President Donald Trump has accused U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and GOP political strategist Karl Rove of sabotaging Ken Paxton’s campaign to represent Texas in the upper chamber.
Trump made the claim in a lengthy Truth Social post Thursday afternoon.
“Sadly, and very stupidly, John Cornyn, and his Liddle’ Buddy, Super RINO, Karl Rove, are doing everything possible to make it hard for Ken Paxton, the Greatest Attorney General in the History of Texas, and one of the Best in the United States, to win the upcoming Midterm Election against a Radical Left Lunatic, James TalaFREAKO, who is the ANTITHESIS of Texas Values,” Trump wrote.
The president, who endorsed Paxton during a crucial moment in his runoff election against Cornyn, also called attention to the outgoing senator’s unsuccessful primary campaign, attributing Cornyn’s and Rove’s lack of support for Paxton’s general election campaign to “jealousy.”
“John Cornyn who, after my Endorsement, lost the Primary to Ken by a very wide margin, and Karl Rove, who shouldn’t be allowed to spew his jealousy on FoxNews, should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump wrote.
Though Trump didn’t explicitly blame the pair for recent audio leaks that have plagued the Paxton campaign, the president went so far as to suggest they would bear responsibility if Republicans lose the Senate seat to Democrats.
“If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career,” Trump wrote.
Cornyn hasn’t publicly endorsed Paxton. Indeed, in one of the leaked audio clips, Paxton — Texas’ attorney general — insisted that Cornyn wants him to lose.
Since losing the primary, Cornyn has pushed back against the Trump agenda. That’s included withholding his support for Todd Blanche’s appointment to head the Department of Justice, leveraging his vote to push for Texas’ long-promised border security reimbursements and voting against a legal reimbursement fund for Jan. 6 rioters.
Rove, a longtime Republican strategist and former adviser to President George W. Bush, has been publicly critical of Paxton’s candidacy and, more recently, the current state of the Republican Party. At September’s Texas Tribune Festival, Rove stated the party had been taken over by “Nazis.” He also asserted that the GOP made a fatal mistake in picking Paxton as its candidate.
“If [U.S. Sen.] John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over. But when you’ve got a guy that has multiple girlfriends and $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy whom he does favors,” Rove said at the festival. “Can you make this shit up? I mean, really.”
Trump’s Truth Social post also included a direct appeal, calling “all of those who supported Senator John Cornyn to UNITE, and immediately switch your support to Ken Paxton.”
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