Weekly Roundup: Epstein, ICE & the Super Bowl Culture War: What MAGA Prioritizes

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Feb 13, 2026

They unpack Pam Bondi’s evasive congressional performance amid the Epstein files and the political theater around protecting children. They cover Twin Cities clergy forming prayer circles and human shields against ICE. They analyze the right’s fury over Bad Bunny’s Spanish Super Bowl set and what cultural backlash reveals about political priorities.

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INSIGHT

Trump Appears In Epstein Files More Than 'God' In Joke

Jared Moskowitz highlighted how often Trump's name appears in the Epstein files using a Trump-branded Bible as a prop.
The moment exposed commodified faith and selective outrage within MAGA religious rhetoric.

INSIGHT

Selective 'Pro-Life' Rhetoric Revealed

Brad and Dan stress the GOP's 'pro-life' rhetoric rarely extends to social policies that sustain lives.
They argue protecting the unborn often doesn't include support for healthcare, education, or safety nets for born children.

INSIGHT

Faith Leaders Resist ICE As A Moral Duty

Clergy in the Twin Cities are actively resisting ICE using prayer circles and human shields.
Dan Miller contrasts Christians who cite Paul and Romans 13 to justify state violence with those who center Jesus' teachings to protect migrants.

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In this episode of Straight White American, Jesus, we unpack the unraveling of Pam Bondi’s moral rhetoric under the weight of the Epstein files. Bondi once ran campaign ads promising to protect children from trafficking “monsters,” yet when Epstein survivors stood behind her in a hearing room, she refused to turn around and acknowledge them. Pressed about Donald Trump’s and Howard Lutnick’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, she lashed out at questioners and deflected to stock market numbers. The hypocrisy is hard to miss: a movement that built its identity on “saving the children” now treats actual survivors as political inconveniences. When Jared Moskowitz held up the Trump-branded Bible and noted that Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files more times than God’s appears in Scripture, the exchange crystallized the contradiction—commodified faith, selective outrage, and a refusal to confront abuse when it implicates one’s own side.

We also turn to the Twin Cities, where clergy and neighbors continue resisting ICE operations on the ground. As Axios reports, faith leaders are organizing prayer circles, serving as human shields, and explicitly naming Christian nationalism as incompatible with the teachings of Jesus. The theological divide is stark: Christian nationalists invoke Romans 13 to defend “state-authorized violence,” while progressive clergy center the red-letter teachings—love your neighbor, protect the least of these—even when it puts them in harm’s way. From the politics of the Epstein files to the culture-war meltdown over Bad Bunny’s Spanish-language Super Bowl performance, the throughline is clear: whose America is this, and whose lives count? As always, we follow the code.

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