‘Low-T’: MAGA insults Talarico’s masculinity, but it isn’t working

When President Donald Trump addressed the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, he lashed out at Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, in an unusual manner.

"He doesn't like meat," Trump said about Talarico, 37, who is leading Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls.

Trump was referring to an oft-repeated false claim that the Democrat is a vegan. In fact, Talarico has said that his campaign "runs on barbecue." The myth about his personal diet serves to underscore how Republicans − fearing a dramatic upset loss in a reliably Republican state − are running against the state legislator, with a heavy focus on culture war issues and belittling jabs like dubbing him "Talafreako."

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, dismissed his GOP critics as "old guys lathered up in their fake tans throwing corny nicknames at each other," in a September interview with late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel. He turned attention back to the economic issues on which Republicans are vulnerable.

"These nicknames, they don't lower the price of groceries," Talarico said. "They don't lower the price of gas. They don't lower the cost of health care. They don't actually improve…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/