Ken Paxton’s new anti-trans attack on James Talarico is literally fake

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign has apparently decided that James Talarico’s real words are insufficient for its purposes. So it has manufactured new ones.

The Republican U.S. Senate nominee released an artificial intelligence-generated video that depicts a fake Talarico rewriting the Bible and delivering a seamless monologue about gender and Christianity — a performance the Democratic state lawmaker never gave.

The ad, titled “King James,” begins with the digital candidate declaring, “In the beginning, God was nonbinary.” It proceeds to have him say that God created six genders, describe Jesus as a “radical feminist,” and call himself “a Christian who hates Christianity.”

Related: Republicans run bizarre AI deepfake ad showing James Talarico singing about trans kids

A narrator pronounces Talarico “wrong for Texas” and “wrong for America.” Paxton then appears on screen and says that he approved the message.

Its construction blurs the boundary between Talarico’s actual views and statements manufactured by Paxton’s campaign. The video combines fragments of remarks Talarico has made about Christianity, God, and gender, removes them from their original contexts, alters some of his wording, and scripts them into a speech he never delivered.

The Advocate asked the Paxton campaign why it manufactured footage of Talarico instead of using authentic video and his actual words in context.

The Paxton campaign did not respond to The Advocate’s questions.

Related: Ken Paxton accuses James Talarico of flip-flopping on trans issues

The deepfake builds its caricature from positions that have made Talarico a particular object of fury on the Christian right, including his inclusive theology, his rejection of Christian nationalism, and his defense of LGBTQ+ people.

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, has said that God is nonbinary. He later explained that he meant God transcends gender — an idea consistent with his Mainline Protestant tradition, according to The Texas Observer.

The recurring Republican claim that Talarico believes there are “six genders” originates with a 2021 legislative debate in which he discussed chromosomal variations and the biological complexity of sex, Them reported.

Talarico also once described himself as “a Christian who hates Christianity.” The attack ad omits his explanation: He said he kept returning to the faith because he found Jesus’ teachings more radical and revolutionary than any political or economic philosophy, according to fact-checking site Snopes.

Talarico’s campaign did not respond to The Advocate's request for comment.

Related: Republicans cannot stop generating images of James Talarico as a woman

Millions behind the attack

The video arrives as President Donald Trump’s political operation begins pouring money into a race Republicans once had little reason to fear. MAGA Inc., the Trump-aligned super PAC, plans to spend at least $10 million in Texas — half supporting Paxton and half attacking Talarico, according to an FEC filing reviewed by Reuters.

Recent polling shows why. A Univision/YouGov survey conducted from August 27 through September 4 found Talarico leading 48 percent to 43 percent among registered voters. An August University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll placed Talarico ahead 42 percent to 39 percent. An Emerson College poll found Paxton at 47 percent and Talarico at 46 percent, a statistical tie.

Republicans have repeatedly turned Talarico’s support for transgender people into a campaign weapon. A pro-Trump group previously released another AI deepfake depicting him singing about transgender children and transition care. Another conservative organization produced an AI-generated “Daisy” ad falsely portraying Talarico as a doctor performing gender transition surgeries on children. Trump, meanwhile, has distorted Talarico’s discussion of chromosomal variations into the claim that he believes there are “six genders.”

Watch the fake AI-generated ad below.

- YouTube www.youtube.com