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Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico fired back when pressed Wednesday night on the 'crazy' health conspiracies that rattled his campaign and admitted he was being 'provocative' when he said God was non-binary.
asserted
God → sign → campaign
Talarico, who has held a consistent but small lead over Republican rival Ken Paxton, headlined a nationally televised CNN town hall with less than three weeks to go before the midterms.
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who → hold → midterms
At the top of the event, moderator Erin Burnett asked Talarico to clear up the 'wild speculation' surrounding his health, after a nine-day absence from the campaign trail prompted a flurry of conspiracy theories.
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absence → ask → theories
'I'm doing much better.
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I → do → ?
I got a nasty case of the flu.
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I → get → flu
I guess I've been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, but I'm feeling much better and so excited to be here,' Talarico answered.
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Talarico → guess → trail
Burnett pressed Talarico, asking if the flu was the only reason he was absent, and whether he'd do anything differently now.
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he → press → anything
Talarico pushed that he was acting responsibly.
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he → push → ?
'No, I think the responsible thing to do when you have something like the flu is to stay at home and not get other people sick,' the Democrat answered.
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Democrat → think → home
'But you're right, that decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists spiraling.
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opponent → stay → week
I opened up social media and learned that I had apparently dropped out of the race, had flown to a mental hospital in Ohio.
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I → open → Ohio
That I had died,' the candidate continued.
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candidate → die → ?
These false claims got millions of views online.'
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claims → get → views
Democratic Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico addressed the 'crazy' conspiracy theories about his absence from the campaign trail and the comments he made saying God was 'non-binary' during a Wednesday night town hall on CNN
A number of right-wing figures - including failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt - pushed that Talarico had been taken to a mental healthcare facility in Ohio.
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Talarico → address → Ohio
The story quickly deflated when the Ohio facility, the Linder Center for Hope, publicly rebutted the false claims.
'Conspiracy theorists can post anything they want on the internet.
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they → deflate → internet
They get clicks.
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They → get → clicks
The billionaires who own the platforms get rich.
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who → own → platforms
We all get angry and nobody's life gets any better,' Talarico said.
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Talarico → get → ?
As part of the town hall, CNN tried a new format, having the Democrat go face-to-face with voters who disagreed with him on major issues - making for some captivating television.
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who → try → television
During one interaction, a Christian voter wanted Talarico to explain why he referred to God as 'non-binary' during a 2021 floor debate of the Texas state legislature.
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he → want → legislature
'When I said that I was being provocative,' Talarico explained.
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Talarico → say → ?
'And I want to admit that and come clean about that.
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I → want → that
'
'But I think what I was saying is actually not controversial theologically - the idea that we can't define God using human categories,' he continued.
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he → think → categories
'Not only did I say that, but the late Charlie Kirk said that.
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Kirk → say → that
The late Pope Benedict said that.
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Benedict → say → that
'And so yes, maybe I was doing that in an annoying way, I can admit that,' the candidate added.
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candidate → do → that
Democrat James Talarico (left) came face-to-face with a Christian voter named Sarah Gardner (right) who asked him why he would say God is 'non-binary'
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God → come → him
The CNN town hall format had Democratic candidate James Talarico (right) sit across from voters who disagreed with him on major issues
The questioner, a small business owner named Sarah Gardner, pushed right back.
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questioner → have → issues
'I think we have to be careful using modern cultural terms when talking about God,' she noted.
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she → think → God
Talarico told her that was 'very fair criticism.'
The Democratic candidate, who serves in the Texas House of Representatives, is also a seminary student, telling the audience he hoped to be a minister one day.
'And preachers often will say something shocking in a sermon to get your attention,' he said.
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he → tell → attention
'And that's something I'm still learning how to do in a responsible way.
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I → learn → way
And so I'm always going to take feedback from my fellow Christians.'
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I → go → Christians
The Aporia
