The pastor of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee last week said on a podcast that he wants Texas Democrat and U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico to die, the HuffPost reports.
Evangelical Pastor Brooks Potteiger, who’s been described as Hegseth’s closest spiritual adviser by The Guardian, repeatedly attacked Talarico on the podcast Reformation Red Pill, likening him to various predators from the animal kingdom. The show is hosted by Joshua Haymes, a former pastoral intern at Potteiger’s church and a fellow member of the congregation along with Hegseth.
Potteiger and Haymes both had some choice words for Talarico on the program, referring to him as “a wolf,” a “demon” and “a snake” throughout the podcast.
“I pray that God kills him,” Haymes said of Talarico on the podcast. “Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ. If it would not be within God’s will to do so, stop him by any means necessary.”
Potteiger concurred. “Right, right,” he said. “We want him crucified with Christ.”
The 36-year-old Talarico, who’s running for Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s seat in the upper chamber, is a Presbyterian seminarian who has fielded criticism from fundamentalist Christians for recent comments, including claims that “God is nonbinary.”
Polls show Talarico neck-and-neck with Cornyn, should the incumbent win his GOP primary runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Despite Talarico’s frequent sermonizing on God’s love and acceptance, Haymes said on the Reformation Red Pill podcast that he puts Talarico in the category of “public enemies,” or those you “are not called to love.”
Potteiger is a frequent guest on Haymes’ podcast, where Haymes has regularly espoused extremist views, including calling for public executions and saying the Bible is “pro-ICE raids.”
On X, Haymes has claimed that liberalism is a greater threat to the United States than neo-Nazism. He’s also tweeted out calls for capital punishment for adultery and abortion and appeared to demand the drowning of LGBTQ+ Pride marchers, according to the Guardian.
Haymes views are aligned with the teachings of Potteiger’s Nashville-suburbs church, which is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network of Christian congregations.
Governing documents of the church state that homosexuality, premarital sex and transgenderism are unbiblical. The documents also dictate that women shouldn’t serve in the military — a view Hegseth has also publicly espoused.
Last May, Hegseth brought Potteiger to the Pentagon to lead a prayer service. During his prayer, Potteiger hailed Trump as a divinely appointed leader.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
