God's wrath.

[A]

I mean, with all these wars, I would not be surprised.

[B]

All right. It's weird because in New Jersey, we had what, you know, we. We had the classic false fals spring situation where three or four days last week, it was gorgeous out. 70 degrees. We were doing little bonfires in the back, doing s' mores with the boys, and out on the deck, I'm like, oh, thank God. Then the next day I wake up and it's 30 degrees outside and I'm like. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. You've got. So we're. We're currently back into winter mode. Although, no snow. I can't. You've gotten so much snow this year.

[A]

So much snow. And we are souther. More south.

[B]

You're souther. I. I like that phrase better.

[A]

We're souther.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Anyway, friends. Goodness.

[A]

Okay. I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to derail us. You were literally leading us into the conversation. I'm just like, weather. Let's talk about that April.

[B]

I have on my run a show banter and you did just that.

[A]

So I did banter. Okay. So as Tim said, there's a. There are. Are obviously so many things that we could be talking about. The, the COVID up of the Epstein files, the war in Iran. That is honestly just terrible. I've seen videos coming out of what's happening over there, and it's truly terrible and awful. And so the news is focusing a lot on that and. And rightfully so. I get that there was a story that happened in the last week that got some attention, but Tim and I talked about it. We didn't think it got the attention that it deserved because of everything else that's going on. So we just want to highlight these Doge bro depositions. So as a refresher, Doge was the Department of Government Efficiency, I think.

[B]

Sure, sure.

[A]

There was like a little dog. It's like the Doge dog that Elon did with his Bitcoin. Whatever. Elon Musk ran Doge. Oh, is. And you know, Vivek part of it initially, too.

[B]

This guy ran those. The world's richest, though. Sorry, I'm not going to say richest. The world's greediest man ran Doge. And the picture we have up is him holding a chainsaw. Yeah. Beck was part of it for like two and a half days and something happened where he was kicked out. And then somehow a lot of Americans thought giving the world's greediest man a chainsaw to gut whatever he wants in the government is somehow a good idea. Like, what could possibly go wrong with such an unethical, immoral man just swinging a hammer, thinking this is all good. What could possibly go wrong? Hmm. Can't.

[A]

A lot. A lot, Tim. A lot could go wrong, actually. So I don't know if y' all remember, but like in the first couple months of Trump's, after the inauguration last year, Elon Musk shared this, like, live tracker of things that they were cutting and things that they were saving. And it turned out in hindsight that really, most of the numbers that they were putting on there were not real. They were heavily inflated. Really? It's still up.

[B]

It's still up. I just found it. Yeah, look at this.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

They estimate that they've saved $215 billion, which is not true, and they estimate to have saved $1300 per taxpayer, which I'm not sure about you, April. I did not see in my tax return this year, so it didn't save me anything.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no. So, okay, so initially, just, just for some context, initially, when they first started this is according to the Cato Institute, they said that their goal was to cut $2 trillion in waste, fraud and abuse. That was the initial goal. Then they later reduced that goal to $1 trillion. And then finally they were like, actually, our final goal is going to be $150 billion. And for context, the Pentagon just asked for an additional $200 billion in funding for the war in Iran.

[B]

Wait, April, I'm sorry. I don't want to belabor the point here. I'm looking at this website. So at the. And maybe most embarrassingly, it says at the top, an official website of the United States government. Okay? So in big, bold, like, orange or yellow text, it says estimated savings $215 billion. But when you scroll down to the wall of receipts, it says that they estimate a lot more than that. Am I missing. I could be wrong here. But, like. Like this. This is $4 billion, right?

[A]

Honestly, I can't.

[B]

Or is that 4 million? Is this billion?

[A]

No, that's 4 billion.

[B]

Yeah, that's 4 billion, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So is this, then, 1 trillion? Am I reading that right? No, no. That's a billion, too. Okay. I'm just trying to make sense of, like, how they got these numbers, because it says here that they estimate $61 billion in savings. Yeah. Things are not adding up.

[A]

No, they don't add up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so we're gonna get into. So they basically. Oh, my God.

[B]

So here's the proof. You click. You click on one of the items. Screenshot not yet available. It just has numbers. It just has numbers on here. Like, if we're supposed to take these people seriously. Okay, I'm all done. I'm done. I'm moving on.

[A]

You're fine.

[B]

I just. I couldn't believe that that was.

[A]

That. That was on the page at the top. If you couldn't see it, it said, wall of receipts.

[B]

Wall of the wall of receipts.

[A]

Are the receipts in the room with us? No, they're not. Okay. So. So DOGE just became agents of chaos. They just started slashing jobs. They completely gutted usaid, which is a humanitarian outreach that we'll get into the results of everything that they did. But they. They cut a lot of stuff. And so the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical association, and the Modern Language association joint filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in an attempt to reverse the DOGE cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is just one of the many programs that DOGE just axed.

[B]

Right.

[A]

As a result of this lawsuit, they brought in some of the DOGE staffers for depositions. And then one of the groups that is part of the lawsuit released hours and hours of these depositions. And so then clips from the depositions started going viral online. And these two staffers in particular were called Doge Bros. Because I believe, I think they're both in their twenties. Although I couldn't find a ton of information about either of them online. I know neither of them had government experience whatsoever coming into these jobs. So we just want to show you these two DOGE staffer depositions to just show you the level of incompetency and the level of power that these guys had. And I mean, we're talking about. It goes beyond just usaid. People lost their jobs, like government jobs, which we will get. I don't know, should we tell. Should we talk about that first before we dive into this?

[B]

I think we just show the kind of people that were brought in to do this. Honestly, you're gonna, you're gonna discover real quick that, that, that, that the goal here was not about saving money. The goal was about eradicating things that made non white people have access to government jobs. Honestly, like that. That's just what it came down to. So I don't know how old this dude is. I have no idea. He looks like in his 20s.

[A]

I know the other guy was 28.

[B]

Oh my gosh.

[A]

Saw somewhere they said they're in their 20s. I literally could not find this guy's actual age. But this, his name is Justin Fox.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There a government exec.com said that he had the lead role in reviewing agencies books for cuts. According to Mashable, this guy Justin Fox, while he was working at Doge, made $150,000.

[B]

Great. Was his a longer clip, but we think it's important to play these things in their entirety. That's why we have a podcast and not on Instagram doing 60 second clips. So let's kind of go through this piece by piece. Here's the first video we have of his deposition. JUSTIN FOX FORMER DOGE STAFFER how do you interpret dei?

[C]

There was the EO explicitly laid out the details? I don't remember it off the top of my head.

[D]

It's okay. I'm asking for your understanding of it.

[C]

Yeah, my understanding was exactly what was written in the eo.

[D]

Okay, so can you.

[C]

I don't remember what was in the eo.

[D]

So right now do you have an understanding of what D.E.I.

[C]

is? Yeah.

[D]

Okay, so what's your understanding as you sit here today in this Deposition?

[C]

Well, it was exactly what was written in the eo. And so anytime that we would look at a grant through the lens of complying with an executive order, we would just refer back to the EO and assess if this grant had relation to it.

[D]

Okay, but I guess stepping back from your methodology, strictly in terminating the grants, do you have an understanding as you sit here today of what DEI means?

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Okay, so what's your understanding of what it means?

[C]

Well, it is exactly what was written in the eo.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

So.

[C]

And I don't have the EO in front of me, but that was. We would always reference back to the EO and make sure that this grant was in compliance with the eo.

