Brad and Dan are back from the American Academy of Religion conference in Boston and kick off this episode with some love for the folks they met there before diving into a wild week in American politics and religion. They start with the viral moment between Erika Kirk and JD Vance at a TPUSA event, unpacking the media frenzy, the rumors about Kirk’s political aspirations, and what this says about the internal dynamics of a GOP that’s trying to blend celebrity, piety, and power. From there, they break down the Department of Justice’s statement implicating Kristi Noem in deportation flights and what that level of entanglement means for accountability within the MAGA movement.
The second half of the episode takes a thoughtful turn as Brad and Dan dig into Bill McKibben’s essay “They’re Doing to America What They Did to Christianity,” exploring how nostalgia and selective memory shape everything from Christian identity to policy debates. They look at why both right wing and progressive versions of Christian nationalism are so dangerous, how civilizational populism reshaped politics during and after the Obama years, and why the GOP still has no coherent healthcare plan. Despite the heavy topics, the hosts offer reasons for hope with updates on recent legal wins, global news like Bolsonaro’s sentencing in Brazil, and reminders of why staying engaged matters.
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