Talarico finally takes the debate stage-- but there's a catch

Brian Tyler Cohen (0:01)

James Talarico finally takes the debate stage, but Ken Paxton doesn't show up. And I've got two interviews, South Carolina Senate candidate Annie Andrews and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford. I'm Brian Talarico, and you're listening to No Lie.

We have been waiting endlessly for James Talarico to take the debate stage against Ken Paxton. And that moment finally arrived, kind of, because while Talarico showed up, Paxton did not. Talarico instead did a CNN town hall alone with Paxton refusing to show. And this is just a brief moment of what that sounded like.

James Talarico (0:35)

But you're right. I mean, that decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists spiraling. I opened up social media and learned that I apparently had dropped out of the race, had flown to a mental hospital in Ohio, that I had died.

This is crazy. I mean, these claims got millions of views online. And this is an example of what I call the rage economy. Conspiracy theorists can post anything they want on the Internet. They get clicks. The billionaires who own these platforms get rich. We all get angry and nobody's life gets any better.

Conspiracy theories don't put food on the table. They don't put gas in the tank. They don't actually improve our communities or improve our country. And so, I'm going to stay focused on the very real problems that are facing Texans. And that's exactly why I'm here tonight.

Brian Tyler Cohen (1:29)

Isn't it interesting how Ken Paxton and his buddies are totally available while they're spreading disinformation about how James Talarico purportedly flew to Ohio to check himself into a mental health clinic despite the fact that video surveillance showed him in Texas and despite the fact that James Talarico was on stage with Casey Musgraves during the time period in question. But there's apparently no time for Paxton himself to take the debate stage, to talk directly to the people whose votes he's asking for. And I think that this is a pretty good microcosm for the broader fight that we've been having here between the left and right. Because the reality is that the GOP's only move is to divide, to attack and to fearmonger. That's why, you know, every September or October before an election, there is migrant caravans or some gay bathroom panic or some trans person trying to win a medal. They will find one person if they need to and make them the boogeyman. So long as they can keep their voters good and scared. Scared to interact with people who don't look like them, who don't pray like them, who don't love like them. That is the foundation of the modern Republican Party.

But Talarico revealed the con of that movement because while that might be a potent tool, it doesn't actually accomplish anything. Like that fear porn on an endless loop doesn't put food on the table, doesn't raise your wages, doesn't lower your bills. And the proof is all around us because Republicans have full control of government, no Democrats in control anywhere. Republicans got the House, the Senate, the White House. And what do we have to show for it? Gases at record highs, inflation is up almost 33 percent. We're spending a billion dollars a day on a new war in Iran. Prices on everything are higher thanks to a trade war. And even still, despite all of that, Republicans are out here attacking trans athletes. You know how many trans athletes are in the NCAA? Fewer than 10

How much time has Fox News dedicated to those people? How much time have Republican politicians dedicated to those people?

And yet, how much time was dedicated to lowering your cost, to bringing wages up, to protecting communities from data centers, to releasing the Epstein file so we can have some justice for the victims? When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And Republicans have one setting, divide and conquer. They will find some marginalized community and vilify them so that you're good and distracted by some culture war and therefore aren't paying attention to the fact that your life is markedly worse than it was before, markedly more expensive than it was before. What Talarico revealed here though, is that staying mired in these perpetual fights, which is clearly the GOP's playing field, it's where they want to live, doesn't help anybody. So Americans have to decide what's more important. Is it sniping in perpetuity at people who are different from you on an endless loop while all of the material conditions in this country continue to deteriorate? Or is it actually helping people focusing on the middle class, lowering costs and working for regular Americans? The Republicans have shown you which strategy they're willing to take. They've shown you how they're willing to govern. Americans are sicker, poorer and hungrier than they were two years ago, and yet even still, all they want to talk about is divisive culture war issues. If you're looking for more of that, by all means, vote Republican. But if you're looking for solutions, help us usher in this new brand of Democrats who are focused on delivering for regular people. A brand of Democrats who are younger, more in tune with their constituents, more progressive, and yes, even capable of using modern technology. But it starts with getting your ballot in right away and on working on your circles of people. I don't want to just win. I want to repudiate Trumpism in every state across the country. We have the power to do that if we're willing to vote for it.