Right wing lie of the week

The National Memo - Far-right media figures circulated a fake story about Texas Senate candidate James Talarico over the weekend, only to have the enterprise quickly blow up in their faces. Racist billionaire Elon Musk played a key role in promoting the smear.

Recently, Talarico, who is running against Republican nominee Ken Paxton, had an extended absence from the campaign trail due to a bout of flu.

On Sunday, MAGA media figure Nick Sortor falsely claimed that the flu story was “a BIG FAT LIE” and that “a hospital employee told @RheinAmacher and I that Talarico had in fact been a patient at the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinnati, Ohio, which specializes in around-the-clock mental health treatment.” Sortor then said that Talarico’s supposed stint at the hospital meant the Democrat was “CLEARLY not suited to become a US Senator representing over 30 MILLION TEXANS.”

… Lindner Center of Hope added to the right’s humiliation, noting in a post on X, “Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.” And Talarico responded, “I’ve never even been to Ohio.”