Fearing Ken Paxton’s defeat in Texas, Trump tries pre-blaming John Cornyn

With Election Day 19 days away, President Donald Trump is laying groundwork to blame others if Texas Republican Ken Paxton loses his U.S. Senate race. Paxton, the state attorney general, won the GOP primary easily after Trump endorsed him over Sen. John Cornyn, but recent high-quality polls have not shown him ahead of Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, alarming Republicans who once considered a Texas Senate loss nearly unthinkable, according to MS NOW.

On Thursday, Trump posted a long message on his social media platform accusing Cornyn and strategist Karl Rove of working to hurt Paxton's chances. He said a Paxton defeat would be the fault of what he called weak political hacks who have opposed him throughout his career. MS NOW columnist Steve Benen notes that Cornyn has done essentially nothing to help Paxton since the primary, but calls the idea that the senator is sabotaging the nominee hard to credit. Benen also points out that blaming ineffective opponents for a loss is contradictory, and he attributes Paxton's problems to the candidate himself.

Benen argues the post suggests Trump doubts Paxton's prospects, though he allows that Talarico is not assured victory, since wealthy far-right donors are spending heavily in the state.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →