Megan Basham

New York Times columnist David French, for instance, he identifies as an evangelical and he wrote a column in which he called Tallarico one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian.

Christianity Today, of course, founded by Billy Graham, also praised Tallarico on a podcast this year.

You know, acknowledging those exceptions, I would say that the response from mainstream Christian leadership has mostly been negative.

On Wednesday, Franklin Graham called Tallarico a, quote, wicked politician spouting lies.

Texas megachurch pastor Josh Howerton went viral for rebuking him.

Professor and theologian Carl Truman wrote in the Washington Post that Tallarico's arguments, quoting here, damage the Presbyterian religious tradition to which Tallarico and I both belong.

So I would say if those other candidates aren't getting hit quite as hard as that, it's probably because they're a little less well-known.

Yep, thanks, John.

Yeah, he's built one of the largest online political audiences, John, especially among younger progressive voters.

He's got over 3 million followers on Twitch, another 2 million on YouTube.

So a really sizable audience.

And he's an open Marxist.

Yeah.

He calls himself a socialist, and he's actually called for capitalist blood to run in the streets.

He's also joked about assassinating Donald Trump, saying someone's got to do it.

He's overall very heavily critical of the United States and Israel.

He has called the documented sexual violence that was a part of Hamas's attacks on October 7th a rape fantasy.

So I would say that it's very fair to characterize him as a left-wing extremist.

And recently, there's been a lot of controversy over legacy media like The New York Times trying to legitimize Hasan Piker by platforming him as a normal political commentator without mentioning these extreme views.

Well, the focus of this federal probe is tied to a trip he took to Cuba in March alongside activists affiliated with the so-called Nuestra America Convoy.