Dimwits, Dipsh*ts, Dufuses, and Dullards (E. 52); ICE Murdered Renee Nicole Good (Also: Soft Faith, Hard Power);

The episode explores a recent ICE shooting of a woman in Minnesota, then shifts to Mark Burnett’s role in shaping Donald Trump’s rise as a media figure. From there, I analyze the influence of Burnett’s wife, Roma Downey, focusing on her role in producing Christian media. The argument is that Downey’s soft, “New Age–inflected” Christian messaging may function as a gateway that draws in audiences who wouldn’t normally engage with overtly right-wing content, even if her work is not explicitly political.The analysis connects Christian media, reality television, and spectacle-based entertainment such as professional wrestling, UFC, and boxing, highlighting shared narrative structures that normalize hierarchy, authority, and simplified moral frameworks. I argue that these media forms have helped condition audiences toward MAGA-style thinking over time. Finally, the episode places this within a broader historical pattern, showing how “apolitical spirituality” is often mobilized or exploited during rightward political shifts, presenting the case in a historically grounded way rather than as a conspiracy theory.