[D]

I understand that. Okay. But I'm not asking necessarily about what was in the eo. I'm asking very specifically about your present understanding of what, of dei. Do you have a present understanding of dei?

[C]

Okay.

[D]

Can you explain what that present understanding is?

[C]

Well, it's just easier for me to be referencing back to the ei.

[D]

Are you refusing to answer the question?

[C]

I'm not refusing to answer the question. I just feel that referencing back to the verbatim executive order was the best way for us to capture all of the DEI language. And so I think giving a, a high level overview of what I could relay as DEI is not going to do justice. What was written in the eo and

[D]

that's okay, we can look at the EO as well. I'm asking you for, I mean, this is a deposition. I'm asking you questions. You're under oath. Yeah. Required to answer them. So what is your understanding of what DEI means?

[C]

Well, I think I would say again that I would go back to the EO to make.

[B]

We just pause for a second. This dude, I love the way he's like, yeah, no, I totally catch you, man. No, yeah. And then he kind of stares off, like off in the distance, like. Yeah, I'm really thinking about the question. Yeah, whatever's in the eo, I can't tell.

[A]

I can't tell if he really just does not have an understanding of DEI or if he's just really dodging the question like to save himself.

[B]

Maybe, maybe. I just think it's really, it's really quite unbelievable to see the level of ignorance and anti intellectualism that was brought into this so called agency that was just made up, which by the way was illegal because Congress sets the budget, not executive, not the executive branch. And they just had people like this getting paid six figures more, way more than the average Salary in America to do a bunch of nonsense and then can't even answer the most basic. I mean, he even say, yes, DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

[A]

He could even say that there's a way you can answer that that does not totally, you know, make you look guilty or anything.

[B]

And we're gonna keep watching.

[A]

Like, he did not prepare at all for this.

[B]

Either that or, to your point, he's stonewalling and just, you know, BSing these people.

[C]

I don't. I don't feel comfortable saying a high level overview because it is such a big bucket, and there's just a lot of pieces of the puzzle.

[D]

What's a part of the bucket?

[C]

Gender fluidity. Sort of promoting, like, promoting subsets of LGBTQ that might alienate another part of a community.

[A]

Straights.

[C]

Again, it was just easier for us to reference back into the eo.

[B]

Painful.

[C]

Okay, so. And I don't want to give you a broad overview because it's like, at the end of the day, it is capturing. It is all encompassing. And, you know, it's how we did our methodology. Right.

[D]

Do you always refer to EOS to gain an understanding of words you used than your typical daily vernacular?

[B]

Objection.

[D]

What do you mean?

[B]

This is like, why. This is like nails on a chalkboard. It's painful. It's almost over. We got. We got like, 40 seconds left.

[D]

Just.

[B]

It's just worth really listening to how. How much these people don't know what they're doing or what they're talking about, or they do, and they were just playing dumb when it comes to a deposition, which they're under oath, by the way, and are legally obligated to answer.

[D]

You say that you have an understanding of what DEI means, and when I ask you, you say you need to reference the eo. Do you need to reference EOS to define every word you use in your everyday life?

[A]

Objection.

[C]

No.

[D]

Okay, so what's stopping you from defining DEI to your understanding as you sit here today on January 28, 2026?

[C]

It wouldn't be capturing enough of how big the topic is. DEI is a very broad.

[B]

There you go there. There's one. One little clip.

[A]

Four minutes.

[B]

Four minutes of this dude just stonewalling.

[A]

The way he just feels so unbothered. And it's probably because I would imagine they have Elon Musk still behind them probably. You know, like, I feel like you think they probably. He probably just thinks he's invincible to whatever consequences may be around the corner, right?

[B]

Because, I mean, Trump gives these people absolute immunity. Right? I Mean, if they. If this guy was convicted of some kind of criminal action, Trump would pardon him. No doubt. No doubt. This guy's walking around thinking that he's untouchable. The law doesn't matter to this guy anyway. Yeah, it's just. It's wild.

[A]

Let's just. Let's go. Let's just keep going. Let's just watch this. This. This is the same guy, Justin Fox, and another guy later on.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Do you agree with ChatGPT's assessment here that a documentary is DEI if it explores historical events that significantly impacted black civil rights?

[C]

Yes.

[D]

Okay, why would that be dei?

[C]

It's focused on a singular race. It is not for the benefit of humankind. It is focused on a specific group of or a specific race here being black.

[D]

Why would learning about anti black violence not be to the benefit of humankind?

[B]

Objection.

[C]

That's not what I'm saying.

[D]

Okay, then what are you saying?

[C]

I'm saying it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

[D]

You said it's not to the benefit of humankind.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Is that what I said?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[D]

Did you read back the witness's response about benefits to humankind?

[B]

I think they're fast forwarding a little bit here.

[A]

He's just sitting there in silence. Question, why would that be?

[E]

DEI answered, it's focusing on a singular race.

[A]

It is not for the. It is not for the benefit of humankind.

[E]

It is focused on a specific group or a specific race here being black.

[D]

So what do you mean by not for the benefit of humankind?

[C]

That's a very subjective. The way that I phrased it there wasn't exactly what I meant. It is focused on a specific subset of race, and therefore it relates to dei. Okay, I'm not suggesting that this is not for the betterment of humankind. That was a misphrasing.

[A]

Okay, so at least he said there was a misphrasing, but my God.

[B]

I think it's really worth pointing out that for a long time, people in particular the black community has been screaming that all this DEI talk is code for race racism. Right. They're just using it as a way to disparage the black community and the gains that they've made over the past couple decades. And the response is, no, that's not what it is. We want meritocracy. We just want a fair society. But the reality is that these people are racist. The fact that this guy really thought talking about black history was somehow inappropriate or somehow not a good thing just demonstrates the level of racism embedded in this administration in Doge, in Elon Musk, which there. Which had the power to shape and to gut certain government policies and government institutions. It's right in front of us. It is right in front of us.

[A]

I think now's a good time to point out too that. So we established DOGE did not reduce spending.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

But did reduce the federal employment by 9% in 10 months. And who disproport that in that disproportionately impacted black women.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Black women may make up 12% of the federal workforce, which is almost twice their share of the overall U.S. workforce, which is that 7%. And so they experienced the largest federal employment losses between 2024 and 2025. So just just to compare, black women's unemployment rate as of September 2025 skyrocketed to a high of 7.5% compared to 4.4% of overall unemployment.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Because of these cuts and between February and July of 2025, Black women lost 319,000 jobs in the U.S. labor market. By comparison, white women saw an increase of 142,000 jobs. Latino women saw an increase of 176,000 jobs, and white men saw the largest increase of all groups with a gain of 365,000 jobs during that same five month period.

