AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): James Talarico, the 37-year-old American senator-elect in Texas, in reaction to the remarks of US President Donald Trump in a radio interview with the Fox News network, in which he had accused him of insulting Jesus Christ (a.s.), said, "Bombing innocent students in Iran is an insult to Christ (a.s.)."
Trump, in this conversation, described Talarico as a person strongly influenced by so-called "woke" thinking and called him highly incompetent.
Talarico, in response to these remarks, said, "The President of the United States said that I insulted Jesus Christ. Do you want to know what insults Jesus Christ? Denying patients healthcare while cutting taxes for billionaires; deporting immigrants and separating babies from their mothers."
Continuing, referring to the US administration's foreign policy and the war against Iran, he stated, "Do you know what insults Jesus Christ? Bombing innocent students in Iran and sending our brave men and women to their deaths in another endless war."
Criticism of the handling of the Epstein case
This Democratic politician also, criticizing the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, said, "Covering up the Epstein cases and refraining from prosecuting even one of the individuals whose names appear in these cases is an insult to Jesus Christ."
Talarico, in another part of his remarks, while emphasizing that he does not consider himself a perfect Christian, said, "I am not a perfect Christian and I make no claim in this regard. There has only been one perfect Christian, and he was crucified 2,000 years ago."
Referring to the teachings of Christianity, he added, "Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Can we imagine the existence of war, bigotry and discrimination, or poverty in heaven? So why do we allow these things to exist on earth?"
James Talarico, 37, a Democratic representative of the Texas House of Representatives, in the elections of November 3, 2026, succeeded in entering the US Senate by defeating Ken Paxton, 63, the Republican attorney general of this state.
According to the announced results, Talarico won with 59.2 percent of the votes against 39.2 percent for Paxton and allocated another Senate seat to the Democrats in the state of Texas for the first time since 1988.
Before this victory, Talarico had defeated Jasmine Crockett, a US congresswoman, in the Democratic Party primaries in March and gained the party's nomination for the Senate election.
He had been active in the Texas House of Representatives since 2018 and gained fame after criticizing the Republicans' use of Christian teachings to justify their policies.
Talarico's election race was accompanied by repeated attacks by Republicans, including attacks by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, in which Talarico's sexual orientation was targeted. Talarico, who has been engaged to Briana Menard since 2023, in an interview with People magazine described these remarks as "low-level personal insults" and considered them insignificant.
He said, "Although being exposed to such insults is not pleasant, I think most people in Texas well understand the motives behind these attacks. They see the strategy of creating division and diverting public opinion and are ready to have serious leaders who finally really talk about their problems; because politics is not about politicians, it is about people."
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