Trump claims Texas Dem candidate James Talarico ‘eats meat’ then ‘throws up all over the place’

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump surprised everyone Wednesday, September 2, at a White House Rose Garden dinner.

Speaking to a crowd of Republican lawmakers, he joked that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico eats meat just so he can end up “throwing up all over the place.”

The joke wasn’t pulled out of thin air; conservatives have taken jabs at Talarico for being a strict vegan, and the wisecrack came after an old video resurfaced in which Talarico called eating less meat an “existential” issue.

Trump gives Ken Paxton a backhanded endorsement

Dubbing the state representative "Tala-creep-o," Trump said, "Now he says he loves meat. You know what he does? He eats meat, and he goes outside, and he throws up all over the place."

"Because in Texas, if you don't eat meat, you're in deep trouble. It's not a good thing not to be able to eat meat."

Talarico has repeatedly pushed back on that characterization, with his campaign sharing a photo in March of him eating barbecue to counter the claim.

Trump took the opportunity to talk about Talarico's opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose campaign has run into financial problems and faced criticism from fellow Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Fox News contributor Karl Rove have pushed Trump to spend some of his MAGA Inc. funds on Paxton, but Trump didn’t exactly leap at the opportunity.

Instead, he repeated the same hesitant endorsement he had given earlier on a podcast and again in the Oval Office, twice in one day, both times lacking real enthusiasm.

“You might not like the way he dresses,” Trump said at the Rose Garden event.

“It’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country, and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great.”

James Talarico leads Ken Paxton in fundraising in tight race

Trump had backed Paxton instead of then-Senator John Cornyn in the GOP Senate primary, and Karl Rove says that endorsement helped Paxton win.

Cornyn, on the other hand, made it clear to The Texas Tribune last week that he has no intention of campaigning for Paxton. He didn’t mince words; he called Paxton “lazy and doesn’t raise money.”

“Talarico is everywhere,” Fox News host Martha MacCallum observed in her Tuesday conversation with Thune. “He’s got $21 million versus Ken Paxton’s, I think, one or two million.”

Talarico is riding a wave of momentum. His campaign didn’t just do well in fundraising; it shattered records.

From April through June, Talarico brought in a staggering $30 million, leaving Paxton and his $9 million in the dust. That’s not just big; it’s the highest quarterly haul any Senate candidate in the country has seen this cycle.