With midterm voting underway, encouraging people to vote for ‘the best side’ is important, so Reddit user Ecosynchronous shared an anti-Talarico campaign ad on r/pics. This 46-year-old Texas resident has a transgender heart on their profile, hinting at where they stand on the political spectrum. The ad they shared in their post is a recycled pro-Trump slogan used against Kamala back in 2024, and Ecosynchronous felt it proper to turn the ad into their home decor.
“A political ad sent by Ken Paxton to my left-leaning son, held to the fridge with one of my magnets,” OP remarked. The ad explains how Talarico is spending taxpayer money for transgender health and gender-affirming surgeries. It concludes with the iconic “For they/them, not you.” A strong pro-Paxton message like this should persuade someone to vote against Talarico, but for Ecosynchronous, it had the opposite effect.
Reddit and OP Felt the Anti-Talarico Ad Had the Opposite Effect
“They are doing a great job to make him sound as bad-[expletive] as possible,” remarked a commenter. In a response, OP wrote, “It’s working though. The Republicans in our family are voting liberal and begging our children to do so. So that’s fun!” Another Redditor claiming to be from Canada said the ad felt to be more pro-Talarico than smearing, which Ecosynchronous thought was ironic. “That’s why we stuck it to the fridge. Honestly too funny,” they laughed.
While plenty of people in the post mocked the slogan, one person made the point that it was successful in rallying people against voting Democrat back in 2024. “And yet was by far the most successful one of 2024. That’s the country we live in,” wrote the Reddit user. Another individual felt that any sort of smear campaign should be outlawed in the States: “Smear campaigns should be illegal and result in an immediate disqualification of whichever politician put out the smear campaign along with jail time.”
In the end, what was supposed to be an insult to a Texas Democrat politician and an urge to vote Republican had a bizarrely opposite effect on many people tuning into OP’s post. “As a non-American with no context, this looks like it’s promoting the dude in favour, yeah? Is it supposed to be a mud-sling or praise?” questioned a confused Redditor. To this, Ecosynchronous responded with, “It’s supposed to be a mud-sling against Talarico. Eight years ago it might have worked. These days it reads like a psyop in favor of talarico.”
