Many MAGA Republicans have egg on their face after promoting a false rumor about Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico ― and Fox News is choosing to blame the victim.
Talarico recently took nine days off from his campaign to recover from the flu. In the interim, conservatives spread a rumor that he had suffered a mental health episode and had flown to the Lindner Center of Hope in Cincinnati, Ohio, for treatment. Among them were right-wing voices Nick Sortor and Rhein Amacher, who claimed a call to the center confirmed Talarico had been discharged.
The rumor spread through conservative media, and Talarico’s Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, attempted to make it stick. But the hoax fell apart after photos showed the candidate on stage in Texas with Kacey Musgraves a day before he was supposedly discharged from the center. In addition, the facility said Sunday night that Talarico “has never received treatment” there.
On Tuesday, Fox News wrote a piece about the failed Talarico smear titled, “New Evidence Debunks Talarico Psych Hospital Rumor After ‘Mind-Numbing Malpractice’ Fuels Firestorm,” that suggested the whole scandal, including the right-wing-fueled false mental health, was his fault.
A social media post promoting the story said that while “Talarico’s viral hospital rumor has been debunked by time-stamped security footage reviewed by The New York Times,” the bigger story may be “why his campaign sat on the evidence while the conspiracy theory exploded across social media for days.”
“With Election Day just weeks away in one of the biggest Senate races in the country, the question has shifted from where Talarico was to why his team let the narrative spiral unchecked when they had the receipts the entire time.”
JS reached out to Fox News for comment, but no one immediately responded.
Many people on social media didn’t think it was Talarico’s job to protect his opponents from looking foolish.
Talarico currently leads Paxton 48.1% to 45.5%, according to RealClearPolitics.com.