James Talarico Regrets Going Full Woke

With the backlash to wokeness in full swing, it was probably inevitable that some political figures would come to regret the things they said and tweeted back when progressive cultural signaling felt necessary, roughly from 2014 to 2024. Republicans are out to destroy James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Texas’s Senate seat, by resurfacing his most eye roll inducing takes from that time period, like when he said god was “non-binary” or when he promised to run a “non-meat” campaign in Texas in order to fight climate change. (For good measure, he was wearing a COVID-19 mask; this was in April 2022.)

Talarico now says he wishes he hadn’t phrased those things like that.

“There are some statements that I’ve made that I certainly regret,” he told CBS News. “Ken Paxton is intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”

Talarico’s acknowledgement that the comments were indeed cringey speaks volumes. We have come a long way since the woke era, during which even Republicans were at pains to disassociate themselves from the perception that they were culturally conservative. (In 2015, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R–Pa.) proudly declared that Caitlyn Jenner was a woman if she said she was a woman.) The idea was to signal understanding and conscientiousness.

Today, conscientiousness in politics is lame, and both parties want to signal the exact opposite: that they’re mean bullies. See numerous Republicans mocking Talarico’s appearance and mannerism, either implying or outright asserting that he’s unmanly, feminine, or possibly gay. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller referred to Talarico as Texas’ “first transgender candidate,” which was some kind of dig at his appearance. In response, the Democrats X account replied: “shut up you ugly fuck.”

That comment attracted some pearl clutching from numerous conservatives, including podcaster Katie Miller, who is Stephen Miller’s wife. I understand her defending her man…but if you dish it out you should be able to take it. You can’t be constantly screaming about how Democrats are all unmanly freaks and then get super upset when they punch back and call you ugly.

Katie Miller has actually gone even further, unmasking the Democratic staffer behind the X post and trying to make fun of her and get her in trouble.

Paulina Mangubat is who runs @TheDemocrats account. She’s 30, unmarried with no kids.

Put your name on it next time.

This is what a sad, unhappy, female Liberal looks like. It’s why Pew reports 50% of them have been diagnosed with a mental condition. https://t.co/qLeIVQZtSf pic.twitter.com/xpGQzRLyfg

— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) May 27, 2026

For good measure, she went on Fox News to do even more complaining about the mean X post, and suggested that making fun of her husband is somehow connected to anti-Trump violence like the attempted White House Correspondents Association dinner shooting. The Millers seem to take the position that their side can be as vicious as they want, and if the other side responds, it’s akin to violence.

Almost makes you miss the woke era, huh?

I’m joined by Amber Duke to discuss Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign in Los Angeles, the pope’s views on AI, and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats toward supposedly negligent landlords.

I am very much not a horror movies guy, but I have a soft spot for found-footage style films. I loved Cloverfield and Chronicle in particular. Thus I’m somewhat interested in seeing Backrooms, which has just come out. The trailer was sufficiently intriguing that I went back and watched some of the web series that inspired the film. Very cool and creepy.