Steve Deace questions Talarico’s mysterious ‘flu’ absence: ‘Something smells rotten’

Where was James Talarico — and why isn’t his campaign offering a clearer explanation?

The Texas Democrat’s two-week absence has been explained away as “the flu,” which has set off alarm bells for BlazeTV host Steve Deace, co-host Todd Erzen, and executive producer Aaron McIntire.

“This is so obviously disqualifying, no matter what the truth is,” Erzen says.

“If Talarico somehow wins in Texas, I have to reevaluate a lot,” he adds.

“I haven’t even considered the broader statement angle about what it means for the state of Texas,” Deace agrees. “But that is an excellent point, and I think you’re exactly right. It’s an absolute watershed moment for the state of Texas, for sure.”

“There’s no way that a simple flu knocks somebody out. And the campaign has nothing to say,” he continues.

“Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark here, gentleman,” he adds.

Erzen points out that if it really was “a flu,” the Democrats wouldn’t be letting it go to waste. Instead, they “would be using it to max effect.”

“Yeah, get a flu vaccine and everything else,” Deace agrees.

But even the flu excuse, McIntire says, was “calculated.”

“Everything is calculated. And when they allow this to go on, to enter the bloodstream, to enter the public consciousness, and they’re just fine with people just throwing this out there and all their explanation is, ‘Oh, it was a flu,’” he says.

“That’s calculated. Which means whatever it actually was ... assuming it’s not the flu, which that would be incredible because Todd is absolutely right there. If it was a severe flu where he was really on death’s door, they would be beating the drum for vaccination. They would be pounding some sort of issue, some sort of wedge they could make,” he continues.

“But they’re not doing that. So, this is calculated one way or another. And the silence is calculated as well,” he says, “which makes you wonder what indeed actually happened here.”

Deace agrees, adding, “Any time a campaign or a politician is fine with the narrative that they’re completely incompetent ... it means that what’s true is worse.”

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