When Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) lost his primary to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, he initially did the right thing, saying he would be supporting the Republican ticket to help the Republicans hold the Senate.
But since then, Cornyn, who was clearly unhappy that President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton and that the voters chose Paxton in such overwhelming numbers, has played this passive-aggressive comment game on X.
Cornyn's latest comment really went over the line.
The extremes of both parties—Republicans’ MAGA wing represented by JD Vance and the progressive left represented by Zohran Mamdani—have drawn closer to each other, @greg_ip writes. https://t.co/G6X7ZCGc7T via @WSJ
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 12, 2026
This was a guy who, right up until losing his primary, was reaching for the MAGA vote and President Donald Trump's endorsement. Now he's comparing MAGA and the Vice President to the left and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
This is vile, not to mention just wrong. And then he wonders why Texas voters rejected him? He keeps proving how right that decision was with this kind of behavior. He claimed he wanted to help the Republicans hold onto the Senate, but then he seems to be doing things like this that are undermining that incredibly important goal, particularly in the vital race in Texas.
Not only that, but it's minimizing the extremism on the left that everyone on the right needs to be standing up against. No, Vance and MAGA are not calling for the upending of our constitutional system, as some of the socialists the Democrats have embraced are. It's not defending our country when you're not fully calling out the threat we face from the radical extremism on the left.
Cornyn's effort did not go over well. Here's just a small sample, but the anger was plentiful.
Meet Liz Cheney, the Texas Edition. https://t.co/n8nb8LRUkT
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) September 12, 2026
His colleague, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), even weighed in.
JD Vance is not an extremist.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) September 13, 2026
Not even close.
In no way, shape, or form is he comparable to Zohran Mamdani.
I know it’s been unbearable for Cornyn to lose his race even with all his $$/advantages, but this is a shameful downplaying of the extremism of DSA policies. And MAGA (which Cornyn recently claimed to be!!) is not an “extreme wing,” but the vast majority of Texas GOP voters. https://t.co/PZa3qV3WCs
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 13, 2026
The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway appeared to have gotten under Cornyn's skin because he responded to her, trying to justify his tweet.
It is a @WSJ article. I am not endorsing but I believe it is something worth considering. Read it. You might learn something. https://t.co/WyUx5LNcCo
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 13, 2026
Um, John? If you're not endorsing it, why did you post it? Plus, you said what you said. You can't scramble away from it now, when there's backlash. This is why he lost — he's not really hearing and seeing what the voters think.
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