Christopher Burton

@asymmetricinfo @tracewoodgrains It was him or Crockett. Perhaps, say, one of the Castro Brothers *could* have been better, but they didn't run, much less win.

@tracewoodgrains Now, I assume that most Democratic primary voters in Texas have, in fact, met many Republicans so I'm really at a loss as to how Talarico became their standard-bearer.

Ken Paxton is odious and James Talarico is a better choice. I think Jeff's clearly right about how many serious Christians will react to him, but he can only call it blasphemous while standing shoulder to shoulder with Evangelicals and Catholics because he, too, is liberal. Talarico is sincere in his Christianity, which is a different religion than Jeff's Christianity, a different religion than Evangelicalism, a different religion than Catholicism. He has a clear, predictable moral compass: he is a social justice progressive. He selectively reads and selectively focuses on scriptural points that align with that moral compass, the same way a thousand branches of Christianity formed with heartfelt disputes. And once upon a time, man, those differences really meant something. Catholicism was offensive to Protestants! Lutherans were not Anglicans. So Talarico quotes the Gospel of Thomas? Megachurches play "Christian" rock concerts in theaters. Blasphemy is in the eye of the beholder, and sects almost by definition trample on what other sects consider sacred. Lately, those internal disputes have gotten less focus as people are concerned about the wave of secularization. Whenever a vital religion pops up, people from more settled sects react the same way Jeff reacts to Talarico: with unease or disgust towards this strange new religion with strange new demands among them. But now, the thing that really unites a lot of Republican Christians is not adherence to a pure Christianity that all of them come anywhere close to agreeing on. It is adherence to a shared cultural conservatism that they prioritize over doctrinal purity, just like all religious liberals. Talarico does not answer to "his activist base" because he's cowed by the public. He is a progressive because, like his activist base, he sincerely believes in that moral frame. He is a Christian because, like other progressive Christians, he believes that moral frame stems from a higher power. Jeff asks if God makes demands of Talarico that might put him crosswise of his activist base. I ask if God makes demands of anyone that conflict with their deep-felt moral beliefs. Jeff frames Talarico as either dishonest or a coward because he fails to accept what Jeff sees as the demands of Christianity. You can make that accusation, just like Mormons and Evangelicals accuse each other of cowardice or dishonesty over sola scriptura, grace vs works, and Priesthood authority. Is Talarico's Christianity sloppy with things like the Gospel of Thomas claim? Yes, but not more so than a thousand other sloppy, contested claims in a religious territory full of disputes that look absurd to participants on all sides. Jeff is not defending a unified and coherent Christianity against a non-Christian interloper. He's defending a unified and coherent right-wing cultural conservatism against a progressive interloper, mistaking sincere belief in a competing set of religious values for insincerity in the expression of those values.

Ukraine does not throw priests jail. They throw russian spies dressed as priests in jail.

@AusTexican @bonchieredstate @CplPunishment_ God can forgive Ken Paxton. His family and his church can forgive him. But that's not the standard for elected officials. LoL!

@bonchieredstate @CplPunishment_ They don’t get that Jesus had a lot of sinners around him. Not excusing their behavior but forgiving them and bringing them into the fold.

Let me explain something to Democrats commenting on Talarico being a “seminarian,” apparently believing that automatically makes him the Christian choice. And you probably won’t get it, but that’s okay. I’m going to explain it anyway. In the Book of James, people who assume the mantle of teacher but spread heresies are said to have “stricter” judgment that your average sinner. False teachers are repeatedly warned against throughout the scriptures, described as the worst types of wolves. In other words, while you can point to Paxton’s past transgressions, and that’s fair to talk about, you need to understand that what Talarico does and has done is no less sinful. And for the average devout Christian who isn’t part of a progressive heretical body, they see that and know that. You may not get it. You may think all this Christian stuff is just about saying a few words. But it’s not. Heresy is a grave sin, and something Christians are expressly told to flee from. So Christians are going to take that issue seriously in this race, even if it seems silly, unimportant, or unfair to you because you think, “Well, Talarico is nice so that makes him righteous.” Not how it works.

This is catastrophe that the Republicans are completely ignoring.

@cwebbonline I don't think their heads will explode. They will just deny the numbers or ignore it.