[B]

I, I interviewed Lisa Sharon Harper on the New Evangelicals podcast last week. She's a good friend and just an amazing human. And she was the first one to tell me that, that black women have been disproportionately affected by these DOGE cuts and by this administration. And she, she explained even herself how, how hard it was for, for her to find work in her field and how many of her friends who are also black women have been trying to figure out what to do because a lot of their, their jobs, either teaching DEI initiatives or working with agencies to make sure that they are diverse, equitable, inclusive. Right. Have been erased. And, and again, these are things that go way underreported. Like this was not front page news, but it's important to bring up because I think a lot of us are kind of still brainwashed to think like, well, it can't be as bad as some people are saying. It can't be as extreme. They can't be that racist. It can't be. No, they, they, they can't really think that. And on this show we want to show you the receipts that no people in the DOGE world absolutely hold these kinds of views. They absolutely think that talking about black history, sharing the importance of black history is somehow not A benefit to humankind. I don't care if he backtracked. I'm holding him to his own words. It's not a benefit to humankind and also is a DEI initiative, which must be. Which must be a race. Meanwhile, this government, via Pete Hegseth, is working to restore Confederate monuments. This is the same government that brought in slavery apologist Doug Wilson to. To speak at the Pentagon a few days ago. The man who said that slavery was pretty much racially harmonious. I don't know how it's to prove to people that racism and white supremacy is in the White House, making decisions that are actually having real world impacts. Yeah, it's right in front of us.

[A]

I mean, it's. It's terrible. According to gender economist Katica Roy, black women made up 33% of the federal job cuts.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So a third of them.

[B]

And the fact. The fact that you just said a gender economist would automatically mean termination, according to Doge. Right. Because. Oh, we can't have that. But this is why. Because you need these types of studies to understand how different people are affected by systems. This is actually good stuff. It actually is for the betterment of humankind. Right. And so I, again, it's just. It's really amazing to see that their coded language not really be so coded when they're under oath.

[F]

Hi, my name is Brent, and I live in central Illinois, and I'm a new donor to the New Evangelicals. I spent about 30 years in ministry, half the time as a missionary overseas and half the time serving in two small US Churches as a pastor. During those years, I had lots of questions and doubts, and I saw so many inconsistencies in the way that we dealt with theology and the Bible and just our American church culture. Culture. It was very frustrating to me, and so I kept going to sources to try to find answers to make sense of it all, but just never found something that made sense to me. A year ago, I did step down from being a pastor, not because of those things, but for other reasons. And I started a deep dive into going to other sources, including the New Evangelicals podcast that has really helped me to reframe my faith. And it's kind of like the old prescription of glasses that I was wearing to see God and my faith and Christianity just wasn't cutting it anymore. And the new prescription of glasses has allowed me to be able to see things so much better. So I'm on a different path. And I'm very thankful to Tim and the New Evangelicals for introducing me to different guests and commentaries. That's helping reshape my faith. So being a donor is a great privilege and I appreciate the work you're doing.

[A]

I want to read another exchange. I couldn't find the video, but it was in the same deposition. So this is an article from People that quotes Justin Fox, who we just watched. He was asked why a documentary focused on female Holocaust survivors was characterized as dei and this is what he said. Quote, it's the gender based story that's inherently discriminatory to focus on this specific group. It's focusing on DEI principles, gender being one of them, specifically focused on Jewish cultures and amplifying the marginalized voices of the females in that culture. It's inherently related to DEI for those reasons. Also, I want to point out too, I don't think, I don't know that any of the depositions we pulled show this, but it came out that, that these guys were using ChatGPT to decide whether or not certain programs were DEI and would cut them.

[B]

You know, I don't say this often, but it's unfortunately much worse than we think. It's not. It's not like we're. We're bringing out the fringe examples. What's happening in this administration fueled by Christian nationalism is worse than we think. This story, which, which honestly in any other time would have been front page bombshell news of the type of people that are inside any administration, went really under the radar because there were so many other stories to cover that that are just raw sewage coming out of this space. Right. Whether it's bombing children in Iran or whatever else it could be. Whatever else it could be, maybe this is a good place to say, actually, I didn't say this earlier, that if you are looking for a better path forward. Okay, thank you. A path out of the basement of Christian nationalism and fundamentalism. The New Evangelicals, the organization that I founded in 2020 now led by Melinda Hale that also produces this show, is a great resource for you. Currently in March, we're going through a great series on women in leadership in the church. We're doing free classes with scholars every Wednesday night via our community space called TNE Connect. So I recommend checking that out. You can go to the newevangelicals.com or go to our Instagram. All of the resources of TNE are completely free. And there are two other podcasts on top of this one. There's Advocacy Hour, which is really good with host Melinda Hale and our board president, Rebecca Thomas interviewing people who are at the front lines of social change. And there's the New Evangelicals podcast, where I interview scholars, people at the front lines of theology, things like that. So make sure to check it out. It's all free. The New Evangelicals Dot Com. It's a better path from this nonsense.

[A]

Yep. And speaking of nonsense, we've got another Doge bro that was part of these. Yeah, unfortunately, this next guy is named Nathan Kavanaugh. Now, I know I did find his age. He was 28 as of last March, so I'm assuming he's 29 now.

[B]

Okay, here we go.

[A]

Buckle up.

[D]

You don't regret that people might have lost important income to support their lives?

[G]

No, I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from $2 trillion to close to zero.

[D]

Did you reduce the federal deficit?

[G]

No, we didn't.

[B]

Okay, pause, pause. Pause right there. We have to pause. I want. Because the audit's a little grainy. The person doing the deposition says, do you regret that people lost their income from your cuts? He says, no, he doesn't, because the goal was to reduce the federal deficit by $2 trillion.

[A]

The questioner, he thought that was more important.

[B]

Right? Then the questioner asks, well, did you do that? And he says, no. No, we didn't. So not only was their objective, by the way, not even close to being met, they harmed real people with real livelihoods, presumably with families in the process. And this dude doesn't regret any of that, Right?

[A]

And literally accomplished nothing.

[B]

But you know what? Maybe, April, when you believe that empathy is toxic, this is your only result, right? How can you feel bad for other people? That is a toxic trait. You have to just be strong and prideful and arrogant for your decisions. Okay, so frustrating. Let's keep it going.

[H]

Of the HIV AIDS prison movement and its legacies in the United States. My book project narrates how activists fought the convergence of HIV AIDS and incarceration from inside and outside prisons across the Reagan through Clinton years, and argues that this organizing holds legacies in the prison abolition movement of the 1990s to today. This is one of the grants that you or Mr. Fox identified as craziest of neh. Is that right?

[G]

That's right.

[H]

Why did you identify this as one of the craziest grants?

[G]

Because it references feminist and queer insights into prison abolition and LGBTQ studies.

[H]

Any other reasons?

[G]

No.

[H]

Examining military service from the margins. The Complicated Service discussion series will bring together veterans and community members to examine the experiences of service members who identify themselves as. As female, black, Native American, lgbtq, or an immigrant. The dynamics, reasoning, and strength behind Serving a country that does not always serve you in return. Did I read that correctly?

[G]

Yes.

[H]

You and Mr. Fox identify this as one of the craziest grants at neh?

[G]

Yes, it appears so.

[B]

Why did I think we should just pause there for a second and just kind of think about that for a minute. I want to just repeat back the summary of this. There was a grant that was aimed at helping people in the military who have often been overlooked by their own government, reconcile how to serve for that government while living in a reality where they're overlooked. Which, by the way, I mean, case in point is this deposition, right? The fact that they had people in the government looking at LGBTQ plus folks saying, oh, we can't take care of them, even though many of them serve in our military. This 28 year old dude, presumably, who knows nothing about anything related to the government or Doge, called that one of the craziest grants.

[A]

He has a. He was a tech entrepreneur prior to this job at Doge with no government experience.

[B]

This is why, you know, this is what we call crony capitalism, right? This is what happens when the private sector is allowed to invade the government and just take a hatchet to it. It's cruel. It's self serving. It's, it's all the fruit of this is rotten, April. Right? The fruit.

