Let’s Get Some Things Straight on Cornyn vs. Paxton

The good news about online meltdowns is they get rid of the previous day’s online meltdowns

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I personally loved the news break this week speculating on who President Donald Trump will endorse in the Texas race. It first hit on Wednesday, the day after the bitterly fought Republican Senate Primary in the Lone Star State:

I loved it not for the content of the message, but because it broke up a four-day string of endless pontificating and dooming related to the utter disembowelment of the Iranian regime. What I appreciate most about this audience on Substack is that it is comprised of people mostly capable of forming their own opinions about ongoing events; sometimes they apologize in the comments for disagreeing with my assessment (or opinion), and I simply say that the feedback is valued and well-thought-out. That means I expect a lot of you to catch what I’m going to say here about the forthcoming run-off between John Cornyn, the senior U.S. Senator from Texas, and Ken Paxton, the state’s sitting Attorney General.

First, let me make this clear. To quote “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “You don’t have to like it, but accept it.”

Accept the fact that President Trump has different standards for endorsements. Some of the picks drive people up the wall. Some of the picks people love, I hate, and some of the picks people hate, I understand. For a decade, Trump’s endorsements have been a major sticking point in commentary and you must accept that fact that we have no control over that decision-making process and can only impact our grassroots candidates positively with financial support and making sure their messages are heard.

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On Cornyn

Cornyn is, undoubtedly, one of the worst officials in Congress among Republicans. Representing a state Trump won all three times, and by almost 14 points in 2024, Cornyn is a continual back-stabber. You may not know this, but his worst voting scores occurred exclusively under Trump’s first presidency:

Über-conservative under Democrat presidents, limp dishrag under Republican ones (Bush 43 included). He tried to shove Trump out of the race over Democrat lawfare in 2023 and 2024, has been practically useless since Trump reassumed the presidency, and just burned over 60 million to defend his seat and is probably responsible for Wesley Hunt’s no-shot candidacy to ensure Ken Paxton didn’t win a majority in round one.

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On Paxton

Attorney General Paxton has done so much to be admired in the America First movement. He, unlike so many other elected officials, has defended President Trump and was even willing to host me for a meeting in 2021:

This was after his office had filed the blockbuster Supreme Court suit Texas v. Pennsylvania, which alleged election misconduct by Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Wisconsin disenfranchised Texas’s 38 electoral votes. The case was joined by 20 other Republican states, yet the Supreme Court tossed it for “standing.” Paxton, despite holding office in a state Trump won (with every capacity to stop caring about election issues), continued to prosecute cheating in elections. I documented Paxton’s many successes in last year’s article forecasting what I believed to be a developing primary victory against Cornyn:

In that article, I hinged my assessment on what turned out to be an incorrect assumption - that President Trump would back Paxton to the gates of hell. After all, his endorsements are the magic touch, and went 30 for 32 outright on Tuesday (with 2 endorsees headed to primaries).

So, what’s gone wrong to bring us to the point that Trump may endorse John Cornyn?