David French’s “MAGA” Smear Proves He Doesn’t Know Texas

A 25-year Texas politico reads the latest New York Times lecture on Christian character — and finds the same old outsider blind spot.

I’ve been active in Texas politics for more than a quarter century — knocking on doors, phone banking, running precincts, serving as a Presiding Election Judge, and watching this state transform from a purple battleground into the solid red powerhouse that keeps delivering Republican supermajorities. So when David French, the Connecticut-based New York Times columnist, parachutes in with his Sunday piece “James Talarico Is a Christian X-Ray,” I recognize the familiar sound of a national figure who has never walked these precincts.

French doesn’t just praise Texas state Rep. James Talarico as a faith-forward seminarian who “acts like a Christian.” He uses the piece to draw a stark line: Talarico reveals the “profound contrast” with the “MAGA Christian movement” that supposedly embodies indecency. The thesis is clear from the start — the real American divide isn’t left versus right but decent versus indecent. Yet French never defines his favorite slur. He weaponizes “MAGA” as a pejorative, not a descriptive term, letting him dodge the full counsel of Scripture while pretending to defend it. After 25 years on the ground in Texas, I can tell you: this isn’t insight. It’s the same old outsider blind spot.

Let’s start with the column itself. French deploys “MAGA” exactly three times, and each instance is a master class in rhetorical sleight of hand. He never defines the term. He never quotes a single Texas Republican, pastor, or voter explaining what it means to them. He simply assumes his readers already know it as moral condemnation.

French writes: “Talarico is one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian, and by acting like a Christian he reveals a profound contrast with so many members of the MAGA Christian movement that’s dominated American political life for 10 years.”

That’s not description; that’s indictment. The phrase “MAGA Christian movement” is presented as a monolithic spiritual pathology. French erases the fact that Texas was already solidly Republican under Rick Perry and Greg Abbott long before 2016. He offers zero evidence that the voters who have kept this state red have abandoned the fruit of the Spirit. Instead, he implies they have. Scripture has a word for that: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).

Then comes the dagger: “This is what MAGA Christianity has become. In that world, cruelty in the name of Trumpism is no vice, and kindness in the name of progressivism is no virtue.”

Here French twists Barry Goldwater’s famous line into an accusation of moral inversion. He provides no examples of systemic “cruelty” beyond Ken Paxton’s personal scandals — scandals Texas voters already weighed and still sent Paxton to the Senate runoff with 40.7 percent. The implication is clear: the entire coalition that prioritizes border security, election integrity, and parental rights has traded Christian virtue for vice. Yet French never applies the same test to the other side. He correctly quotes Galatians 5:22-23 earlier in the piece — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — but suddenly those virtues become optional when progressives pursue policies that contradict the whole counsel of God. This is special pleading, not exegesis. It violates the very “orthocardia” (right heart) French claims to champion.

Finally, the third use seals the caricature: “And yet, if Paxton wins, MAGA evangelicals will no doubt claim that he is the only viable candidate for Christians to support — after all, it’s a common sentiment on the right that you can’t be a Christian and vote for Democrats.”

“MAGA evangelicals” reduces millions of Texas Southern Baptists, non-denominational Christians, and conservative Catholics to a cult. The passive-aggressive “no doubt claim” assumes the worst motives without evidence. Meanwhile, French gives Talarico a pass for calling conservative priorities on life and marriage “mind-blowing,” even though Jesus upheld the entire moral law (Matthew 5:17-19). This selective judgment is exactly what James 2:9 forbids: “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin.”

French demands orthocardia from everyone except the side he’s already decided is indecent. That brings us to the heart of the matter: how Texas actually defines MAGA — in our own words, on our own platforms, and in our own campaigns.

Start with the official 2024 Republican Party of Texas Platform, which Texas GOP candidates and voters explicitly embraced. Its title is not subtle: “2024 GOP PLATFORM: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The text reads: “America First: A Return to Common Sense… We will Make America Great Again. We will be a Nation based on Truth, Justice, and Common Sense. Common Sense tells us clearly, in President Trump’s words, that ‘If we don’t have a Border, we don’t have a Country.’… Dedication: To the Forgotten Men and Women of America… Today and together, with Love for our Country, Faith in God’s Good Grace, we will Make America Great Again!”

