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JT James Talarico James Talarico James Talarico has represented District 50 in the Texas House since 2018.

“Theocracy, in my mind, is the most dangerous form of government because the only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God. And that's why our faith in Jesus should lead us away from theocracy, away from tyranny, away from Christian nationalism, and toward a multiracial, multicultural democracy where we can all freely love God and fully love our neighbors.”

The Jamie Kern Lima Show · May 2026

“Theocracy, in my mind, is the most dangerous form of government because the only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God. And that's why our faith in Jesus should lead us away from theocracy, away from tyranny, away from Christian nationalism, and toward a multiracial, multicultural democracy where we can all freely love God and fully love our neighbors.” — James Talarico, The Jamie Kern Lima Show

Context

James Talarico in a May 2026 interview on The Jamie Kern Lima Show, asked to explain what he means by Christian nationalism and how it affects people.

Transcript

The Jamie Kern Lima Show Around 40:06 into the episode
James Talarico

them? So I would define Christian nationalism as the worship of power in the name of Christ.

Jamie Kern Lima

…or the link in the show notes below. Imagine what you'd do if you fully believed in you. It's time to find out with worthy. And now more of this incredible conversation together. Can you talk about Christian nationalism and what people should know, what it is, how does it affect them?

James Talarico

…within the church, within Christian communities, about what is our relationship with power. Because in my mind, as a Christian, power that is not shared is also domination. And in a democracy, it's all about sharing power. We acknowledge that power is real and that it has consequences. And we commit to sharing that together as a nation, as communities. And I think that's where we have to strive. Theocracy, in my mind, is the most dangerous form of government because the only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God. And that's why our faith in Jesus should lead us away from theocracy, away from tyranny, away from Christian nationalism, and toward a multiracial, multicultural democracy where we can all freely love God and fully love our neighbors.

Jamie Kern Lima

A lot of people don't know this, but during your first campaign, you almost fell into a diabetic coma. You almost died. What was it like to find out you were diabetic in your 20s?

James Talarico

So in my very first campaign back in 2018, I was running for the state house and I decided to walk the entire length of my district from Round Rock, Texas to Take Texas,. And well, I wanted to, you know, so much of politics now is filtered, sometimes literally, but also just there are so many…

Jamie Kern Lima

Oh, wow.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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