Over the weekend, hundreds of MAGA accounts on X the Everything App, some of which even have real people behind them, spent the weekend rapturously posting all about a fake story about James Talarico supposedly checking into a mental hospital in Ohio, calling for him to drop out of the Texas Senate race, etc. etc. This was, of course, in addition to trolling the Pope about his opposition to the death penalty, which was another very normal thing they did this weekend.
It all started on Tuesday, when Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton started posting about a cancelled rally. “Where’s Talarico?” he posted — and, dutifully, legions of MAGA chuds followed suit. At home with the flu, Talarico’s campaign explained. But apparently that wasn’t enough for Republicans, who insisted that no one would be home with the flu for two weeks — which is what they call nine days when it’s James Talarico. That’s a little longer than the flu usually lasts in a healthy person (5-7 days), but Talarico has Type 1 diabetes, which can impact recovery time. Not a big deal! But it wasn’t the answer they wanted.
On Friday, Spencer “Fleshbeard” Pratt posted that “his sources” told him that Talarico was in a mental institution. You know, because he has “sources.” Following that, Republican January 6 organizer/fundraiser Caroline Wren pointed to a private plane that flew from Austin to Hamilton, Ohio, and back again as her “proof” that this definitely happened, noting that the Lindner Center, a mental health hospital, is in Hamilton.
On Saturday, two intrepid white nationalist losers, Nick Sortor and Rhein Amacher, posted audio of Amacher calling the hospital — audio they claimed proved that Talarico had been there.
Spoiler: It did not!
The whole thing fell apart fairly quickly. One user discovered that at least part of the audio was likely AI, and others who checked found the same thing. I checked myself and got the same result — specifically on the exact part where the woman on the other end of the line said that Talarico had just been discharged.
The guy who originally posted proof that the conversation was AI? Had his entire account nuked by Elon Musk, who also amplified the conspiracy theory and made it so no one could add community notes to the original audio. Musk has, by the way, spent more than $10 million on Paxton’s campaign .
It was then revealed that, whoops, Talarico was already out and about. He had attended Austin City Limits on Friday and Kacey Musgraves on Saturday, at the exact time he was supposed to have “just” been discharged from a hospital in Ohio.
Then the full audio was released, it appears by Tony Ortiz, another right-leaning influencer who just happened to not buy this particular story. In the audio, the woman Sortor and Amacher claimed had “confirmed” Talarico’s time at the mental hospital repeatedly said for nearly six minutes that she couldn’t find him in their system at all. When they kept pressing that he was definitely there, but maybe had been discharged, then at the very end — the part flagged as AI — she suddenly flipped and said that nothing about him is in their computers because he was just discharged that evening. You know, because that’s how things work. Hospitals don’t load your name into their computers until after you leave. You just walk right in, go in whatever room, lie down in the bed, don’t get any actual treatment, and then leave to go to a Kacey Musgraves concert several states away.
The hospital, by the way, issued a flat denial, posting “Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.”
Did they let it go after that? Have you met them? They insisted that the word “treatment” was some kind of weasel word, and that if he really hadn’t been there, they would have said “admitted” or something to that effect. Because, you know, he could have just checked in there without getting treatment or any kind. Or they could have been finding a way of saying that the physical hospital didn’t treat him but the doctors there.
You think I’m kidding? I’m not kidding.
I also like this theory, wherein he goes all the way to Ohio only to refuse treatment and use his own doctors.
It probably will not surprise you that among the “Maybe he was there but didn’t receive treatment!” crew is one Megyn Kelly.
One might think “Well, then why wouldn’t he just stay in his own home and have his doctors provide treatment for him there instead of taking a private jet back and forth to a random mental health facility in Ohio?”
Probably too obvious.
It also just makes sense, if you are a Senate candidate from Texas, to go all the way to Ohio to get treatment at a mental health facility there, by your personal doctors that you already have, instead of just having them come to your home, where you live.
But hey, if that’s not enough evidence for you, Bayliss Wagner of The New York Times also reviewed Talarico’s security camera footage from the time when he was supposed to be sitting in a room with mattress-lined walls while wearing one of those Hannibal Lecter masks and a straitjacket.
The New York Times reviewed time-stamped images from a security camera at Mr. Talarico’s home, which were provided by his campaign on the condition they not be published for security reasons. The images showed Mr. Talarico around the exterior of the home and at its entrances between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.
Want to send us money in an entirely different way? Click here or join our Patreon!
Incredibly, as of Monday night, many accounts — including Sortor and Amacher — were still insisting upon the story’s veracity. Is that surprising? It is not. Sortor, who has multiple DUIs and a misdemeanor conviction for criminal mischief, goes around the country starting shit with immigrants and left-wing protestors and then posting video of them reacting to that so he can go “Oh my god! They’re all so violent and for no reason! Be afraid, grandpa! Be so afraid!” and what have you. Amacher has been known to do the same shit, and has been recorded assaulting left-wing protestors while DHS officials stand back and laugh.
Nice people!
Clearly, they both have a history of trying to will the narratives they want into existence — at least, you know, for very stupid people who are willing to believe pretty much anything.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
This is part of the point of a rightwing media human centipede, to reinforce what chuds wish to be true and leave Democrats on the defense. Please everyone, do not forget the mission this fall. And especially in this unreconstructed state-based regime of terror, make sure your registration is still active. Make sure your voting plan is solidified and be ready to vote as early as possible in person. Do not rely on the USPS, those of you doing mail ballots...official dropboxes only!
We can do this! Damn the polls, note the FUD when it occurs and kindly step aside from this, and let's teach the unreconstructed Republican Party a lesson it'll never forget!
I live in Texas, and I’ll be so happy when this election is over and these vile tv ads put out by some PAC called Texas (GOP) PAC are no longer aired. They’re choke full of outrageous lies about every major Democratic candidate running in Texas. You can almost smell their desperation. Early voting starts here on Monday, Oct.19th. I WILL be standing in line that day to vote for every democrat on the ballot!