Conspiracy theories and transphobia thus far fueling GOP midterm election plans

The right-wing social media ecosystem did their work to spread a lie about James Talarico's mental health. But then the lie was exposed, leaving them scrambling to backtrack.

I have my fingers crossed regarding the upcoming mid-term election because I refuse to take anything for granted. One thing is for sure at least right now - Trump and the Republicans are running scared and fearing a huge blue wave.

That is evidenced by an ugly rumor their ecosystem spread about one of the Democratic candidates giving them the vapors. It was a rumor which delightfully backfired.

 The possible MVP of the midterms is James Talarico, the Democratic senatorial candidate for Texas. He has led the controversial and corrupt state attorney general Ken Paxton in the polls, and it has the MAGA influencers worried. So worried in fact that they recently started a rumor that Talarico took an absence from the campaign because of a mental health episode and checked himself into a mental health center in Ohio. They were full speed in pushing the lie until it blew up in their faces:

 Over just a few days, it went from an admitted rumor; to some like former Los Angeles GOP mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt claiming they had actual sources; to winks and nods from Talarico’s GOP opponent Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump; to right-wing sites covering the still-baseless claims; to some attempted independent journalism that has been repeatedly promoted by Elon Musk. 

 By Sunday afternoon, a pair of right-wing influencers shared audio of what they said was a call with a mental health center in Ohio seemingly confirming that Talarico had just been released from its facility.   

. . . The story then exploded on the right. But it just as quickly fell apart.

The Bulwark and others obtained the full phone call showing the apparent employee had previously and repeatedly flatly denied any record of Talarico being at the facility. She only said the above quote after being unable to locate any records for a person who told her Talarico was her cousin and had been staying there. 

The timeline didn’t even match up. The influencer said the call was placed on Saturday evening, so that would mean Talarico would have been discharged Saturday evening. But Talarico had already appeared publicly in Texas the night before and did so again on Saturday night.

The mental health center, called the Lindner Center of Hope, has now denied Talarico was ever there: “Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.” 

Talarico says he has never even been to Ohio.

The article goes on to point out which MAGA Republicans are either deleting their tweets, backtracking, or staying firm in an attempt to pick some sense out of the nonsense they started.

Then there are the attacks on transgender Americans. In spite of the fact that Americans are more concerned with affordability, healthcare, Trump's war with Iran, and other vital issues, Republicans are hoping visions of spooky transgender predators will get reap them as much success as it was claimed to have done in the 2024 elections.

With the help of Elon Musk, who has thus far spent $100 million (that's right -  ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS) on anti-trans ads targeting Democrats, Republicans are trying very hard to distract voters from Trump's dismal record and their above and beyond the call of duty acquiesces to his madness.

Let me break down their attempts in three columns:

Failure - With the help of Soren Aldaco, an anti-trans activist, Republicans ran an ad accusing Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democratic senatorial candidate, of supporting trans surgery for minors.  That attempt blew up in their faces when the certain facts - seen below - came out about Aldaco.

Maybe mixed success, but still tacky:

 

 Donald Trump shared this absolutely ridiculous ad attacking South Carolina senatorial candidate Annie Andrews, while mocking her as "Annie 'Trannie' Andrews."  Andrews responded back with an ad of her own, vocalizing anti-trans tropes:

“So I want you to hear me loud and clear: I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports and I don’t support — and haven’t ever performed — gender surgery for minors,” Andrews says.

Trump's attack was the latest in a barrage of anti-trans nonsense thrown at Andrews by ads from her opponent and the current Republican Senator Darlene Graham.  The ad can be seen as a possible mixed success because it made Andrews respond in a way which affirmed anti-trans tropes and have gotten some of her supporters angry with her.  Trust me when I say this because I am a South Carolinian and we are knee deep in this mess. Time will tell if Andrews' attempt to distance herself hurts her campaign.

Coming across as desperate:

California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is running this inane anti-trans ad in a bid to attract Spanish speaking voters.

From LGBTQNation:

Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is targeting Spanish-speaking voters with an AI-generated ad that shows a caricature of a trans girl playing soccer against high school girls. 

 . . . The ad is airing in Spanish, but the New York Post shared an English-language version. It appears to be entirely AI-generated, and it opens with a father kissing his high school-aged daughter on the forehead at a soccer game before she runs to the field. The father asks, “Who is that?”

 “New starter,” a man says without even looking up from his phone. “Last week she declared herself a girl.” 

 The player, portrayed as a cis man with a mustache who appears to be around 30, is shown pushing the high school girls around on the field. While this person is supposed to represent a high school-age trans girl, the AI portrayal looks so much like a cis man that even the Post described the character as “a transgender man” twice. 

 “Who allowed this?” the father, who is now inexplicably standing in the middle of the field, asks as dramatic music plays. 

 “That? That was me,” AI-generated Becerra, who is also in the middle of the soccer field, responds. The name “Xavier Becerra” appears on the screen, even though this isn’t a clip of Becerra. “I fought for boys to play in girls’ sports, and I’ll keep doing it as governor.” 

“What if they get hurt?” the father asks. 

 “Sorry,” AI Becerra says, smiling.

Hilton's ad can be seen as desperate because, as the article points out, Becerra is leading Hilton by double digits.