BY : Ian M. Giatti, Christian Post Reporter
Among a litany of politicians and celebrities, President Donald Trump took time at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner to roast Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, saying he “hates Christianity.”
Trump made the remarks Friday night to reporters assembled in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria hotel for the rescheduled WHCA dinner in Washington, D.C. The smaller venue was chosen after the originally planned dinner at the Washington Hilton was derailed by an assassination attempt in April.
While Trump used the speech to poke fun at a range of figures such as including former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell and others, he also called out Talarico, likening him to the freckle-faced “Mad” magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman and predicting an easy victory for Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The president then addressed the Texas state lawmaker as “James Talafreako,” a name the Talarico campaign has since adopted as its own, even selling T-shirts and other merch reading “I’m a Talafreako.”
“In Texas, the Democrats are running a candidate named James ‘Talafreako,’ who hates guns, hates oil, hates sex, hates women, and says he is a ‘Christian who hates Christianity,’” said Trump. “Other than that, I think his platform is quite good. And that means he’s not going to do very well against Ken Paxton, who hopefully in Texas is going to win.”
Trump continued: “But you know what he looks like to me? Remember Alfred E. Neuman from ‘Mad’ magazine? That guy is Alfred E. Neuman. Can’t imagine he would win.”
In a recently resurfaced 2021 podcast, Talarico, a lifelong member of the progressive mainline denomination Presbyterian Church (USA), used similar language to describe himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity.”
“I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity, right?” Talarico said during a March 2021 episode of the “Activist Theology Podcast,” which also featured a transgender-identified theologian.
Talarico, who defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, in the Democratic primary, is mounting a high-profile challenge against Paxton in one of the most watched Senate races of the 2026 midterms.
Paxton, who won the GOP nomination over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, with Trump’s endorsement, has faced past impeachment by Texas House Republicans and legal scrutiny. Talarico, who is currently attending seminary in Austin, has positioned himself as a more traditionally religious alternative to the controversial Paxton.
Trump’s remarks come a little more than a month before the first-ever Republican “Midterm Convention” in Dallas in September. The two-day event at the American Airlines Center is designed to rally the party base, showcase the administration’s “America First” agenda, and boost turnout ahead of the November elections.
Described by RNC Chair Joe Gruters as a “Trumpapalooza,” the convention is expected to tout economic wins, border security and energy dominance by the Trump administration.
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