U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, New York, U.S.,
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may have privately claimed President Donald Trump is hurting Republican Senate candidates (like himself) because he plans on blaming Trump if he loses.
"Donald Trump is now the albatross on a lot of these candidates necks," The Bulwark's pollster Sarah Longwell told MS NOW on Wednesday. "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 added, "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.'"
She concluded, "And that's the circular firing squad is not the stuff of confidence, right? These are guys who think they're gonna lose and are already starting to place blame."
Paxton aroused controversy when he was asked at a private fundraiser if he worried Trump's sagging poll numbers would make him "a bit of a drag" as Republicans enter the hotly contested midterms, including Paxton's campaign against his Democratic challenger, Texas State Rep. James Talarico.
"“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers," Paxton replied, referring to the midterms convention that Trump called in the hope of boosting GOP chances by focusing attention on himself. "Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
Paxton's remarks were particularly shocking because he is widely believed to have received the nomination over the incumbent. Sen. John Cornyn, entirely because Trump endorsed Paxton at the last second. Former Texas House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry blasted Paxton's statements about Trump as ungrateful.
“Paxton was made and invented by Donald Trump. He was his savior. He got him through being impeached as attorney general. He got him the nomination to be senator of Texas. Without, Trump, he's nothing. He's nothing. And this guy is so stupid. He's biting the hand that made him,” McHenry argued. “… But Ken Paxton is so stupid that he's biting the hand that made him and invented him. He should say, with enormous gratitude, that he's grateful for the president making fun of the way he looks and the way he dresses, as he should, because he wouldn't be even considered for that in this stage of the election cycle [without Trump].”
He concluded, “And that's what I got for you this late stage of the game — absolutely astronomically stupid, of the first order. We'll be talking about this as the one of the dumbest moments in a really bad election cycle.”