Evangelical permission structures show how authoritarian movements use theology to justify protecting leaders over victims.
Cracks inside MAGA reveal ideological contradictions finally colliding with political self-interest.
Conspiracy thinking in Christian nationalist spaces thrives because it replaces moral responsibility with cosmic storytelling.
Tim and April use the chaos surrounding the Epstein revelations to show how denial becomes a deliberate political strategy when the truth threatens the people who built their identities around power. They dig into the way moral frameworks get bent to protect the powerful, turning faith into a shield rather than a standard. What emerges is a picture of a movement that cannot survive honest scrutiny, which is why internal fractures erupt only when personal interests collide, not when harm comes to vulnerable people. The contradictions inside MAGA aren’t signs of awakening but signs of instability, proof that a coalition built on grievance eventually trips over its own narratives. And woven through it all is the culture of conspiratorial thinking that replaces accountability with myth, making even obvious facts feel negotiable.
Tim Whitaker is the founder of The New Evangelicals, and April Ajoy is the author of Star Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism And Finding True Faith.
Tune in to this episode of The Tim and April Show, now!
Epstein, MAGA & Trump: The Throuple From Hell
One of the hallmarks of the Trump era is the alacrity with which intelligent people embrace stupidity. As it was in Mao’s China with the Red Guard, it is a political crime in today’s Republican Party to appear well-educated.
