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NPR’s Terry Gross has been a national “institution” for decades. Gross’ show, ‘Fresh Air’ spiraled into the success stratosphere from its humble 1975 beginnings when it was only a local 3-hour gig that Gross had to fill with stories of her own choosing.

A popular segment of that local show had to do with music: Gross would invite listeners to write her about their jazz or blues-related record collections for the chance of chatting with her on air.

I wrote to Gross then and described my collection of Billie Holiday and Chris Connor tunes, as well as some recordings from Philadelphia’s own Beryl Booker, a jazz pianist who accompanied Billie Holiday during Holiday’s European tours.

The Brooklyn New York native met me in her West Philadelphia studio dressed like a Woodstock hippie: an ankle-length flower print dress, long frizzy hair and granny glasses.

She listened to my records but then told me they weren’t appropriate.

“She was a bit…snippy,” I told friends.

The years passed, and Gross’ star ascended like an express elevator.

Soon she was a Philadelphia institution on a par with cheese steaks and the Liberty Bell. She altered her image to match her new celebrity: close-cropped hair and large insect-invoking goggle glasses reminiscent of a character out of the 1988 movie, ‘Beetlejuice.’

The Left—the NPR crowd—loves Terry Gross.

She’s quoted, referenced, invited to moderate lectures and panel discussions. “I love Terry Gross!” is a common refrain heard among short-haired leftist women with square-shaped faces. Gross’ fans cite her numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal she received from President Obama in 2016.

The irony is that for years ‘Fresh Air’ seemed to have fallen into a kind of rut because the only people that Gross seemed to be interviewing were actors from TV or the movies.

Yet when I read that ‘Fresh Air’ was doing a show on Christian nationalism, I knew that a big disaster was in the making.

Gross, of course, would be the architect of that disaster.

During the Trump presidency, Gross told Philadelphia Magazine that she and her husband “always listen to music over breakfast on the weekends,” but that was no longer the case because “Trump has deprived me of my music life.”

What was this if not a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome?

While it’s no fault that Gross grew up knowing nothing about Christianity (she’s admitted in interviews that as a child she thought the whole world was Jewish), when you factor in that her main source of information is The New York Times (she doesn’t read the print edition because she doesn’t want to get her hands dirty) and not, say, a diversity of publications (conservative), what you get is b-i-a-s spelled out in neon.

Gross’ Christian nationalism show featured an interview with Brad Onishi, a former evangelical youth minister who went to Oxford to study Church history, the Church Fathers and Thomas Aquinas.

Onishi lost his faith at Oxford when he began to hang out with the Christian Left; in his case, Methodists, who encouraged talks about social justice.

Soon thereafter, Onishi began to have doubts about the existence of God.

“If there is a God, God is interested in people who are interested in inclusion and peace,” he told an interviewer on the Harmonic Atheist show, a podcast for former believers who talk about their departure from faith.

The Left’s view of Christian nationalism is really not about nationalism at all, but about evangelical Christianity, and in many instances about Christianity in general.

‘Christian nationalism’ is one of those much abused terms, like “racist,” “transphobe” and “misogynist” that have lost their meaning because of over use.

‘Christian nationalism,’ according to the Heritage Foundation, is nothing but “a wax nose.”

“Its lack of standard definition,” the Foundation states, “allows critics to bundle evils like white supremacy and racism with standard conservative views on marriage, family, and politics.

“If ‘Christian nationalism’ referred to those who endorse the integration of church and state power, racism, and white supremacy, then we should reject it. But not one national figure endorses that platform. The term, as used in the media, is mostly a rhetorical tool to smear and silence conservatives.”

At one point during the interview, Gross asked Onishi if he ever believed in demons and demon possession when he was a “Christian nationalist.” (This question presupposes another question: Do you think the devil is real?)

She phrased the question as neutrally as possible, yet her tone of voice contained a feeling of judgment. Indeed, as one Huff Post writer said of Gross’ interviewing style: “Gross’ bias is subtle and insidious and lurks in the line of questioning.”

This otherwise complicated theological question–Is there really a devil and can one be possessed?– is covered in books like Malachi Martin’s iconic New York Times bestseller, ‘Hostage to the Devil,’ a sophisticated and educated account of real Satanic possession.

Yet in this case demon-possession had been paired down in Gross-speak to conjure up a Halloween masquerade:

In other words, if you believe in the devil, you are a child and an idiot.

Gross’ lack of understanding of theological concepts beyond the primary school level stood out as a glaring journalistic handicap

Onishi answered the question by stating that he did believe in the devil at the time, and that belief in demons is more or less universal throughout Christendom, sans groups like Unitarians or Quakers.

All this devil talk was merely a springboard to talk about what she really wanted to talk about: Donald Trump and his association with Christian nationalism.

Gross’ opening salvo:

“Trump’s personal life is not a model of Christian values,” she said, thinking perhaps of the time when Trump said “Grab them by the p—y,’ never mind that President Biden, who claims to be a devout, Rosary-carrying Catholic, supports gender ideology and abortion on demand.

Gross’ goal from the start of the interview was to start a discussion about MAGA.

And Onishi didn’t disappoint. He fell in line like those NPR’s female fans in short buzz cuts who just ‘looove’ Terry Gross.

“If you want to change the earth for God, what you need is a bully. You need somebody who will destroy in order to rebuild,” Onishi said, adding that, “Trump is the barbarian king” in the evangelical Christian world that really wants to “Colonize the world for God.”

As if this were a worse option than colonizing the world for George Soros and the 101 tenets of cultural Marxism, the new secular religion of the left.

Gross then mentioned the time when President Trump had a group of evangelical ministers to the White House and they formed a circle and laid their hands on his head.

“What was that?” she asked, in a tone suggesting that the laying on of hands as done in many evangelical churches is really a form of witchcraft meant to invoke right-wing violence.

The interview then segued into a near-condemnation of Christianity in general, with (negative) side references directed at Hillsdale College, the Claremont Institute and, of course, the Heritage Foundation.

Adding wood to the anti-Christian bonfire, Onishi described what many evangelicals were doing outside the Capitol building on January 6, 2021:

“They were shouting ‘Trump is my president. Jesus is my savior,’” he said, adding that there were icons of Christ in the crowd and that people were “praying aloud and singing hymns.”

Listening to this, I recalled the St. George Floyd riots in 2020 when leftist throngs in many cities burnt buildings, blocked highways and blew up ATM machines, all while chanting, “I can’t breathe”—and holding placards not of Christ but His nemesis whose ‘gospel’ proclaims, “No Justice, no peace!”