That is the MAGA definition Texas runs on — border security, economic common sense, America First, and explicit faith in God. Our state platform echoes the same priorities: limited government, sanctity of life, parental rights, election integrity. No cruelty. No hatred. Just results.

Ken Paxton, the candidate French paints as the face of MAGA indecency, used identical language in the 2026 Senate primary. His campaign materials and rallies branded him the “MAGA firebrand,” the fighter who sued the Biden administration dozens of times, cracked down on abortion pills, protected girls’ sports, and defended parental rights. That’s why Paxton won two-thirds of the anti-incumbent vote despite the scandals French fixates on. Texas voters weighed the issues that matter to Plano families and rural communities and decided policy outcomes still count.

Even John Cornyn, the incumbent running on “character still matters,” refused to reject the MAGA mantle. His campaign flooded the airwaves with $70 million-plus in ads touting his 99.3 percent alignment with President Trump’s voting record on judges, tax cuts, and America First priorities. Cornyn’s team framed the race as a style debate — establishment viability versus pure fighter — while still claiming compatibility with the coalition. Reports already indicate Trump is leaning toward endorsing Cornyn for electability reasons. In Texas, even the establishment operates inside the MAGA tent.

Look at the rest of the 2026 cycle. Trump-endorsed challengers like Don Huffines for comptroller and Sid Miller for agriculture commissioner proudly call themselves “MAGA warriors who have been with me since the very beginning.” Mayes Middleton in the attorney general primary self-branded as “MAGA Mayes,” running on the same immigration enforcement and cultural fight. Down-ballot candidates routinely label themselves “doctrinaire MAGA Republican” or attack opponents for merely “pretending to be MAGA.” This isn’t a cult. It’s the descriptive banner for the America First, border-first, values-first coalition that has dominated Texas politics for a decade.

In Plano and every suburban and rural precinct I’ve worked, voters define MAGA the same way: secure borders because Romans 13:1-4 gives government the sword to protect the innocent; protecting unborn life because Psalm 139 tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made; parental rights in schools; and election integrity. It is the coalition that keeps Texas red and delivers measurable results — not cruelty, but conviction applied to the public square.

French offers none of this. He quotes no Texas Republican platform, no candidate website, no voter in Collin County. He simply imports a New York definition and baptizes it as spiritual diagnosis.

That brings us to the deeper biblical failure — and here French’s blind spot is most glaring. He correctly reminds us that Scripture gives few specific policy mandates but overflows with guidance on character — the fruit of the Spirit and orthocardia, the right heart that produces both right belief and right conduct. He is right that we cannot abandon virtue for the alleged greater good. Yet he applies this standard asymmetrically and misses something fundamental about the very man he elevates as the model.

Talarico has repeatedly denied the exclusivity of Christ — the non-negotiable heart of the gospel. In statements tied to his Ezra Klein interview and sermons, Talarico has said, “I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth… I see these beautiful faith traditions as circling the same truth about the universe,” comparing them to different languages describing the same reality. He has gone further, suggesting atheists and followers of other religions can be “more Christ-like” than professing Christians.

This is not deep theology. This is a direct denial of Jesus’ own words in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus did not say He reveals a truth that other paths also reach. He declared Himself the exclusive way. The Apostle Peter echoed it: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). French hails Talarico as a seminarian diving “deep into theology” and a “Christian X-Ray” of authentic faith while completely missing this foundational denial of biblical truth. Texans won’t miss it. We know a right heart cannot redefine the exclusive claims of Christ or treat the gospel as one option among many “religions of love.”

French’s “decency versus indecent” binary collapses under the test he claims to uphold. A right heart does not caricature millions of Texas Christians as indecent for voting their biblical convictions. We shall know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:16) — and Texas voters’ fruit is measurable: safer borders, stronger families, protected children, and a state that still honors God’s good grace.

The Trump era will end when it ends. Political scientists can talk about thermostatic reactions all they want. But Texas won’t be lectured into swapping policy substance for selective kindness — or into accepting a diluted Christianity that denies the exclusivity of the One who said “I am the way.” After 25 years on the ground in this state, I’ll take the MAGA coalition that actually governs Texas over another national columnist who mistakes his moral superiority for insight.

Kindness without truth is sentimentality. Truth without kindness is brutality. Texas voters — and Scripture — demand both.