President Donald Trump on Wednesday tore into James Talarico, the Democratic rising star who is currently leading polls in the race for a U.S. Senate seat in deep red Texas.

“He’s terrible. He’s radical left. Now he says he loves meat,” Trump said. “You know what he does? He eats meat, and he goes outside, and he throws up all over the place.”

The audience of Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden chuckled.

“Because in Texas, if you don’t eat meat, you’re in deep trouble,” Trump said. “It’s not a good thing not to be able to eat meat.”

Many right-wing figures ― including those on Fox News ― have tried to paint Talarico as a vegan or vegetarian.

“I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” Talarico said in May, referring to the long trail of scandals that have followed Paxton, including an indictment on three felony counts in a fraud case, an impeachment and even an accusation that he once stole a fancy pen.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico could turn the deep red state of Texas blue in November as he is currently leading in polls against GOP rival Ken Paxton.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Trump hasn’t quite figured out how to handle Talarico, as his insults haven’t landed yet. The president has compared Talarico to MAD magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman, and called him “Talafreako.”

That backfired when the Talarico campaign started selling “Talafreako” merch in response.

On Wednesday, Trump moved on to a new name: “Talacreepo.”

Talarico leads in seven out of nine polls since July, according to RealClear Polling, and has an edge of 2.4 percentage points in the polling aggregate.