[A]

It's. Why not at least pretend to feel a little bad that people lost their livelihoods, right? Like how he was just. No, just matter of fact, like the privilege that he has to sit there with a smug look on his face. He caused so much damage and he literally doesn't care.

[B]

Well, I think it's interesting that, and this is a very common thing that I've noticed with MAGA people, they will always point the finger at marginalized groups for being too loud, for complaining too much, for, you know, being too outspoken. And then the second they feel like the election was stolen from them even though it wasn't, those same people get so angry, they storm the Capitol building trying to overturn our election results. Right? I mean, it's, it's, it's not, it's not queer folks who are storming Capitol buildings. It's, it's not the black community storming the Capitol building. It was a bunch of white people with Bibles, so afraid, so mad at their perceived injustice, which was imaginary, that they turned to violence right away. And somehow those people think that actual marginalized groups that suffer in, in this America because of people like this. And Elon Musk and Trump are just complaining too loudly and should have more of their access to equity taken away from them. It's unbelievable.

[A]

Make it make sense.

[G]

Make it make sense because it explicitly says lgbtq.

[D]

Do you have any history of like, let's say, scholarly peer review?

[G]

No.

[D]

Okay, so this judgment call was made by you and your personal judgment, combined with Justin's personal judgment to cancel grants based on dei?

[G]

Yes.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

Do you think it's inappropriate in any way that someone in their twenties with no experience with grants for federal government was making personal judgment calls about what grants to cancel? Jackson?

[G]

No, I don't think it's inappropriate.

[B]

Of course not, because you're the one doing it.

[D]

Why not Jackson?

[G]

I think a person can have enough judgment from reading books and being well informed outside of traditional experience to make judgment calls about obvious things like a grant that literally lists DEI and its description to know whether it violates an executive order. You just.

[D]

I'm sorry, I'm saying books because you said books. What books would you have read that would have informed your opinion on what grants to cancel based on dei?

[G]

There were no books.

[B]

I'm laughing even though I'm curious. Like, I'm not trying to make light of a serious situation. It's, you know, it's a three ring circus.

[A]

It's a three ring idiocracy at its finest. To be a documentary, by the way,

[B]

that's not meritocracy, right? That's not the most qualified person doing the job. That is the opposite. There's such a. You know, I understand why this happens, April, I would love your thoughts, but I know why a lot of us tend to distrust institutions and our government and other. I get all that. Our government has not always been truthful. Obviously, you know, it's created a lot of harm and, you know, traditional entities sometimes, you know, can also make humongous mistakes. So I get all that. But this wave of anti intellectualism of, well, I'm outside of the norm, therefore I'm smarter than you, usually turns out like this disastrous. Think about all the people taking Ivermectin during COVID who wouldn't get vaccinated, who are now dead, who are now dead because of that. Right? Think about all the jobs, in particular the jobs of black women that were gutted because a 28 year old white kid with no experience, who read no books, just saw the word DEI or saw the word LGBTQ in a grant, had no experience and just nixed it just because he felt like it.

[A]

And they were using chatgpt

[B]

this as

[A]

like to help just make those decisions. Not even.

[B]

And to think that that 77% of white evangelicals still support this stuff is just like. It's. It's.

[A]

Well, I want to point out, too, beyond the livelihoods of people that were lost because they lost their jobs with these cuts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I also want to read some results so far that we've had as a result of the way that they completely gutted and got rid of usaid.

[B]

Before you do that, should we. Should we read a few super chats?

[A]

Yes. You know what? You've been really good at doing that lately.

[B]

I'm trying to learn.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm working on my segues. I'm trying to pick up from the master herself, so. Okay, here we go. We got one from Tandyman. Hi, Tandyman. $50 for Mohawk drumming video, Tim. Okay, I forgot to pull it this week. I'm asking April and Cassidy to be my accountability partner to remind me.

[A]

I'm gonna make a note right now.

[B]

I will pull it for next week. I will find you a Tim Whitaker in a Mohawk drumming video. We will play next week and I expect that $50. Super chat.

[C]

Okay, let's keep going.

[B]

Video Dolk Dogan. I feel like I'm watching a Tim Robertson sketch. Lol. I don't know who that is. Do you? Is that bad of me to say?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

You don't know Tim Robbins, maybe.

[B]

I know the face. I'm so.

[A]

I think you should leave. I think you should leave. On Netflix, it's like sketch comedy, but absolutely. I'm looking next level.

[B]

Okay, I'll look him up for next week, too. I'll repeat.

[A]

That's pretty funny.

[B]

Kyle Young. For dudes who want women, they sure don't like them. Yeah, seriously. Well said. Have you watched that Manosphere documentary, by the way?

[A]

Not yet. I watched the trailer and I got mad.

[B]

It's good. It's really good.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Cullen Dunham, just joining, but this is a genuine question. How do we move forward as a country without some sort of revolutionary violence? I'm not advocating for unaliving, but I'm just. I'm just. But just something. Trump will never see justice Due to the S.C. a Supreme Court that. All I will say is that as a Christian, I believe nonviolence is the answer. However, I will also say I can understand how people in history have done extreme things. I don't support it. I don't necessarily condone it. Of course, as the new evangelicals go, we completely stand against all acts of violence. But I don't have an answer for you on that, I really don't. Except to say I think the Black Liberation tradition, the tradition of mlk, is where we need to look to. Because MLK faced the actual boot of the empire and still found ways to be nonviolent while getting change done. That's my answer to that. What do you think, April? Is that good?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Okay, we'll go with that then. Brit Whitmire, $5. Super chat. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Couple more here and then we'll get moving. Ann Lizkowski. White privilege is a cancer in America. Lord help us. Keep up the good work. Watch all the time. Thank you so much. That's so kind. It's so kind. Okay, two more here. Kelsey Whitmer. Nothing nice to say here. So I'm not gonna say anything at all about these Doge Bros. Thanks for what you guys do. Much love. And then the last one, the Super Chat.

[A]

Oh, he already gave it. Thank you. That is a seed gift. Right. There he is. Name it and claim it. Putting full faith he has seen that

[B]

you're gonna play the video. Thank you for your attention to this matter. You are welcome, Tandyman.

[A]

Okay.

[G]

All right.

[B]

As you were, April. As you were. Go ahead.

[A]

Okay. Oh, gosh, this is gonna be a terrible. I gotta segue now because this is bad news. I don't wanna be saying this with a smile on my face.

[B]

Right. Serious stop. Sorry.

[A]

Okay. USAID cuts. So we've already seen real time impact. And a lot of this impact is going to be seen in the next several years and decades. So here's some things that have actually happened in the last year since these. USAID had cuts. Malaria deaths spiked in northern Cameroon after supply chains for anti malarials fractured in Yemen. US cuts to the United Nations World Food Program ended food assistance for 2.4 million people and halted nutritional care for 100,000 children.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

In Myanmar. Myanmar. I think that's how you say that. I'm sorry if I said that wrong. The International Rescue Committee saw learning centers for children in the world's largest refugee camp abruptly closed. And UNICEF reported a 27% increase in the number of children admitted for severe acute malnutrition treatment. Cholera spiked in the Congo because of a sudden halt in USAID funded water and sanitation programs that alone, by December, they saw an increase in deaths of 361%. And then, I don't know if y' all saw the story. There was almost $10 million worth of contraceptives and birth control that in July, the State Department said they were going to spend $167,000 in taxpayer money to burn them all, even though they were already paid for and unexpired. They were going to just burn them instead of distributing them. And I think they're still just sitting there in the warehouse as far as I could tell. According to a Harvard School of Public Health and then based on models from Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, the USAID cuts has already caused the death of 600,000 people, two thirds of them children. And he noted that the toll will continue to grow and on and may go unseen because it can take months or years for people to die from lack of treatments or vaccine. Preventable illnesses that were also cut. UCLA Fielding School of Public Health researcher finds that recent USA foreign aid cuts may lead to more than 14 million additional deaths globally by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under five. And then similar a similar study, a peer reviewed study conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health projected that these global aid cuts would lead to at least 9.4 million additional deaths deaths by 2030 if the current funding trend continued.

