Attacks on Texas Senate candidate aren't just about him. They're an attempt to crush progressive Christianity
Andrew Daugherty
Sun, June 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM MST
James Talarico has been found guilty of quoting Jesus. The sentence he uttered, according to right-wing media, was "demonic" and "blasphemous," exposing him as a "fake Christian." Talarico is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas on a platform The New Yorker recently described as basically the New Testament. One Newsmax host accused him of using fake Bible passages.
The passages in question are familiar ones, found in Matthew 22 and Matthew 25. Love God and love your neighbor. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. They are, in fact, in the Bible.
The right's attacks on Talarico aren't about him, or at least not entirely. They're about a much older argument — one progressive Christianity has been losing in public for 50 years — about whose version of the faith gets to count as real. The answer to that question has consequences far beyond any Senate race. When Christianity becomes a tool of power rather than a challenge to it, it doesn't just damage the church. It destabilizes democracy. We are watching that happen in real time.
Talarico calls his approach a "politics of love." What does he mean by that, exactly? Well, it's among the most demanding and disruptive political frameworks ever articulated. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the peacemakers. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. That is drawn, of course, from the Sermon on the Mount. It is not ambiguous, and every empire that has ever heard that message has tried to kill the person saying it.
MAGA, Inc. to host $1 million-per-plate fundraiser at Trump's golf course. Critics slam event as benefiting wealthy over working class.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, linked the ritzy fundraiser to Trump’s economic policies that have primarily benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the working class.
“The comingling of 250th anniversary events, Trump’s UFC fight, and a $1 million per-plate fundraiser on Trump’s own birthday,” Gilbert said, “gives corporate interests and wealthy donors not just an ultimate fight—but the ultimate opportunity to pay tribute to the president.
Rather than celebrate our nation’s anniversary in the bipartisan manner directed by Congress, the Trump administration has directed public money and public property to politicized events.”
“Major corporations, such as Chevron, Exxon, MasterCard, and many more,” Gilbert added, “should be ashamed to be associated with this corrupt spectacle.”
The fundraiser comes as a recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed food insecurity in the US has reached its highest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s safe to say that anyone who agrees to work for President Donald Trump is a deeply bad person—and Director of National Intelligence nomi
By this point, it’s safe to say that anyone who agrees to work for President Donald Trump is a deeply, deeply bad person. But some folks are more low-key in their evil than others.
If there's a way to spoil it, the FIFA Peace Prize winner will find it.
Paul Waldman at Public Notice:
President Trump likes to say that thanks to him, the United States is now “the hottest country in the world.”
Were that actually true, the World Cup, which begins this week, would be an extraordinary showcase to attract people from all over the globe, show them the wonder of America, and leave them with even more admiration and affection for us than they had before.
Alas, that’s probably not what will happen. The soccer will surely be exciting and the international rivalries intense, but Trump will hover over the event like a noxious cloud, turning things sour wherever his influence is felt. He may not manage to ruin it completely, but he’ll make it worse in every way he can.
At the heart of the event lies a dispiriting contradiction: The World Cup is supposed to unite the world in a spirit of brotherhood and joy, yet it’s being hosted by a xenophobic, bigoted president who has done everything in his power to shut America’s doors to the world.
For the first time, the tournament is being held across three countries, the US, Mexico, and Canada. But it’s mostly America doing the hosting: 11 of the 16 venues are in the US, and three-quarters of the games — including all those from the quarter-finals on — will be played here. And while some of the less appealing features of the world’s most important sporting event are familiar — including corruption and profiteering — others have a distinctly Trumpian cast.
Everyone cashes in
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which governs the sport, had been beset by corruption scandals when the current president, Gianni Infantino, took over as president a decade ago. While he stabilized the organization’s finances and the sport is more popular and profitable than ever, critics argue that Infantino rules soccer like a dictator. Which makes him a kindred spirit to our president.
So it wasn’t really a surprise when Infantino came to the World Cup draw event and presented Trump with the “FIFA Peace Prize,” an award they made up to win Trump’s favor.
[...]
Meanwhile, those who want to attend the World Cup will be paying through the nose. Ticket prices have been shockingly high; prices for the cheapest nose-bleed ticket at a first-round game now range from the mid-hundreds for a matchup between two small countries up to a couple thousand to see the most popular teams like France or Spain. If you want to see the first US game in Los Angeles, there’s almost no seat available for less than $1,000.
After the group stage, in which four teams play a round-robin and the top two proceed to the knockout rounds, tickets will get substantially more expensive. Attending the final in MetLife stadium in the Meadowlands will cost you anywhere from $8,000 to $57,000.
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Fans will have every spare dollar squeezed out of them even after they’ve bought their tickets. Last week, FIFA announced that attendees would be barred from bringing water bottles into stadiums, despite worries about extreme heat that could affect players and spectators alike. Could this benefit the Coca-Cola corporation, sole vendor of drinks at all World Cup events? Perish the thought.
After an immediate backlash (New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it “concerning,” and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said it was “a pure money grab”), FIFA backtracked slightly, saying fans in the US and Canada (but not Mexico) can bring one soft-sided, sealed water bottle of no more than 20 ounces. Getting to games may also be pricey: NJ Transit is charging $98 to take a train from Penn Station in Manhattan to the Meadowlands for a match, a half-hour ride that usually costs $12.90. You could park at the mall a mile’s walk away — but you’ll have to pay $225 for that privilege.
The FIFA World Cup being co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico was supposed to be display of celebration in the US, but due to Donald Trump’s reign-- especially on immigration policies-- the World Cup (outside of the games themselves) has been a disaster.
