GOP Committee Posts An AI Deepfake Of James Talarico Reading His Old Tweets—And Makes People Love Him Even More

MAGA Republican President Donald Trump and his administration have displayed a fondness for AI-generated videos to bolster their own image or attack their perceived enemies.

Trump has shared multiple AI videos of a fantasy version of himself—younger, thinner, better hair—doing things he's never been capable of on Truth Social. The official White House account on X parrots Trump's posts or shares AI videos or images of their own.

And the rest of the GOP is getting in on the act.

Politico’s Adam Wren noted in October that deepfakes are not being used equally by Democrats and Republicans. AI generated attacks have become central to GOP campaigns.

The Senate GOP’s official social media account posted an attack ad with an AI-generated version of Texas Democratic state Representative James Talarico, who recently won the state primary to become the Democratic candidate for the Senate seat currently held by Republican John Cornyn.

The deepfake video, posted to X on March 11 by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) account, shows a somewhat realistic version of state Representative Talarico’s appearance and voice, making the marking of AI generated videos crucial to avoid the spread of lies and misinformation. The video includes the watermark AI GENERATED in the bottom right corner.

X users also quickly added a flag for AI content via a community note.

You can see the NRSC post and attached community note here:

The NRSC decided the best attack against Representative Talarico was having his AI version read his old tweets, as so many old comments by Republicans have been used to hoist them on their own petard and highlight their waffling and hypocrisy.

The tweets they chose include Representative Talarico identifying the threat of White nationalism based on multiple mass shootings during a short timespan, supporting women's reproductive freedom, and demonstrating that trans rights are human rights.

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Unfortunately for the NRSC, the audience for their ad wasn't outraged by Representative Talarico’s mostly pre-2023 tweets even without any context. The post has largely generated the opposite, causing more people to support him now that the GOP has made his stances on key issues known—even if one tweet is over a decade old.

The NRSC got savaged in their own comments, with many calling them out for using deepfakes.

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Talarico's Republican opponent in November is as yet undecided, being forced to go to a runoff between incumbent Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn and controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Trump posted on Truth Social on March 3 that he intended to endorse one of the two remaining Republican candidates "soon."

Trump "truthed":

"The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer."

"IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively! Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT!"

"My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas! I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!"

"Is that fair? We must win in November!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social

The Texas GOP runoff is slated for May 26.

Trump has yet to endorse either candidate. Neither remaining candidate has stated if they will drop out if Trump doesn't endorse them.