[B]

If people want to watch a deep dive on this, I recommend John Oliver did a whole show on USAID that pretty much echoes that as well as give some very specific examples that's really, I think worth watching. April, if you, you know, part of the reason why apparently DOGE decided to gut USAID was because it was, you know, it was part of the waste of the government, right? This was part of reducing this huge deficit down. Reducing, true. Reducing the deficit by $2 trillion. If you had to guess what is the percentage of the USAID budget out of the entire federal spending budget? No, I'm asking you to guess. I already have the number. I want you to guess what you think it might be. Say the question again, out of the entire federal budget, what's the percentage of the USAID portion?

[A]

Oh, I don't know, 5%?

[B]

How about 0.3%?

[A]

Oh gosh.

[B]

USAID spent $21.7 billion according to USA Facts in, in fiscal year 2024, this was 0.3% of the 6.78 trillion in overall federal spending. And we and people are convinced that by gutting USA ID we somehow saved money. Yet we didn't and we killed millions of people in the process. Unless we already killed many. Many have died because they have not gotten access to things that that department provided across the world and many more are going to die if it's not remedied asap.

[A]

Not to mention the all the money that they cut from medical research.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That. That's gonna, like, research. Things that are going to eventually lead to the deaths of Americans. And with the new, the beautiful bill, the cutting of the. What are they called, the healthcare premium cuts that everyone's been dealing with so far, that once those go back into effect, which I think they have for a lot of people already, the people won't be able to afford healthcare.

[B]

Yeah. Yes, that's exactly right. People wanted the graph for this. I see it in the chat, so I'll put it up here. Here you go. Fiscal year 2024, USAID spent $21.7 billion, and that was 0.3% of the federal budget in 2024. That is the 0.3%. 0.3.

[A]

It's so infuriating.

[B]

Oh, it is maddening.

[A]

Like, it's maddening Even if they reached their goal, because I think human lives are more important than. Than whatever they're wanting to save money for, like this war.

[B]

Well, it doesn't. Yeah, exactly.

[A]

They didn't even accomplish their goal.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Is extra infuriating. They literally accomplished nothing.

[B]

I'm trying to find. There was an article from Fox Business that I pulled up earlier. I can't seem to pull it up. But essentially, the other key part of this, you know, a very common trope we hear is that, you know, we have to control federal spending, which, by the way, federal spending does not work like how the average household budget works. It's a very different process. But Trump has increased federal. The federal deficit by trillions of dollars, sometimes month over month. He is spending, according to the gop, recklessly. Right. He's out. It's out of control spending. Not a peep. Instead, they have somehow brainwashed millions of people to think that by gutting usaid, somehow America saved money which somehow will benefit the American people. How? The economy is overwhelmingly not growing according to expectations. We lost jobs a few months ago. People are not getting more money in their paycheck. On top of that, Mike Johnson told the American people, we don't have the money. We don't have $14 billion to find to extend Affordable Care act subsidies, essentially kicking a million plus people off of their health care or skyrocketing their premiums. Right. We're told by these people that to be responsible, we can't spend that kind of money.

[A]

And yet I mentioned this briefly earlier. Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion. $200 billion in additional funding for the military because of the Iran war. Do you have that clip I do.

[B]

Let me grab it.

[A]

Or you want me to just quote it? I can just read what you said.

[B]

I have it here. Why not? It's always good to have the clip. I should pull it up. 200 with a B. Friends. Extending affordable care subsidies. 14 billion. Too much. Can't do it. Pete hagseth. I want $200 billion so we can keep bombing people overseas. Okay, yeah, no problem. All of a sudden, we have the money. All of a sudden, it's not a big deal. Here's what he said.

[A]

Well, they haven't approved it. Hopefully they don't.

[B]

But I read the Republicans killed an attempt to stop it. But maybe I'm wrong. All right, here we go.

[A]

There was a report last night that the Pentagon asked the White House for 200 billion for Iran war, supplemental. Can you confirm this, and can you explain why a package this large is necessary?

[B]

Well, as far as $200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys. So we're going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is. Everything's refilled. And not just refilled, but above and beyond. Do we have to hear any more?

[A]

I mean, yeah, it's money to kill bad guys. I just saw a video. I know the videos coming out of what's happening in Iran right now are, like, unreal in the worst way. I saw a video yesterday of an Israeli strike on a residential building that. It's so infuriating and heartbreaking. I don't even know. I don't have words. I don't really know how to process it. And it feels. It almost feel. I almost feel guilty.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Being here, you know, like, not that I like. I can't imagine having to live in a country where you don't know if you're gonna be bombed that night while you sleep in your bed.

[B]

It is. You know, I'm not sure about you, April, but growing up as an evangelical, I was taught that America was the good guys, that we were the people, you know, fighting the battle against evil. And the more I look at America and the more I learn about its history, the more I'm like, we are quite often the bad guys. Right. We are currently bombing another country because Trump had a feeling. Killing children. If it was reversed, if there was a country more powerful than us bombing our kids, bombing our civilians, taking out hospitals and schools. You don't think that Americans would be outrage. You don't think that our leaders would want vengeance? Like war only makes things worse. It only makes things worse. But somehow in America, the people who think that this country is founded on Judeo Christian values, we have to feed the military industrial complex. Because I'll tell you what, there are contractors out there making a lot of money off of dropping missiles on kids heads right now. And they, they're in America. They're not in Iran, they're in America.

[A]

I know, I will say this. It's hard to even, I don't even want to say there's a silver lining because people are literally dying and children are dying. But there is a little bit of some infighting happening as a result of this because Donald Trump, one of his main campaign promises was no new wars. So this is a complete 180 from what he promised. And so a lot of people that supported Trump are actually very upset about this. And a top Trump official, he was the counterterrorism official named Joe Kent, he recently resigned over the war in Iran. And he, I saw a clip of him earlier. We didn't play it or we didn't pull it. I think it was, I don't remember who was interviewing him, if it was Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson.

[B]

I think it was Tucker.

[A]

Was it Tucker? Yeah, one of them. But anyway, he, he said that there was absolutely no intelligence that Iran was close to getting a nuclear weapon, which is that there was no imminent threat.

