When President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate, he did something that could have put himself at greater risk.
He could have endorsed Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who — polls would suggest — probably would win the general without much trouble. Instead, Trump endorsed Paxton to clean the swamp, pick the man who was more faithful to pushing the MAGA agenda, and who the base wanted. That was a bold choice.
Personally, more problematic potentially, if Paxton lost, that could up the chances of losing the Senate, and if that happened, there would be never-ending efforts to get Trump.
So if you think about it like that, it was a brave decision by Trump: choosing what the base wanted and what was right, over those risks to his position.
Cornyn keeps showing what a correct decision Trump and the voters made, as his passive-aggressive tantrum continues apace.
We reported on the controversy over Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commission Bo French's tweet about students at a Longhorns game, and how that prompted former Bush official Karl Rove to say he would be voting for a Democrat.
I don't care what he thinks about French; he doesn't have to vote for him. But he also doesn't have to vote for a Democrat, and he doesn't have to do it by writing a Wall Street Journal piece on it.
At a time when we are in a critical throwdown battle to halt extremism from the left, this was a despicable move by Rove. He's certainly free to do it, but it just shows who he is — in every bad sense of the word. Fortunately, absolutely no one is looking to Rove to know how to vote in Texas; he's about as relevant as rotting cheese in the sun.
Cornyn then doubled down on Rove's bad move by quoting him.
”The GOP’s stables need a cleaning. This is a good place to start.“ https://t.co/jPkzC2pOrF
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 16, 2026
”The GOP’s stables need a cleaning. This is a good place to start," he quoted.
Unbelievable. Cornyn is acting like he wants to sink the Republican Senate candidate, Ken Paxton, the man who overwhelmingly beat Cornyn in the primary. He doesn't seem to care about how critical it is to hold the Senate. He doesn't seem to care how extreme the Democrats will be if they get power. All Cornyn seems to care about is venting his poor, hurt feelings that the Texas voters rejected him. But this isn't only about that; he's literally throwing all of the Republicans under the bus with that comment.
In response, the folks on the right on X gave Cornyn a sharp rebuke and a schooling about when the "cleaning" really took place. Most people posted some version of this tweet.
No, John, we started with you. https://t.co/64EKy40xG3
— The Reckoning 💥 (@sethjlevy) September 17, 2026
Cornyn had no idea how incredibly ironic his comment was.
Not understanding the irony in his own post is almost poetic. https://t.co/Q1Nt2hOfnJ
— Jeff Nelson (@jeffreym_nelson) September 17, 2026
“This place needs a cleaning”, said the dust. https://t.co/qMuZRnJ5Ld
— Huey Long Republican (@HueyR5475) September 17, 2026
“A good place to START.” This is not about Bo French. This is the withering obsession of the dwindling establishment, attempting to claw back against the MAGA movement which has ushered them into deserved obscurity. The stables in Texas were cleaned on May 26. https://t.co/27VWZIONW3
— Mark Davis (@MarkDavis) September 17, 2026
None of what Cornyn is doing now is helpful for the citizens of Texas — or the rest of the country.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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