State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas, is receiving praise from Democrats after appearing on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where he asserted that Christians can support abortion. Talarico, 36, is an aspiring Presbyterian minister and discussed what Democrats need to do to win back voters. He offered some surprising praise of Donald Trump, saying, “I do think there is something that Donald Trump tapped into. I think that other Republicans could tap into. And again, this is weird because I’m a Democrat making an argument for Republicans,” he said. “The reason I’m doing this is I think when politicians feel that they can win over voters, we all compete to win over those voters and that leads to better public policy.”

Talarico discussed the need for Democrats to win back young voters, a group President Trump did surprisingly well with. He also discussed a wide-ranging list of political issues, including abortion, which despite the Democrat’s belief it was a winning issue, wasn’t enough to get Kamala Harris across the finish line. Talarico made his case for supporting abortion through a religious lens. “Creation has to be done with consent,” he said. “You cannot force someone to create. Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings. If this was something that really was central to Jesus’ ministry, I would think he would have said something about it … We have four Gospels with tons of teachings from Jesus and none of them are about this.”

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace spoke to California Democrat Eric Swalwell about Talarico’s performance. Swalwell praised Talarico’s religious focus and accused Republicans of weaponizing faith. “I made a decision after the last election, when I saw that 68% of the voters identified as Christian in one way or another, that I needed to do Christian podcasts,” Swalwell said. “And I’ve been doing about one to two a month. I was raised as a Christian. I went to a Christian college on a soccer scholarship, but I would not talk about my faith because I thought it didn’t really belong in politics. But what I’ve seen is that Republicans are weaponizing faith, and it’s actually to our own disadvantage to not talk about it.” Allie Beth Stuckey, however, had strong words for Talarico’s Christian support of abortion. “Let me guess, James Talarico, you disagree with the death penalty for brutal murderers, but you’re okay with the same chemical combination of that lethal injection being used on an innocent baby inside the womb,” she declared. “Is that your loving Christianity? Is that your compassion?”