[B]

I think this is also a good point to mention that Pete Hegseth's Pentagon is also recklessly spending money on all kinds of nonsense like lobster tails, ribeye steaks. In fact, I have an article from USA Today that talks about this. There was a report that came out in. Let's see, where is the data I have on this because it's really wild. In September alone, just in one month, the US Pentagon, or the Pentagon spent more than $93 billion. In one month in the Pentagon, they dropped $140,000 on 272 orders of donuts, which averages out to almost $500 an order. They dropped a lot of money on lobster tails and on steak ribeyes. Again, this is crazy. And they're telling us that we don't have the money. Here's the report. It says more than 7 point million dollars, $7.4 million on lobster tail in four separate months. March, May, June, October. There was also 15.1 million worth of ribeye steak, 124,000 worth of ice cream machines, and a $98,000. Steinway and Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff's home. Meanwhile, Meanwhile, a report came out that roughly. Where's the number here? Roughly 20,000. Okay. Roughly 82 million Americans. According to this study from the West Health Gallup center on health care report, 82 million Americans have said they have made at least one trade off with daily living expenses to afford healthcare. The government that, that, that, that, that told people they want to root out fraud and waste and government, you know, and get. Make the government more efficient are the ones recklessly spending money on themselves while the American people are suffering. And I want to be so clear here. The Republicans had the opportunity to at a minimum, spend $14 billion, not even 10% of what Hegstaff spent in one month in the Pentagon, to spend $14 billion to just accept, extend the current subsidies that were already, already hard to manage. You know, as an American looking for healthcare. It was already expensive. They let those expire and they told people that, that this is part of us being more efficient. We can't afford it. We're just being lied to. We're being lied to all the time. And people are suffering. You're suffering. Our MAGA neighbors are suffering. People watching this are suffering. It's unbelievable. You know, it's unreal.

[A]

No, it really is. And there are people that are starting to distance themselves from maga. And I get it's frustrating. It's kind of like too little too late. But it could be good for midterms.

[B]

I hope so. I hope we get.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Geez.

[B]

It would. Yeah. So anyway,

[A]

I don't know if, speaking of the MAGA infighting, you want to

[B]

get to that segment.

[A]

What do you bet? Yeah. You want to. Yes.

[B]

I want to do two things. First, I want to take a quick break. We should do that. But I do want to say one more brief thing. I found an article on how much a billion dollars can buy you. I just think it's really worth trying to, because oftentimes we just hear these numbers, 1 million, 1 billion, 400 billion. And our minds can't process how much money that is, especially in the billions. So I found this article from buzzfeed that would tell you how much or what you can buy with. With a billion dollars. So I'm going to read just a few of these. Okay, here's number one. Throughout the U.S. the average person spends sixteen hundred dollars per month on rent. If you had one billion dollars, which is a tiny amount for Elon Musk, you could cover that rent for the next 50,968 years. If you wanted to do it in New York City, where the average rent is $4,000, your 1 billion would still last you an impressive 20,734 years. That's just 1 billion. Elon Musk is worth 400 billion. Let's keep going. This one, this one was my personal favorite and you'll understand why I want to read it to you. Your $1 billion could also buy every single person in Japan, Germany, France, Sweden, Palestine, Ghana, Spain, Poland, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil. A burrito from Taco Bell and you'd still have another 5.3 million burritos left over. Not too shabby considering you started with over 671 million burritos.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

If you wanted. Let's see, there's some other ones here that are really good.

[A]

You would love the Taco Bell stat.

[B]

I would love it, right? Jeff Bezos spent an estimated $50 million on his star studded wedding in Italy. That may seem like a lot because it is, but to him, it's the equivalent of spending only $41 to the median American. His total net worth is 233 billion. If you had just 1 billion and wanted to recreate his wedding extravaganza, which included performances from Usher, you could do it every single week for the next five months. That's how much we're talking about here. It's. It's insane. It is absolute. Another one. For all of you Game of Thrones fans, maybe you were disappointed in how the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones ended. Each of Those episodes cost 15 million to make, so you could redo all six of them any way you'd like, 11 times and still have some change left over. That's the amount of money we're talking about here.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. It makes me want to play that game from Bridesmaids where Kristen Wiig is like, help me, I'm poor. That's. That's how I feel. You've read all that?

[B]

The last one I'll read, then we'll go to a break. The average hospital bill for delivering a baby in the US without complications is $19,000. With your 1 billion, you confront the bill for 52,631 new kids. That's only 3,000 people less than the entire population of Greenland. That's just 1 billion. And these greedy men hoard their wealth while the rest of us are just trying to survive. We're just trying to survive. So I thought that was worth pointing out, you know, like just how much money we're talking about. Yeah, we have to. I don't think we're angry enough, frankly, you know, at just the level of injustice. So, anyway, again, speaking of maybe some good news and a better path forward, let's go to a break and hear from our executive director, Melinda Hale. We'll come back and we'll get into maybe a lighter segment that might be kind of funny. So. Be back in a second.

[E]

Hey, everyone, this is Melinda Hale, the executive director of the New Evangelicals. Listen. Every day we hear from people who feel isolated, disillusioned, and hurt by a version of Christianity that has been hijacked by politics and nationalism. And yet they still long for a faith that is rooted in love, justice, and compassion. And that's why the New Evangelicals exist, because we believe there is a better path forward. We're creating resources, hosting conversations, and we're building communities for people who want to reclaim Christianity and stay rooted in the teachings of Jesus. But building a movement like this takes time. It takes energy, and it takes financial support. So if this podcast or our YouTube, our educational offerings or community space or anything that we've created has impacted you, would you consider becoming a donor? Even a gift of $5 makes a huge difference for small organizations like this. Your support helps us to continue empowering people to put their faith into action by rejecting Christian nationalism and to live in a way that shows people how to truly love our neighbors. Together, I know that we could build something beautiful. So visit thenuevangelicals.com support to give today. You can find the link right in our show notes. Thank you for standing with us.

[A]

So I don't know, do we want to play the Mark Wayne video or we want to just get into the. Let's just.

[B]

Let's just get into it. Yeah. We're at almost an hour. We're at the hour, Mark, so let's do that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So the Mark Wayne had a. His confirmation hearing. That is wild. If you want to just go watch that exchange, the people that they have in MAGA is truly idiotic. Okay, moving on. Speaking of idiotic. But it did spark joy. I'm not gonna lie. There is some infighting happening that we mentioned earlier. So Marjorie Taylor Greene has been pretty anti Trump for a while. Megyn Kelly has now joined that. And both of them, we played a video, I think, of the two of them a week or two ago about them very upset about the war in Iran. They are very anti. Again. They are very against this war. We are also against this war. So on. We agree. That does not make them good people.

[B]

Right, Right.

[A]

But.

[B]

Right. We are against the war.

[A]

A lot of people. Okay, I'm gonna set this up. I'm gonna just share this. Let's pretend this is like Gossip Hour. Okay? We're talking about some. We're spilling some tea. Okay.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Mark Levin, he is a radio conservative talk show guy. I used to listen to him.

[B]

Same, same.

[A]

My. My dad called him the whiner because he has this kind of like, whiny voice.

[B]

He does.

[A]

He's kind of like a whinier Rush Limbaugh, if you want to know who he is.

[B]

He was also a huge never Trumper in the beginning. Huge.

[A]

Oh, I didn't realize that.

[B]

Oh, yeah. He has a whole segment on his radio show where he calls him a con man, says that whole ruin the party. Oh, yeah, he was a huge anti Trumper back in the day.

[A]

I have a. I have thoughts on that. It really ticks me off. The people that, like, you knew better because you said, anyway, it doesn't matter. Mark Levin, he has been attacking Megyn Kelly because she's against the war in Iran. So Megyn Kelly, I guess, had enough. And she, quote, tweets one of Mark Levin's tweets about her where he called her, like, diabolical. You can bring it up. She. He said, she's evil, diabolical, gone. Megyn Kelly, quote, tweets it and said, I'm sorry you have a micro penis, Mark Levin, but don't drag the rest of us into your drama. This is how we start, okay?

