Former President Trump Holds Rally In Robstown, Texas
Source: Brandon Bell / Getty

In yet another demonstration of President Donald Trump’s inexplicable hold on the Republican Party, Ken Paxton, the scandal-prone Texas attorney general, beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn after receiving Trump’s endorsement earlier this month. 

According to the New York Times, the race wasn’t even close, with Cornyn trailing behind Paxton in nearly all of Texas’ 254 counties. It was such a landslide that the race was called for Paxton as soon as the polls closed. Cornyn placed first during the March primary, but didn’t secure enough of the vote to avoid a runoff election. Paxton continued to surge in the polls because MAGA can’t help but love a weirdo who’s been accused of infidelity, faced impeachment, and was indicted on fraud charges. 

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton earlier this month effectively sealed Cornyn’s fate. Trump endorsed Paxton because of an offhanded remark Cornyn made about Trump’s political prospects in 2023. Sure, Cornyn quickly endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 election and historically backed Trump’s horrific agenda, but that doesn’t change the fact that he hurt Trump’s feelings three years ago.

Wild that so much of the country sees an 80-year-old man acting like a temperamental child as the peak of strength. 

Paxton’s nomination has made the midterms a far more expensive prospect for the GOP. Cornyn was noted for his fundraising ability, largely drawing on relationships forged through his years in Congress. The scandal-prone Paxton lagged behind Cornyn and Texas’ Democratic Senate candidate James Tallarico in fundraising throughout the primaries. 

Given its size, Texas is a very expensive state in which to run a statewide campaign, with GOP leaders estimating they may need to divert $100 million to Paxton to protect the seat. Not to mention the fact that early polling has consistently shown Tallarico ahead of Paxton in a head-to-head race. 

In the short term, Trump’s revenge tour seems to have the opposite of its intended effect among congressional Republicans. By all accounts, Cornyn was a well-liked figure in the Senate and was generally supportive of the president’s agenda. There seems to be growing anger at how Trump did Cornyn so dirty for no real reason. “It is very sad and unsettling, and not good for the Senate,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the Times. 

“To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told CNN. “This guy is an empty suit.” 

It’s kind of wild that congressional Republicans have all this energy for Paxton and not, you know, the actual president, who has been found liable for sexual assault and is blatantly using his office to enrich himself. 

The fact that Trump has spent so much time attacking members of his own party when Republicans are in bad shape heading into the midterms has more of them wondering why they’re bending over backward for a lame duck president who doesn’t have their back. We’ve already seen Sen. Bill Cassidy respond to his Trump-fueled primary loss by joining Democrats in voting to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran. 

Let’s be real, Trump has a hold on the Party now, but the guy has more time behind him than ahead of him. His days as a political force are numbered by both term limits and, you know, mortality. Why Republicans continue to treat a dude who can’t stay awake during meetings in the Oval Office as some sort of god emperor continues to elude me. 

So yeah, Trump got what he wanted, but it could very well hurt his Party in the long run. Which isn’t that surprising, considering that doing what he wants, no matter how it damages everyone else, is kind of Trump’s entire brand. 

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