US President Donald Trump points as he speaks to the media at the White House driveway following a luncheon for tech leaders in the East Room, in Washington, D.C., US, September 29, 2026.
Former House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry held nothing back on CNN Wednesday after being confronted with Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton’s quiet slap of President Donald Trump.
The New York Times and other outlets reported on Wednesday that Paxton thinks Trump’s midterm convention, which was meant to gin up lagging GOP enthusiasm ahead of November, didn’t help at all. In leaked audio obtained by the Times, Paxton said, “to be honest with you, the numbers, when we did that convention, we dropped our numbers. Everybody's going to be dropped and right now, yeah, not not not good.”
McHenry harangued Paxton for saying such a thing on CNN’s Wednesday episode of “The Arena with Kasie Hunt.
“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 said. “… 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].”
McHenry, who called himself “the most pro Paxton person in this building,” continued to blister Paxton over his gaffe.
“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.”
McHenry was not the only Republican blasting Paxton for his diss. Republican strategist Karl Rove, who McHenry described as largely responsible for turning the state of Texas red in the first place, also turned on Paxton and his dismal record.
“If John Cornyn [as opposed to Paxton] were the nominee, this race would be over,” Rove told the Texas Tribune in a recent interview. “Um, you know, when you got a guy who's got multiple girlfriends and $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy for whom he does favors, … I mean, can you can you make this (CENSORED) up?”
“I mean, really, in the last 48 hours Texas Sen.] Ted, Theodore Cruz has reached out to me and says, ‘we're losing.’ Ken Paxton has sent me several emails saying, ‘I'm losing. I need your help.’ I mean, you know, even the Republicans are admitting that they're behind,” Rove added.
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