[B]

This is the beginning.

[A]

Then there's some more back and forth. There's another quote. Mark Levin says, poor Megyn Kelly, an emotionally unhinged, lewd and petulant wreck. She's completely revealed and destroyed herself. Says she's not intelligent, blah, blah, blah. Utterly toxic. Megyn Kelly, quote, tweets him again and says micropenis. Mark thinks he has the monopoly on lewd. His tweets about me obsessively in the crudest, nastiest terms possible. Literally more than some stalkers I've had arrested. He doesn't like it when women like me fight back because of his micropenis.

[B]

Okay, we're not done there, are we? Are we?

[A]

We're not done. Megyn Kelly then tweets again, and what you're not seeing is Mark Levin. There's a lot of back and forth. Megyn Kelly, we just went back and counted micropenis. Mark has shit. Can I say? Oh, bleep. Has bleep crapped. Posted about me over a hundred times since November. I responded a total of six times, starting with asking him to tone it down, saying he's going to get someone killed. In response, he amped up his attacks tenfold in the nastiest, most personal, misogynistic, vile terms possible. On his show and on X, Fox News allows this. Micro P is obsessed. It's sick.

[B]

I'm glad that now she can invoke the misogynistic card when it's crazy.

[A]

I know. Okay, then Donald Trump gets involved. The President of the United States. He comes in and just defends Mark. Mark Levin, a truly great American patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people with far less intellect, capability and love for our country. And I don't need to read this whole thing. You can start.

[B]

Are you sure it's so long.

[A]

Should I.

[B]

You need to in your voice, do your April thing.

[A]

Okay, fine, I will. But I just think it's so funny that literally, Mark Levin being told he has a micro penis is, quote him being, quote, somewhat under siege. Anyway, okay, go ahead.

[B]

Buckle up, buckle up.

[A]

Mark is tough, strong and brilliant, hence the nickname the Great One, conceived by our MAGA friend, the wonderful Sean Hannity. After years of dealing with Mark in legal, media and other capacities, Mark would often do Sean's show speaking as a lawyer. And Sean realized then, as did others, that he was special. Mark Levin was not looking to do television, radio or anything else. But he was drafted by very smart people who understood that there are few like him. He is a true conservative and intellect far smarter than those who criticize him. But above all, he is a man of great wisdom and common sense who truly loves our country. When you hear others unfairly attack Mark, remember that they are jealous and angry human beings whose sway is much less than the public understands and will. Now that they know where I stand, rapidly diminish. Other than for his wonderful wife and family, Mark Levin only cares and wants one thing, greatness and success for America. Those that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies and footings are not sound. They are not maga. I am. And MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a sick, demented and violent terrorist regime, to have a nuclear weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle east, and ultimately the rest of the world. MAGA is about stopping them cold. And that is exactly what we are doing. God bless our great military, which I have rebuilt since the beginning of my first term to achieve everlasting peace through strength. Make America great again. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President Donald J. Trump.

[B]

You have a real spiritual gift, April. You really do. So good.

[A]

That's all God. I give my. Give all the glory to God.

[B]

Okay, so what's next?

[A]

So Trump gets involved. Notably though, he did not say that Mark did not have a micro penis.

[B]

Right?

[A]

He didn't acknowledge that. Like, it is kind of funny. They're like, mark, micro penis. Mark has a micro penis. Like, that's the attack. And Trump's just like, hey, he's a great guy.

[B]

He's great. And he's super smart. He's super smart. Okay.

[A]

He's so smart. So then Megyn Kelly sees that Donald Trump responded and says, micropenis. Mark Levin is such a small man, he had to go beg the President for a pat on the head in the middle of a war to make himself feel better about. Well, you know this. After one mean tweet about him following his 111 nasty, non stop personal, misogynistic attacks on me, Fox has an obsessed harasser on its hands. Just like all feckless, weakling bullies, Micro can dish it out, but he can't take it. After just one post putting the so called great one in his place, he ran crying to Daddy. Okay, so she's now saying, you ran and ran to Daddy Trump about your micro penis.

[B]

But, but this was the, this is the plot twist I did not see coming.

[A]

Marjorie Taylor Greene, of course, she's like, I gotta get involved. Out of nowhere, he quote, tweets Megyn Kelly responding to someone else. Like someone else was like, hey, Megan, this is kind of crude. And she's like, disagree. This is Megan here. Disagree. You can take the high road and ignore for a while, but eventually, after hundreds of tweets attacks, you punch the bully in the rhetorical face and then he goes running to Daddy about his micro penis. Daddy being Trump. Marjorie. Marjorie Taylor Greene quote, tweets. That tweet I just read from Megan and says, I wholeheartedly support Megyn Kelly telling the world that Mark Levin, Mark Levin has a micro penis. It's the most deserved insult and I don't care if it's vulgar. And Trump's gigantic defense of Levin only enraged the base. More people are done. MAGA destroyed by micro penis. Mark Levin.

[B]

April, no offense, I don't want to hear the word micropenis for a long, long time.

[A]

I don't want the most I've ever said that word in my entire life.

[B]

That's the most I've heard it in my entire life, frankly. I mean, holy moly. The drama, the drop. It's like their third maga.

[A]

You've got the president of the United States comes in and is defending a man because one woman says he has a micro penis. And also, can we just say the fall of Megyn Kelly.

[B]

Oh, my God, for real.

[A]

Respected her back when she was part of the Fox News, like, taking down Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. Like, she did speak out against that. A little late, but she did. She ended up leaving Fox, lost her job at Fox, and then she tried to make it as, like, a respectable journalist for a while. She had her own show. I can't remember what channel it was on, but she was trying to be like a Katie Couric type.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And to see her go from trying to make it to now just being like, I don't care. Micro.

[B]

Bottom of the barrel.

[A]

Listen, I. When it comes, if we're talking Trump and Mark Levin versus Megan Kelly and Marjorie Taylor Greene, I got to be on Team Micro Penis.

[B]

I can't do it.

[A]

I mean, it does spark joy, but all of them are terrible people, you know, but, you know, a broken clock gets it right twice a day, and I'm. I am enjoying watching them implode on 100.

[B]

All right, let's do a few super chats, friends. If you're watching this stream, please make sure to give this video a like and subscribe to the channel on YouTube. If you're watching on substack, please make sure to gently tap the heart button. As we said earlier, the Tim April shows produced by the New Evangelicals, a nonprofit organization that helps people find a better path forward in your faith and also helps you understand the threat of Christian nationalism. I recommend checking them out. It's an organization that I started now run by Melinda Hale. There's so many great resources. We have our own community space called tne. Connect with scholars and classes and all kinds of great stuff, and make sure you follow them on substack and on Instagram at the New Evangelicals. All right, few super chats here. Joseph Compton. We're going to be dealing with Trump's reckless spending for decades to come. Can you imagine the austerity measures that we may have to endure? I don't want to think about it. Another one from unbridged bibliophile. Why are Christians, especially evangelicals, so supportive of Zionism? Do they not know what Zionists think about Jesus? Or do they not care? That's a longer conversation. I will Say, I did a video on that recently. And on the new evangelicals podcast, look up my interview with Daniel Hummel, who is a pro at dispensationalism. You'll get your answer over there. Okay. Joseph Compton. Congratulations, Barkley. Ben, you just made me list. You just made the list. Megyn Kelly, Vomit face. Thank you. Let's see. And then another one here from White, 1985. Abel kind of broke, but I really appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for the super chat. It means the world. And the last one from Joseph Compton. Upside down face. I guess that's.

