National Zero commenters, as they are wont to do, nailed it again when they en masse responded to last week’s article “Fox News reports ‘Christian mother’ murdered in Ohio,” with dozens posting “The husband did it” or similar underneath what was a media criticism of the propaganda network’s Monday, February 16th headline “Christian mother, teacher found dead as police hunt homicide suspect in Ohio home invasion,” focused much more on MAGA identity politics than the crime itself.

But yes, they nailed it as Fox on Friday reported under the headline “Fmr American Idol contestant, husband of Ohio teacher charged with wife’s murder after she was found in home,” following Caleb Flynn’s arrest on a single count of murder, two counts of felonious assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of tampering with evidence for shooting wife Ashley in the head while she slept at some point after midnight on the 17th. Maybe it was a stretch to expect that the follow-up would somehow say “Christian dad charged with wife’s murder after she was found in home,” but somehow the “Former American Idol contestant” identifier becoming the primary focus of a depraved femicide is even more grotesquely on-brand for the state media outlet than the hyping up of Ashley’s faith.

In fact the only “Christian” reference in the follow-up is at the bottom, quoting Caleb after he got past the audition round in the singing game show’s 2013 season. “I absolutely love the Lord. I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty… I love her. But, you know, I’m just a normal person who absolutely loves to sing more than anything in the world,” said Caleb.

A number of lower-quality sites, Facebook users, YouTube channels etc are claiming that, leaked court documents say that hours prior to the murder, Caleb texted someone to say “It is done.” Most of those sources then take it further to identify the recipient a 23 year-old woman he knows from their church who is pregnant with Caleb’s marital indiscretion, all absent from Fox’s reporting.

Unverified, sure, but come the fuck on. They only produced about 5,000 hours of airtime devoted to rando Russian pimps and arms dealing scumbags reporting to the FBI that Hunter Biden ripped the tag off a mattress. They can find some room for salaciousness in this storyline…

If they want to make Evangelical Christians look bad.