2026-10-12T16:50:59.121Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/12/politics/talarico-conspiracy-theory-maga-trump
编者按： 请通过全平台订阅，于美国东部时间10月14日周三晚8点观看CNN与朱比利市政厅节目，詹姆斯·塔拉里科将做客现场。
两周前，密苏里州共和党参议员埃里克·施密特针对前特别检察官杰克·史密斯的阴谋论在国会听证会上彻底崩盘，场面尽人皆知。
但这场风波似乎并未让“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）运动吸取教训，近日他们又采信了另一则站不住脚的阴谋论，且该论调很快不攻自破——这一论调声称得克萨斯州民主党联邦参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科因心理健康问题缺席竞选活动。
今年这类事件屡见不鲜，而且扩散范围绝非仅限于随机的社交媒体账号。
塔拉里科事件的传播广度尤其令人震惊。该论调称，塔拉里科长时间缺席竞选并非如其竞选团队所言是因流感，而是因为心理健康问题，这一说法迅速四处传开。
短短几天内，这一说法从最初被承认的谣言，演变成前洛杉矶共和党市长候选人斯宾塞·普拉特声称拥有真实消息源；接着塔拉里科的共和党对手肯·帕克斯顿和唐纳德·特朗普总统对此含糊其辞；随后右翼网站开始报道这一仍然毫无根据的说法；还有所谓独立新闻报道被埃隆·马斯克多次转发推广。
截至周日下午，两名右翼网红分享了一段音频，声称音频中是他们与俄亥俄州某心理健康中心的通话，该中心人员似乎证实塔拉里科刚从该机构出院。
“看起来他今晚刚出院，”一段音频中传出声音说道，“这就是为什么我没拿到（相关记录）。”
这一说法随即在右翼群体中炸开了锅，但很快就被拆穿：
- 《壁垒报》及其他媒体获取了完整通话录音，显示这位看似是工作人员的女性此前曾多次明确否认有塔拉里科在该中心就诊的记录。她之所以说出上述引述的话，是因为一名自称是塔拉里科表亲、并表示对方曾在此暂住的女子无法提供任何相关记录。
- 时间线也完全对不上。这名网红称通话是在周六晚间拨打的，这意味着塔拉里科应该是在周六晚间出院，但塔拉里科前一晚已经在德克萨斯州公开露面，并于周六晚间再次出席活动。
- 这家名为林德纳希望中心的心理健康机构现已否认塔拉里科曾在该中心接受治疗：“众议员詹姆斯·塔拉里科从未在林德纳希望中心接受过治疗。”
- 塔拉里科表示自己从未去过俄亥俄州。
如今部分右翼人士已删除了关于这一虚假说法的帖子，前特朗普顾问卡罗琳·雷恩等人也淡化了该说法的重要性。
分享这段音频的两名右翼网红之一尼克·索托去年曾在一场关于“反法西斯主义”的圆桌会议上现身白宫。
值得一提的是，正如CNN记者安德鲁·卡钦斯基所指出的，塔拉里科曾在9月30日的虚拟活动中表示自己患上了流感，当时他看起来身体不适。随后他缺席竞选活动九天——并非许多右翼人士所称的两周——并于10月9日再次公开露面。塔拉里科还患有1型糖尿病，这会让流感症状加重。
但对MAGA运动而言，这不过是又一次阴谋论闹剧。
两周前，施密特曾拿出他自认为是确凿证据的材料，声称史密斯曾于2024年2月观看亚特兰大老鹰队的比赛，并借此暗示史密斯可能与佐治亚州富尔顿县起诉特朗普的当地检察官存在串谋。
但最终事实证明，史密斯当晚实际在马里兰州观看篮球比赛。即便他当时身在亚特兰大，此举也几乎证明不了任何问题。
早在7月，MAGA人士就带头散播谣言，甚至直言不讳地声称肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔——这位因宣称特朗普在2020年大选中落败而不受特朗普支持者欢迎的议员——已经脑死亡，当时他已长时间缺席公开活动。威斯康星州共和党参议员罗恩·约翰逊甚至援引所谓麦康奈尔的照片是AI生成的说法，之后又收回了这一言论。还有一名共和党众议员甚至表示自己不知道麦康奈尔是否还在世。
麦康奈尔之后重返参议院。
整个夏季，许多右翼人士采信了特朗普毫无根据的阴谋论，声称 vandalists（破坏者）破坏了林肯纪念堂倒影池。一名保守派记者发布了所谓的视频证据。特朗普政府司法部甚至起诉了一名前奥运选手。但司法部后来承认，损坏“是因安装操作失误所致，而非人为破坏”。
6月，包括民选官员在内的众多共和党人突然大肆宣扬阴谋论，称普拉特在洛杉矶市长选举中未能进入 runoff（决选）是选民欺诈所致。
但这一理论完全是对数据的误读，就连特朗普政府的司法部和当地一名高级共和党官员都对此予以驳斥。普拉特的得票率也完全符合共和党在当地的常规表现。从战略角度来看，时任洛杉矶市长凯伦·巴斯完全没有理由操纵选举来扶持一名民主党对手——这名对手在决选中的胜算本就比普拉特更高。
今年2月，许多右翼人士转发了右翼网红尼克·雪莉所谓的确凿证据，声称圣地亚哥一家UPS门店存在30张涉嫌非法的选民登记信息。包括小唐纳德·特朗普在内的人士转发了这一报道，指责媒体对此视而不见。
但事实核查人员发现，这家UPS门店实际位于一栋商住混合建筑的底层，楼上是住宅单元。加州选举官员表示，没有任何一张登记信息使用了UPS门店的套房号。
当然，传播这些阴谋论的人未必真的相信这些说法——无论真假，他们只在乎借此博取关注度。毕竟部分MAGA网红在施密特的阴谋论破产后，仍继续推广该论调。
考虑到塔拉里科在部分德克萨斯州参议院民调中持续领先帕克斯顿，且有可能帮助民主党拿下参议院多数席位所需的关键一席，传播针对塔拉里科的此类谣言似乎格外“合时宜”。
或者正如周日一场关于塔拉里科事件的X空间论坛参与者所言：“无论真假，民众都有权了解这一可能性。”
暂且不论这些人是否轻信他人，MAGA的回声室如今早已声名狼藉。
MAGA watches another conspiracy theory blow up in its face
2026-10-12T16:50:59.121Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/12/politics/talarico-conspiracy-theory-maga-trump
EDITOR’S NOTE: Stream the CNN & Jubilee Town Hall with James Talarico live Wednesday, October 14 at 8p ET with an All Access subscription.
