Nearly a month after U.S. Sen. John Cornyn lost his primary election to an opponent backed by President Donald Trump, Texas’ senior Republican senator has finally turned on the current occupant of the White House.
Corny spent months cozying up in hopes of earning his endorsement, including such ravenous rimjobs as posing with Trump’s Art of the Deal book, mugging for the camera outside a Trump Burger in Houston, attempting to name a highway after the president and engaging in other acts of overt obsequiousness.
Now that kissing ass no longer serves him, Cornyn is finally saying how he really feels about Trump, according to a sit-down interview in his D.C. office with online center-right publication Semafor.
“The president seems to revel in chaos, which is so different from any other leader that I’ve ever seen,” Cornyn told Semafor. “I don’t know about you, but I like to minimize the chaos in my life. He just seems to revel in it.”
Cornyn also took shots at Trump’s reliability.
Conversations with the president aren’t “particularly useful,” he said, “because he can and will change his mind depending on the next person he talks to on the phone.”
Now, Cornyn is using his leverage during the final months of his Senate career to withhold his vote on key Trump initiatives.
After a nearly yearlong delay in getting the Lone Star State reimbursed by the Trump administration for more than $10 billion in border security spending that Congress had already approved, Cornyn finally turned the tables on Trump. The senator is now dangling his vote like a carrot as lawmakers prepare to take up the administration’s new $70 billion immigration spending bill.
“Basically, I told Sen. [John] Barrasso and Sen. [John] Thune: ‘There’s a price for my vote, and it is to get the administration to release the money,’” Cornyn said. “Next thing I got is a call from [White House budget director] Russ Vought, and Russ said, ‘We’ll put a notice of funding.’”
Cornyn told Semafor this is just one way he is prepared to play hardball in the twilight months of his 24-year senatorial career.
And, while he’s divvying up his largesse between Republican candidates around the country, Cornyn added that he’s drawing the line at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed MAGA loyalist who unseated him in the primary.
“The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million. I think he can spend his money,” Cornyn said. “I’m going to try to help in other places.”
To that end, Cornyn is organizing a September fundraiser for his favorite candidates: Sens. Jon Husted of Ohio, Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, former Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire and former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan.
Cornyn stopped short of endorsing Texas Rep. James Talarico, Paxton’s opponent in the general election, referring to the Democrat as a “weirdo.” However, the senator left Republican voters’ choices open for November, rather than encouraging them to fall in line.
“I don’t know how Paxton raises the money he’s going to need to run against Talarico — who’s got unlimited resources — in the next four and a half months,” Cornyn said. “And while Talarico is definitely a weirdo, you know, take your pick.”
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