MAGA HEADS ARE GOING TO EXPLODE 🤯 🚨 A new Cato study found immigrants reduced US deficits by $14.5 TRILLION since 1994. Not increased. Reduced. Even undocumented immigrants were estimated to have reduced deficits by at least $1.7 trillion. The very people Republicans keep villainizing are working, paying taxes, and helping keep the economy afloat while billionaires and corporations dodge taxes with loopholes their lobbyists wrote themselves.

Donald Trump commuted the sentence of a health care executive who was convicted in a $1.3 billion Medicare fraud scheme.

@EsotericCD With all due respect, you write for the National Review. Who was the last Democratic senate candidate you did not hate? Sam Nunn?

Feels like a good time to repost a relevant piece. If you think Ken Paxton's odiousness makes James Talarico any better as a choice, then you don't understand why - as a Christian - I consider Talarico to be morally worse: a false counselor hiding behind claimed Christian virtue to lie lead his flock astray. I *hate* him in ways I will never quite loathe the familiar corruption of Paxton. Do not pretend to me that he is a hero - he is malevolence in a pleasing disguise. nationalreview.com/2026/03/james-…

Republican Christians hate "fake Christians" but only when their fakeness is left-coded. Right-wing "Christian" politicians can lie, steal, abuse, gleefully break every commandment & invert every beatitude as long as they don't say nice things about gays.

The chuds were wrong about mRNA. It's magic.

@ChrisCillizza All from a guy running for an office that regulates oil and gas.

Bo French proposed deporting 100 million people from the U.S. Whoa boy.

There are 150,000 fewer children living in New York City than on the eve of the pandemic—a nearly 9% drop. The five boroughs lost 3.5x as many kids in the four years after 2020 as they did in the previous ten. 🧵 ...

@BasedMikeLee FU.

There is no interpretation of the Bible that can support the Gospel of James Talarico God isn’t gender nonbinary Climate alarmism isn’t a biblical mandate It’s time for Republicans to unite behind Ken Paxton, who won tonight’s runoff in Texas Share if you agree

@Maxwell_pringle @GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench Where to start? The known price of access to Trump? Gabbard? Making every possible move to kneecap NATO and DoD? Fraudulent contracts that will get people killed? I don't presume to know the nexus of corruption vs. sabotage, but I pray that someday we will learn the details.

@Observations87 @GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench Treason? Wow. Care to substantiate those claims by citing legal precedence and not just your opinions?

Can we be done with the pretense that Republican primary voters vote for MAGA candidates in spite of their apostasy and corruption? The transgression is a feature, not a bug. It tells voters they don't care about law or morality. Only power.

@neoavatara I get it that it's a time-honored tradition and politics criticize your opponents for not being where you want them to be (I've done it myself) but who exactly did Democrats have who was better than Talarico?

This. Democrats keep failing at this. Just get an average, honest broker... And you have a real chance. They can't do it though.

@Maxwell_pringle @GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench Facts were not hand-waved. The corruption, criminality, and violations of the Constitution emitted by this Administration are without modern precedent. I won't even the treason in foreign affairs.

@Observations87 @GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench When facts are handwaved nothing is "accurate"

@Maxwell_pringle @GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench Nothing he said was inaccurate.

@GetRyback92 @DavidAFrench It's very clear that you refuse to recognize the details around all of these topics. No amount of information could change your mind. Good talk...

@Globalstats11 Oman?

World Life Quality Compared to the USA 🇺🇸 🟩 Better Life Quality 🟥 Worse Life Quality 🟦 USA

Your wife says you cheated on her. Your staff say you took bribes. Your party impeached you.

@sSchlotz24 @WalshFreedom I can imagine this is how you would react if this the feds or local cops did this to you. Not.

@WalshFreedom Oh my god! Hours?! Really?! Hours?! However did she survive? What is this, how the pampered and spoiled suffer? You’ll talk to the parents of some of the girls who were raped and murdered. Their suffering’s lasting a lot more than “hours.” 😏

MAGA says: “Show your ID.” She did. A U.S. citizen. Mother of four. Stopped in Lafayette, Louisiana. She showed ICE her state ID and Social Security card. They called them fake, shackled her, threw her in a van, and detained her for hours. The papers didn’t protect her. The Constitution should. Fight with us against ICE, Trump, fascism: gofundme.com/f/PAXIS

@SimiValleyGuru @TheNortyEmp @_sn_n As I recall, he commissioned the painting in a crude style to symbolize how his work as governor was unfinished.

@TheNortyEmp @_sn_n It is

Trump is building himself a billion dollar ballroom