See Also:
Daily Kos: The World Cup kicks off—so do the controversies
What Trump and his "manosphere" are trying to tell us with their public displays of testosterone
Robert Reich:
Friends,
Tonight, Trump is throwing an 80th birthday bash for himself (he says it’s in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States) with a “Freedom250” Ultimate Fighting Championship cage match on the South Lawn of the White House at 8 p.m. ET.
It will be a bloody gladiator fight taking place inside a 600-ton, 154-feet-tall skeletal structure called “the Claw,” painted red, white and blue. Opponents will punch, kick, wrestle, choke, and use jiu-jitsu on each other until one of them is unconscious or verbally concedes, or a referee stops the fight because one is judged too damaged to absorb any more violence.
This is a money-making operation for the UFC (which is offering special-access VIP packages for $1.5 million), for Trump buddy David Ellison’s Paramount (which will livestream it to you if you buy a subscription for $8.99 a month — see here), for Crypto.com and Ram (which are sponsoring it), and for Trump (who’s deciding which of his billionaire friends and CEO buddies will be invited ringside. Last night, Trump held a $1 million-a-person dinner at the Trump National Golf Club at Potomac, Virginia, to benefit his Super PAC, Maga Inc.).
Beyond the usual Trumpian issues of self-dealing and pay-to-play corruption, today’s fight also raises the question: What does a cage match on the White House lawn have to do with America’s 250th anniversary?
Just this: Trump and his regime are seeking to project an America that’s like the winner of a cage match.
Trump sees everything and everyone in terms of dominance or submission, and he’s hellbent on dominance. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong,” he told his supporters on January 6, 2021, before urging them to go the Capitol.
He views America as locked in a zero-sum match with the rest of the world, and there’s no limit to our violence. Unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz, he memorably said, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
Trump’s entire “manosphere” is obsessed with force and violence. His secretary of “war,” Pete Hegseth, threatens “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies” and “maximum violence to the enemy.” When told some fishermen survived the American bombing of their boat, Hegseth reportedly ordered his commander to “kill them all.”
Trump’s secretary of health and human services frequently posts shirtless workout videos in which he’s lifting weights alongside figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kid Rock. He claims Trump has “the highest testosterone level” ever seen in an individual over 70 years old.
Trump’s whole circle — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and JD Vance — glorify male prowess and power. (In a Twitter exchange a few years ago, Musk said he was “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, who replied: “Send me location,” eliciting from Musk: “Vegas Octagon,” and the suggestion that podcaster Joe Rogan referee.) Musk and Vance champion pronatalism — the belief that the single greatest threat to Western civilization is collapsing birth rates — and argue that Western women must have more children.
Much of the Republican Party is likewise focusing on male virility. Texas Republican senatorial candidate Ken Paxton calls the Democratic candidate “low-T Talarico.”
Part of this comes directly from the fascist playbook, organized around a “strongman” touting male dominance. In that playbook, war and violence are thought means of strengthening society by culling the weak and extolling heroic warriors.
Having the UFC Freedom 250 event in front of The White House is tacky and a waste of taxpayer money.
Agreement was struck despite an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Sunday that drew criticism from both Iran and Trump
Jason Burke at The Guardian:
A peace deal between the US and Iran has been reached following nearly four months of fighting in the region, Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials have said.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the agreement in televised comments in the early hours of Monday, saying it puts an “immediate end” to the countries’ war, and that it included Lebanon.
The precise terms of the deal were not immediately known, however, in a statement posted to Truth Social Sunday evening, the US president announced the opening of the strait of Hormuz as well as the removal of the US naval blockade. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”, said Trump in the celebratory post.
He later clarified that the opening of the strait would be contingent upon the signing of the deal on Friday – which mediator Pakistan said would take place in Geneva – “for purposes of mine removal”
However, Iran’s Mehr state news reported that the memorandum of understanding agreed with the US calls for the reopening of the strait within 30 days under “Iranian arrangements”.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced the agreement on Sunday afternoon, with both sides declaring “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
The agreement was struck despite an Israeli strike on Lebanon on Sunday that drew criticism from both Iran and US President Donald Trump.
“Following intensive talks, we are pleased to announce that the Peace Deal between the United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran has been REACHED,” Sharif said in a post on X. A signing ceremony for the peace agreement is expected to take place on 19 June in Switzerland, he added.
Trump had called for restraint on Sunday after Israel launched fresh airstrikes on Beirut, as mediators sought to reach a preliminary peace deal to definitively end the three-month war in the Middle East.
Trump had previously suggested the US could sign an agreement with Iran on Sunday, but as the evening came in the Middle East, there was no sign of a breakthrough. Instead, Iranian officials threatened a military response to the Israeli attack on Beirut, which destroyed a building in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, killing three and injuring six.
[...]
Even if the strait of Hormuz is reopened, relief for the world economy will come slowly, analysts say. Safe passage for shipping trapped in the narrow waterway is far from assured and infrastructure damaged during the conflict will take months to fully repair.
The US and Iran agreed to a new peace deal that is substantially similar to the JCPOA agreement under Obama that was torn up under Donald Trump’s 1st term, and contains a provision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
See Also:
HuffPost: U.S., Iran Reach Deal To End The War, Reopen Strait Of Hormuz
June 13, 2026 - Across the UK today antifascists took to the streets in protest against the racist violence that has swept the country over the last week.
In particular protests enjoyed overwhelming turnouts in Glasgow, Belfast and Brighton. In Belfast tens of thousands of antifascists gathered in the largest anti-racist demonstration the city has ever seen. [video]/[photos]
titsay
