The recent claims that Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was admitted to a mental health facility showcase a downward spiral towards misinformation.

Recently, Talarico was off the campaign trail for roughly two weeks in the hotly contested Texas Senate election due to the flu. In an ordinary world, it would not be a big deal. Sure, some organizations might write about it. You might get a half-hearted “get better soon” from the opposing candidate. However, what should have been just an illness quickly spiraled out of control.

Talarico has spent a lot of time and effort making a once ruby red Texas into one of the marquee races this election cycle. That has understandably upset a lot of Republicans, who have started pouring money into the race and trying to make Talarico look out of touch and crazy.

President Donald Trump has given him the nickname “Tala-freako,” so naturally Ken Paxton and many conservative influencers have played along, trying to paint him as a woke, far-left democrat who wants everyone to be gay and force children to have sex change surgeries. They have called him mentally insane. It should not have to be said that this is completely false and absurd, but that does not stop people from believing it.

While this underscores another debate on how dangerous political messaging has gotten, it is even worse when you realize that the conspiracy theories were inspired in part by comments made from our very own president.

Due to the attacks painting Talarico as mentally unstable, conservative influencers online did not believe that Talarico had the flu. They started spreading claims online that Talarico had gone mentally insane and that is why he was not on the campaign trail.

Mental health issues are a serious matter, and claiming a political candidate is mentally unstable just because of political beliefs spun out of context just goes to show how low American politics has gotten.

Sadly, it doesn’t end there. Some of those who believe in the conspiracy theories started to look into flight records and found that there was a flight from an airport in Austin, Texas to Warren County, Ohio. It did not take long for people to notice the proximity to the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio, and soon people started to spread a rumor that Talarico was receiving treatment at the Lindner Center of Hope. Spoiler alert: he was not.

Video footage from Talarico’s home in Texas, obtained by the New York Times, reveals Talarico was in Texas, not Ohio, during his absence.

That did not stop people from thinking he was in Ohio, and conservative influencer, Nick Sortor posted an audio recording of another influencer, Rhein Amacher, calling the Lindner Center to ask if Talarico was ever admitted.

Eventually, that led to other influencers doing the same thing, and notable public figures started questioning Talarico’s whereabouts. It got so bad that the Lindner Center had to put out a statement that Talarico was never admitted.

No, this is not satire. People actually think Talarico flew to Ohio, a state he has admitted to never being in, to be treated for a mental illness he does not have.

It is one thing to believe a conspiracy theory. People have the right to think whatever they want. It is an entirely different situation to call a medical institution in an attempt to verify one.

The Lindner Center helps people with actual mental health issues. Cold calling them takes away time and resources that could be spent helping people. Even if he was hypothetically at the Lindner Center, it would still not be appropriate to call.

If Talarico had a mental illness, it would be right to question his ability to serve should he be elected. If he was actually mentally ill, it would make sense why he would have to take time off the campaign trail. But he is not actually mentally ill, so there is no reason to discuss it.

This whole situation paints a dangerous picture. As Republicans become increasing conscientious of their current unpopularity, to the extent that they fear a potential loss in Texas. Yet instead of doing anything that could actually make people’s lives better, they claim one of their opponents is so mentally unstable that he had to be flown to Ohio to receive treatment.

Time will tell if it has an effect on the results of the senate race, but one thing is for certain: these conspiracies bring shame to politics in America.