Two weeks ago, GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri saw his conspiracy theory about former special counsel Jack Smith implode spectacularly at a congressional hearing for all to see.
Rather than seemingly learning a lesson from that episode, the MAGA movement in recent days embraced another sketchy theory that quickly fell apart — that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was missing from the campaign trail because of a mental health episode.
There have been plenty of such episodes this year. And it’s hardly just random social media accounts.
The Talarico example is especially astounding for its reach. The idea that Talarico’s lengthy absence from the campaign trail was not due to the flu (as his campaign said), but rather a mental health episode quickly spread far and wide.
Over just a few days, it went from an admitted rumor; to some like former Los Angeles GOP mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt claiming they had actual sources; to winks and nods from Talarico’s GOP opponent Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump; to right-wing sites covering the still baseless claims; to some attempted independent journalism that has been repeatedly promoted by Elon Musk.
By Sunday afternoon, a pair of right-wing influencers shared audio of what they said was a call with a mental health center in Ohio seemingly confirming that Talarico had just been released from its facility.
“Looks like he was just discharged this evening,” a voice is heard saying. “That’s why I don’t have it.”
The story then exploded on the right. But it just as quickly fell apart:
- The Bulwark and others obtained the full phone call showing the apparent employee had previously and repeatedly flatly denied any record of Talarico being at the facility. She only said the above quote after being unable to locate any records for a person who told her Talarico was her cousin and had been staying there.
- The timeline didn’t even match up. The influencer said the call was placed on Saturday evening, so that would mean Talarico would have been discharged Saturday evening. But Talarico had already appeared publicly in Texas the night before and did so again on Saturday night.
- The mental health center, called the Lindner Center of Hope, has now denied Talarico was ever there: “Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.”
- Talarico says he has never even been to Ohio.
Some on the right are now deleting their posts about the false claim. Others like former Trump adviser Caroline Wren are walking back the significance of the claim.
One of the two right-wing influencers who shared the audio, Nick Sortor, appeared at the White House last year during a roundtable on antifa.
For what it’s worth, as CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski has noted, Talarico did a virtual event on September 30 where he said he had the flu and looked physically unwell. He was then off the campaign trail for nine days — not the two weeks that many on the right have claimed — before reemerging publicly on October 9. Talarico also has type 1 diabetes, which can make flu symptoms worse.
But for the MAGA movement, this is merely the latest conspiratorial episode.
Two weeks ago, it was Schmitt presenting what he seemed to view as smoking-gun evidence that Smith had been at an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024 and — the theory seemed to go — might have been coordinating with local prosecutors who had indicted Trump in Fulton County, Georgia.
Except it turned out Smith was actually at a basketball game in Maryland that night. And even if he was in Atlanta, it would have proven basically nothing.
Back in July, MAGA figures led the charge in embracing rumors and even flat-out claiming that GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — an unpopular figure among Trump supporters since he declared the president lost the 2020 election — was brain dead, amid his much-longer absence from public view. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin even cited a claim that a photo of McConnell was AI-generated, before later backing off. A GOP House member even said he didn’t know whether McConnell was alive.
McConnell later returned to the Senate.
Over the summer, many on the right embraced Trump’s baseless conspiracy theory that vandals had sabotaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. A conservative reporter posted supposed video proof. Trump’s Justice Department even indicted a former Olympian. But the Justice Department later acknowledged that the damage “was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism.”
In June, Republicans far and wide — including elected officials — suddenly promoted theories suggesting voter fraud was to blame for Pratt failing to make the runoff in the Los Angeles mayor’s race.
Except the theory rested on a complete misreading of the data and was debunked even by Trump’s DOJ and a top local GOP official. Pratt’s showing was also very much in line with how Republicans usually perform there. And, strategically, it would have made no sense for incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to rig the system to promote a fellow Democrat, who would have a better chance at beating her in the runoff than Pratt.
And in February, many on the right shared supposedly damning evidence from right-wing influencer Nick Shirley citing 30 allegedly illegal voter registrations at a UPS Store in San Diego. Those promoting the story included Donald Trump Jr., who accused the media of ignoring it.
But fact-checkers noted that the UPS Store was actually on the ground floor of a mixed-use building with residential units above it. California elections officials said none of the registrations used the UPS Store’s suite number.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that the people promoting these theories don’t necessarily believe them — and that they just see value in promoting them, regardless of how true they are. Some MAGA influencers, after all, continued to promote Schmitt’s theory even after it fell apart.
It would seem especially expedient to promote such rumors about Talarico, given he has continued to lead Paxton in some Texas Senate polls and could give Democrats a crucial win in their quest for a Senate majority.
Or, as one participant on an X Spaces event about the Talarico story put it on Sunday: “Whether it’s true or not, people deserve to know the potential of this.”
Regardless of whether these people have a gullibility problem, the MAGA echo chamber now has a well-established credibility problem.
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