Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton in Conroe, Texas, U.S., January 29, 2022. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
The D.C. insiders at Pod Save America ripped into one of the GOP candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump who is floundering the worst, lambasting him for having the "personality of a snail" and arguing that he has never had to face a competitive election.
In the latest episode of the Pod Save America podcast, hosts and former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer discussed the latest scandal surrounding Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his midterm bid for the U.S. Senate. Leaked audio of a meeting with donors seemed to show Paxton — who was carried through the GOP primary in Texas largely thanks to Trump's endorsement — explaining how the president's recent midterm convention in Dallas harmed his poll numbers, and those of just about every other GOP candidate.
"So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good," Paxton said when one donor asked if Trump was becoming a drag on GOP candidates.
Amid the conversation about those leaks, Pfeiffer, a former senior communications aide to Barack Obama, said it was " just truly unbelievable" how far Paxton has come politically, given his complete lack of "charisma." A deep well of charisma, he observed, has helped a lot of "incredibly corrupt politicians," like Trump, succeed, but with Paxton, he was stumped trying to pin down what he brought to the table.
"What does Paxton bring to the table that allows people to just go along with his corruption?" Pfeiffer asked with an air of exasperation. "He has the personality of a snail."
In response, Favreau, a former director of speechwriting for Obama, cited stories from reporters and commentators who have followed Texas politics closely.
"People who, you know, analyze Texas politics for a living and do Texas politics for a living have made the point that he has gotten as far as he has because of his corruption," Favreau explained. "And so because he has been so corrupt and gotten so much, so many people who are really wealthy in Texas politics to spend so much money getting him elected, he really hasn't had, like, a super competitive race, especially in a primary where he's had to rely on his charisma and talent for campaigning. All he's had to do is just be the guy who a bunch of, you know, wealthy special interests poured a bunch of money uh into making sure he got elected so that he could pay them back."
"Gosh, we really can't lose to this guy," Pfeiffer responded. "We cannot lose to him."