Former Ted Cruz aide has bad news for Republicans

A far right Republican political operative, Rick Tyler, has bad news for Texas Republicans, and as a former adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tyler knows a thing or two about Texas Republicans.

"Rick Tyler, once a chief spokesperson for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) 2016 presidential campaign, delivered a grim forecast for the party ahead of the November midterm elections, warning that the GOP is headed for a 'bad night!'" reported Mediaite's Kathryn Wilkens on Wednesday. "Tyler joined Wednesday’s edition of CNN News Central to discuss the competitive Texas Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico."

Wilkens added, "While a recent Marist poll found no clear leader in the race, with Talarico edging out Paxton 47 percent to 45 percent, CNN’s Boris Sanchez pointed out that the same survey put the Republican’s unfavorability rating at 56 percent."

She concluded, "Paxton’s campaign has been plagued by a string of controversies, including a Monday Wall Street Journal report featuring video of him celebrating New Year’s Eve in Dubai with two men facing federal criminal charges, his wife’s divorce filing citing adultery, voter fraud allegations, his office’s plea deal with convicted child sex predator Adam Hoffman, and more."

As far back as last year, Tyler was issuing warnings for Republicans about the upcoming midterm elections. Talking with MS NOW's Symone Sanders about the president's tariffs, Tyler remarked that "tariffs have a negative effect on the economy — we don't have to wonder about it. It's like a wrecking ball at the apex aimed at the building when the wrecking ball starts to move. We know what's going to happen: It's going to hit the building. That's what's going to happen."

Tyler is not alone in ruminating that Paxton is in danger of losing to Talarico. In September, The Bulwark's pollster Sarah Longwell told MS NOW that "Donald Trump is now the albatross on a lot of these candidates necks. But to me, what is funny about the Paxton comments about Trump is that Paxton is already trying to lay the groundwork to blame Trump for him losing, right? They already are pointing fingers at each other, you know, to say, 'Oh, it's this person's fault if I lose.'"

Longwell continued, "Trump is saying that Paxton, you know, because Donald Trump held that convention, he spent much of it kind of making fun of Ken Paxton. You can tell even though he wanted to get rid of John Cornyn because John Cornyn wasn't sufficiently loyal, that Trump doesn't really like Ken Paxton. And now Ken Paxton, you know, is willing to say, 'Well, Trump is the one who's dragging us down.'"