President Trump turned a White House Rose Garden dinner into a full-blown campaign rally Wednesday night—and Texas Democrat James Talarico ended up on the menu.

The president was making the case for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton when he returned to one of the strangest running storylines in the Texas race: whether Talarico really eats meat.

Then came the punchline.

“Now he says he loves meat,” President Trump told the crowd. “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,” he continued. “It’s not a good thing not to be able to eat meat.”

The line drew laughter as the president stood at a lectern surrounded by American flags.

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The full White House video shows that the jab came during a longer endorsement of Paxton before a gathering of Republican lawmakers. President Trump moved from the Senate race into the meat joke while speaking from a lectern in the Rose Garden.

He praised Paxton’s record as Texas attorney general and argued that performance in office mattered more than complaints about presentation, clothes or television interviews. The endorsement was blunt, more rally riff than varnished stump speech.

President Trump called Paxton perhaps “the best attorney general in the country” and urged Republicans to support him in November. He said that record spoke louder than Paxton’s suit, looks or interview style.

The president was also plainly enjoying himself. Before landing the meat joke, he called Talarico “Talacreepo,” another variation on the nicknames Republicans have attached to the Democrat during the general-election campaign.

The Rose Garden remarks came after President Trump had already promoted Paxton during an Oval Office appearance earlier Wednesday. By evening, he had turned the endorsement into a live demonstration of the ridicule Talarico can expect through Election Day.

At the Rose Garden dinner, he acknowledged that some Republicans may not love Paxton’s style, appearance or television performances. Then he argued that Paxton’s record in office should settle the question.

That made the Talarico jab more than a random joke. President Trump was drawing the general-election contrast himself: Paxton as the battle-tested attorney general, Talarico as the candidate still explaining old videos and a very un-Texas campaign message.

The exchange did not appear out of nowhere.

In a 2022 fundraiser speech for the Texas Humane Legislation Network, Talarico said reducing meat consumption had become “existential” in the fight against climate change. He told the animal-welfare audience that respecting animals was both morally right and environmentally necessary.

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He said his state House campaign had “officially become a non-meat campaign” and was buying vegan products from local vegan businesses. Talarico presented that spending choice as something his political operation could do immediately.

He framed the change as an animal-welfare decision and a personal contribution to reducing meat consumption. The applause in the room showed that the announcement was meant as a point of pride, not an offhand comment.

The event was held while Talarico was seeking reelection to the Texas House, years before his 2026 Senate campaign made him a national figure. The video became politically explosive only after he began running statewide in cattle-and-barbecue country.

Talarico did not say in that clip that he personally followed a vegan diet. He did, however, put his campaign behind vegan purchasing and call meat reduction a moral and climate necessity—words his opponents can replay without adding anything.

Paxton began hammering the issue during the Senate race, arguing that a candidate tied to a non-meat message was badly out of step with a state famous for cattle and barbecue.

President Trump quickly joined in, repeatedly telling reporters that Texas voters were not going to elect a vegan.

Talarico has denied the personal claim.

In March, campaign spokesman JT Ennis posted what he called Talarico’s “official statement” on the accusation: a photo of the candidate biting into a turkey leg at the State Fair of Texas.

Talarico later said his campaign “basically runs on barbecue” and insisted he had been eating meat for years.

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During a May interview, he delivered his own campaign-ready line: “I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”

His campaign has also circulated videos showing him eating chicken, steak and other animal products. The evidence does not establish that Talarico is personally vegan.

What the older footage does establish is that he publicly urged people to cut meat consumption and proudly announced that his campaign would spend its money on vegan products.

Republicans have turned that distinction into a political trap. Every denial produces another round of turkey legs, barbecue photos and jokes about whether the candidate is trying too hard to prove something.

The stakes behind the comedy are real.

Paxton defeated longtime Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican runoff after receiving President Trump’s endorsement. He will face Talarico in November for a Senate seat Republicans have held for decades.

Talarico has tried to make the race about costs, corruption and his progressive interpretation of Christianity. Republicans are betting that his own recorded comments on climate, sex and religion will tell Texas voters far more than his polished general-election message.

President Trump’s Rose Garden performance showed exactly how he intends to help Paxton: make Talarico defend the indefensible, ridicule every attempted pivot and keep the Democrat’s old clips in front of the country.

Only President Trump could take a Senate endorsement, a barbecue argument and a fake post-meat emergency—and turn them into the line of the night.

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This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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