President Donald Trump referred to Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico as “James Talafreako” during remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., saying the candidate “hates guns, hates oil, hates sex, hates women” while sarcastically praising the rest of his platform. A video of the comments, shared in a post on X, has drawn online reactions including cheers.
In the C-SPAN footage of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Donald Trump said, “The Democrats are running a candidate named James Talafreako. Who hates guns, hates oil, hates sex, hates women, and says he is a Christian who hates Christianity. Other than that, I think his platform is quite good.”
He continues, “James Tala-freako… he hates sex, hates women…. And that means he’s not going to do very well against Ken Paxton, who hopefully in Texas is gonna win, but Tala Freako, you know what he looks like to me, Alfred E Newman, you remember him from Mad Magazine.”
According to the post, the remarks refer to James Talarico, the Democratic nominee facing Republican Ken Paxton in the Texas U.S. Senate race. The clip focuses on Trump delivering these lines and does not show the full speech context or complete audience response.
Responses to Trump’s Remarks on the Texas Senate Candidate
Some users agreed, with one writing, “President Trump is never wrong!” and another stating, “Bloody epic. Dang straight. He stands no chance against Paxton!”
Others focused on the Texas race, commenting, “lol yeah way too liberal and weird for me as a Texan definitely ain’t voting for that. Paxton has my vote!” and “I love it! … I would never vote for that weird *expletive*.”
Additional commenters said, “President Trump is right! James Talarico is a degenerate homosexual” and “Epic! Trump nailed it on Talarico!”
A smaller number disagreed, with one calling the speech “an hour-long rambling word salad” and another saying, “Yet none of it was true.”
The remarks have joined the broader online conversation surrounding the Texas Senate race between James Talarico and Ken Paxton as the 2026 midterm campaigns continue.
