Tipsheet

Trump Just Clowned 'Vegan' James Talarico Into Oblivion With These Remarks

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  May 15, 2026 1:15 PM

President Donald Trump slammed Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico over his bizarre beliefs about gender, Christianity, and… meat.

While addressing reporters on Air Force One on Friday, a reporter asked whether he will make an endorsement in the Texas Republican Senate primary runoff election, which is set to be held on May 26.

The president indicated he wasn’t ready to issue an endorsement yet, but said, “I do believe either one of them will easily win this race.”

“I think the Democrats have a weird, a weird candidate,” Trump continued. “Six genders, a real hit on Jesus. I mean, this guy is bad news with his mask from relatively recently, and he's a vegan. He's a vegan. All of a sudden he's not a vegan. He was a vegan. Now all of a sudden he's not. Texas doesn't like vegans.”

Trump further stated that Talarico is “ a pathetic candidate, especially for Texas.”

Talarico has been taking serious heat ever since he won the nomination. Critics pointed to old and new comments the candidate made that might make one question whether he belongs in a mental institution rather than on the campaign trail.

During a 2021 Texas House hearing on a bill about transgender athletes, he argued, “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes” and that “in fact, there are six.” He pointed to differing X and Y chromosome patterns as examples of what he said were “six really common biological sexes.”

Talarico has often touted his Christian faith as an influence on how he views public policy. In another 2021 speech in the Texas legislature, he railed against a GOP-sponsored bill barring “gender-affirming care” for minors. 

The candidate  argued that God is not limited by human characterizations of sex and gender. He said trans-identified kids are made in God’s image and that “God is nonbinary.” In an earlier speech, he said, “In Christ, there is neither male nor female” and that if people have a problem with this nonsense, they should “take it up with the Apostle Paul.”

But wait, there’s more! The reason why people mock Talarico for being a vegan is because of an April 2022 event in which the candidate urged Texans to cut back on their meat consumption because if they don’t, climate change will burn us all to death in a gigantic fireball or something.

Talarico also boasted about running a “non-meat campaign,” which sparked mockery and backlash against this silliness.

To be fair, Talarico is not a vegan — at least not currently. He has posted recent images and videos of him eating meat.

Democrats’ hopes of winning this seat in a state where they haven’t won statewide office since the 1980s are riding on Talarico. Polling has shown that he could be a threat to either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The best thing the Republican candidate can do is to continually point out Talarico’s insane beliefs on gender and other issues. His only strength is that he comes off like an “aww shucks” political version of Opie. At first glance, he seems like a normal, sane person. The GOP will have to destroy the illusion by continually showing how ridiculous he actually is.