[A]

Oh, that's an emoji.

[B]

Yeah, it's an emoji.

[A]

Yeah, I love that.

[B]

Oh, and there's one more astonished face also got that too.

[A]

All right, thank you.

[B]

Let's go to our favorite segment and end on a high note.

[A]

Weird Christian.

[B]

Okay, let me get rid of that slide. Boop. This April now. You have not watched this one in its entirety. This one's from me.

[A]

No, I haven't.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The setup for the podcast audience is. This is like an altar call with the pastor, and there is a worship team on the stage, including a drummer. That. That. That will matter in a minute. Here. That's the setup. Here you go.

[A]

Okay.

[I]

See the things that Jesus can do in your life. I want you to lift one hand up real quick, and we'll pray.

[B]

I see you.

[I]

Eddie, get off the drums. Get off the drums. Just go sit down. Let's go sit down. Lift your hand if that's you. I saw someone's hand. Lift your hand. Eddie, get off the drums. I saw your hand. Is there anyone else? Well, Eddie, just. Eddie, get off the drums right now. Go in the corner. Give me 20 push ups. Go back to your seat if that's you. Eddie just ruined your first spiritual moment with every head bow, every eye closed, because I thought someone got shot. I want you to. I saw someone lift their hand. Don't let Eddie ruin the moment for you. If you raised your hand, will you come to the front right now so we can pray?

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

And he ruined the moment for you.

[A]

I cannot believe I did not know where that was going. I cannot believe he made it so much worse. You just say, hey, don't worry. We don't need drums. And then you just leave it. Especially because he. He wasn't doing anything else. He was just sitting there. Dude, get off the drums.

[B]

He's a youth group kid. Look how young he looks.

[I]

Look.

[B]

Where is he?

[A]

Look at him, the drummer.

[B]

He's a child. Yeah, he's in the back over here. This is him. Get off the drum, give me 20 push ups.

[A]

What does he say here?

[B]

He says. He says that. That. That the moment was ruined. Hold on the corner.

[I]

Give me 20 push ups and then go back.

[B]

Wait for it.

[A]

He's the one ruining the.

[I]

Well, Eddie just ruined your first spiritual moment.

[B]

Well, Eddie just ruined your first spiritual moment.

[A]

Poor Eddie. This point is gonna go to therapy for this moment.

[B]

He will find.

[A]

Hold on. Go to the very beginning. Can I tell you what I first noticed?

[B]

Yeah. Hold on.

[A]

This girl in the front row, looking around. Yes. She commits a cardinal sin of what you're not supposed to do.

[B]

There it is.

[A]

You are not supposed to look around.

[B]

No.

[A]

When you're asking people to raise their

[B]

hand, especially in the front row, like if you're in the very back, you can kind of do. You can do the old little sneakaroo where you kind of do a little peek in the front. A full 180 turnaround.

[A]

Full turn. No.

[B]

Are you mad?

[A]

No. What you do is you kind of. You can do a little sneaky, See if people near you are doing it, but you. The full turn is wild.

[B]

When I was a kid, I would

[A]

do this evangelical altar call etiquette.

[B]

When I was a kid, I would do this. I would cover my. My face with my hands.

[A]

Peek through. Yeah.

[B]

I look for all the sinners. You need to repent.

[A]

Maybe he forgot to say, heads bowed, eyes closed, no one looking around the room.

[B]

I don't know, dude, because the pad is running. Listen to this.

[I]

See the things that Jesus can do in your life. I want you to lift one hand up real quick.

[B]

No, no, this is assumed. Your. Your eyes are closed. If he's doing the altar call, raise your hand.

[E]

Girl.

[B]

What are you doing?

[A]

Else is looking around.

[B]

Look at her. Look at this sneak. Look at her. She's looking, looking. And boom. Gotta look around.

[A]

No. Yeah, girl.

[B]

Come on. That's a good one.

[A]

I was thinking about raising my hand. That girl ruined it for me before I did.

[C]

Totally.

[B]

No, Eddie woke me up.

[A]

Yeah. And in many ways, maybe Eddie actually brought people back in who were probably falling asleep.

[B]

That's what I'm saying. He was actually helping the moment, right? He was actually. I would say he was inviting the Holy Spirit. Dude, that poor kid. He's got to be like, maybe 17, maybe.

[A]

Why did you keep the past. That pastor keep going, like, bringing it up? That's making it way worse.

[B]

Your spiritual authority, your pastor shaming you in front of the entire youth group. That Is. That is trauma. That is a permanent memory that you are never going to Forget. Give me 20 pushups. Eddie ruined your spiritual moment. Are you kidding me?

[A]

I almost wonder if Eddie's his kid.

[B]

Oh, that'd be even worse, though. That will be even worse.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know.

[B]

Your dad's shaming you like that. Oh, that'd be awkward.

[A]

I've been. I've been shamed by my dad from the pulpit before. It's fine.

[B]

Well, that got heavy real quick.

[A]

I just remember one time I was, like, going through, like, I'm just gonna share it.

[B]

I'll be your therapist.

[A]

Drama dump. Really? It really wasn't that bad. I will say I had a bad habit of playing a game on my phone in church. This is when I was in college and I would come, I would drive an hour and a half every weekend to go to my dad's church where I helped out.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

On, like. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We had two services. The first one was kind of boring. I was like, half asleep because I woke up at like 6am As a college student to drive that far. Anyway, I was tired, and so I would play on my phone to stay awake so I just wouldn't, like, fall asleep. And it drove my dad crazy. And I understand if I was up there, whatever, but one time I was on my phone and I think my dad had just, like, had it. And he was in the middle of saying whatever, he was in his sermon, and then he just went, hey, April. In the middle. And I was like. And then of course, everyone turns and looks at me and I'm. I'm in the back. And I was like, oh, okay, sorry. But then I was mad. It did not have the right benefit, but I did get off my phone, and then I got a lecture later, and then I probably talked back. I don't know. It doesn't matter. But anyway, all that to say is, I can relate, Eddie.

[B]

And how did that moment make you feel, April? Tell me.

[A]

More embarrassed and mad. It did not do the. Didn't make me feel like. Anyway, doesn't matter. Pks. Solidarity. Solidarity to all the preachers kids out there.

[B]

You know my wife is one, right? Sarah. She's a pk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So, yeah, we talked about it.

[B]

All right. Three super chats to read, and then we'll wrap it up here. Friends, thanks so much for being here. Caroline, not Carolyn Boyd. Allie. And friends, take note. They'll never pick you. Thank you. Lexanity. Oh, this is another emoji. It's a dog laughing slightly while blushing and covering his mouth with one arm. So descriptive. From Deanna Much Eddie is going to need to deconstruct now. Absolutely. We'll see that kid on the show soon, no doubt. And then D. Smith, Eddie caused me to deconstruct and become a militant atheist. That's funny. All right, friends. Well, that's all we got for today. Thank you again so much for being here. Make sure to like this video. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. Thanks for watching. Unsubstack. And that's all I got. I'm Tim Whitaker.

[A]

I'm April Ajoy.

[B]

See you next Thursday.

[A]

Bye.