The clip of Talarico, posted on X Sunday, is among several others released by the PAC, which describes its mission as “exposing extreme liberal James Talarico as too weak & weird for Texas,” and elicited numerous responses. Some commenters posted Bible verses such as 2 Corinthians 11:13-14 and Revelation 12:9, while others reflected on how Mr. Rogers might respond, saying, “Fred Rogers was a true Christian and an ordained Presbyterian Minister. He was the farthest thing from James Talarico.”

Talarico’s comments about prophetic voices were made during a September 2019 sermon at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Austin, Texas. He prefaced his list by insisting that “Christianity, like all religions, is trying to help us understand what it means to be human.”

“Christianity is the tradition in which I was raised. It’s the vocabulary I know. Jesus is the prophetic voice in my own life,” he added. In addition to listing famous religious leaders and other public figures, Talarico suggested that prophetic voices could include “your hometown pastor, your third-grade teacher, your parent.”

At one point during the sermon, Talarico said “Parkland students” — those who became gun control activists after a mass shooting occurred at their high school on Valentine’s Day in 2018 — were also prophetic voices. “Humanity’s prophetic voices, from the Buddha to the Parkland students, should speak directly to each of our hearts,” he said.

A separate clip from the same sermon received national attention back in March after Talarico won the Democratic primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett. In it he insisted, “Prophetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness, my own masculinity, my own certainty, my own ego. It’s a never-ending process, and it’s a painful process.”

In his sermon, Talarico also took numerous digs at President Donald Trump, who was serving his first term in office at the time: “The clearest anti-Trump we have is Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings — and those delivered by other prophetic voices throughout history — show us the way to defeat Trumpism in our world and in ourselves.”

“To me personally, the two clearest personifications of the ego and the heart are President Donald Trump and Jesus of Nazareth,” Talarico maintained. “These two people, to me, crystallize the two antithetical paths that are before us.”He went on to describe the president as a crystallization of an “inhuman path,” while pointing to Jesus as the crystallization of a “human path.”

Talarico also derided Trump as “an existential threat to our democracy,” adding, “Trump and the impulses he embodies [scare] us so profoundly because he’s within each of us.”

Trump, he insisted, is “a manifestation of our own inclinations toward physical, rhetorical and spiritual violence against our fellow human beings and our own planet in ways both big and small.”

Talarico provided multiple examples of ways he believed Trump was the opposite of Jesus: “Trump lives in a golden apartment; Jesus preaches in the wilderness. Trump is elite, Jesus is marginalized. Trump holds grudges; Jesus finds forgiveness. Trump is materialistic while Jesus is spiritual. Trump is vain; Jesus is humble. Trump is shallow; Jesus is deep.”

He continued: Trump values property rights; Jesus values human rights. Trump practices judgment; Jesus practices compassion. Trump exudes certainty and Jesus exudes mysticism. Trump sees supremacy; Jesus sees equality. Trump believes in denomination and Jesus believes in connection. Trump thrives on hate; Jesus thrives on love. Trump pursues aggression; Jesus pursues peace. Trump tweets, Jesus prays. Trump builds walls, Jesus builds bridges. Trump provides answers while Jesus asks questions.”

According to Talarico, “Trump creates tribes based on mutual hatred; Jesus creates communities based on mutual trust. While Trump demands military parades to demonstrate his own strength, Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem, mocking the traditional concept of strength. While Trump tells those who are different to go back to where they came from, Jesus ate meals with those perceived to be untouchable.”

“While Trump thrives in the traditional power structures of white supremacy and unchecked capitalism, Jesus subverted power by centering the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed,” Talarico concluded.

Although Talarico spent much of his sermon attacking Trump and portraying him as the opposite of Jesus, he told the congregation that he prays for the president. “I pray he remembers compassion; I pray he remembers love and I pray he remembers his place in our human family.”

The RealClearPolitics average of polls asking voters which candidate they support in the U.S. Senate race in Texas shows Talarico with a slight lead over Paxton. Talarico has 47.6% support while Paxton has 44.7% support, giving Talarico a lead of 2.9 percentage points over Paxton. A Talarico victory would mark the first time a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas in nearly four decades.