ICYMI: GOP Is “Apoplectic,” and “In Visible Uproar” as “Combustible” Texas GOP Senate Primary Runoff Turns Into MAGA Civil War

Retiring GOP Senator Thom Tillis: “Primaries get ugly. Runoffs get even uglier”

The Washington Post: “Conservative media figures and MAGA influencers have blanketed social media this week with posts highlighting Cornyn’s past criticisms of Trump”

Just one week into the disastrous GOP Senate primary runoff in Texas, and “attacks continue to fly” as Trump mulls an endorsement that could “put him at odds with parts of the MAGA base.” Meanwhile, Ken Paxton’s allies are mounting a “big counter-offensive” as Texas Republicans become “apoplectic” and MAGA influencers are “in visible uproar.”

As the GOP’s Texas troubles inflame a “sore spot between the president and Senate Republican leaders,” new polling shows Paxton ahead of Cornyn – with or without a Trump endorsement – and Democratic nominee James Talarico ahead of both heading toward November. 

See for yourself:

POLITICO: Trump is delaying Texas Senate endorsement to pressure GOP senators on SAVE America Act

• Paxton’s last-ditch gamble highlighted an area where he agrees with Trump while poking at a sore spot between the president and Senate Republican leaders who have been begging Trump for months to back Cornyn. And it changed the dynamics inside the White House, according to the two people, an operative close to the White House and an administration ally.
• Trump posted last Wednesday, the day after the primary, that he would endorse “soon” in the race — and wanted to see whoever he didn’t back drop out of the runoff.
• Paxton, a favorite of the far right with strong MAGA grassroots backing, initially said he would not end his campaign even if Trump backed Cornyn.
  
• Paxton’s gambit caught the attention of the president, who on Monday declared the SAVE America Act should be the GOP’s “No. 1 priority” during a speech to House Republicans in which he dedicated 13 minutes to the issue.
• The president also was irritated when news articles from Axios and The Atlantic published Wednesday declaring that Trump was “expected” to endorse Cornyn, according to the Republican operative. 
• That pressure campaign has ramped up in recent days since reports surfaced Trump was close to backing Cornyn. The administration ally said Paxton’s allies are mounting a “big counter-offensive.”
• Those pushing against a Cornyn endorsement include Texas donors, according to a Paxton campaign aide.
• “The grassroots donor community in Texas did not believe or realize how close Trump was endorsing Cornyn,” said a Paxton campaign aide, granted anonymity in order to speak freely. “Once they realized that the threat was real, they went very hard in the paint.”
• A Cornyn campaign aide declined to comment.
• “The Republican establishment is just as guilty as controlled opposition in the destruction of this republic, and exhibit one is John Cornyn,” Steve Bannon, longtime MAGA whisperer, said on Monday on his latest War Room podcast.
• […] Democrats nominated state Rep. James Talarico, a pick that even Republicans say is a formidable general election candidate. Many national Republicans say putting forward Paxton would be an expensive endeavor that would risk the seat and could cost them the Senate, as his past ethics issues and personal scandals make him a vulnerable candidate.

Semafor: Delay in Trump’s Texas endorsement raises GOP anxiety

• Republicans are still waiting on President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the Texas Senate race. And every week without him settling it means more costly spending in the GOP runoff battle between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• When Trump said he would weigh in “soon,” Republicans hoped it meant he’d have backed Cornyn by now. That hasn’t happened, and attacks continue to fly, potentially weakening the eventual GOP nominee.
• “We could have tens of millions of dollars being spent in a runoff in Texas […] ” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Semafor. “Primaries get ugly. Runoffs get even uglier.”
• He and other Republicans warned a Paxton victory would require so much general election money it could deprive candidates in other battlegrounds this fall.

Washington Post: In Texas, Trump flirts with defying his own movement

• President Donald Trump is preparing to endorse a longtime Senate incumbent over a loyal ally in a closely watched Republican primary — a decision that would put him at odds with parts of the MAGA base that have rallied behind the challenger.
• From prominent MAGA voices to lesser-known grassroots activists, many in Trump’s die-hard base say they are befuddled that the president is heeding the calls of establishment GOP operatives over his most loyal backers, adding to frustrations among supporters who warn that waning enthusiasm could threaten Republican turnout in the midterms.
• Conservative media figures and MAGA influencers have blanketed social media this week with posts highlighting Cornyn’s past criticisms of Trump, questioning the president’s commitment to “drain the swamp” in Washington, and pledging to support Paxton regardless of Trump’s endorsement. They also recirculated a 2023 Truth Social post from Trump in which he compared Cornyn to former senator Mitt Romney, a Trump critic, and said Cornyn was “always quick to surrender to the Dems.”
• “It is a massive ask for the president, love him though we may, to come in and say, ‘Hey, that conservative that you love for the same reasons you love me? I want you to change your mind’” and not vote for Paxton, said Mark Davis, a conservative radio host in Texas who is closely attuned with Trump-supporting Republican activists in the state.
• “A whole lot of them are simply not going to do it. This is needless tension thrown into a race that’s going to play out the way it plays out.”
• Although Trump’s endorsed candidates in Republican primaries typically emerge victorious, there have been notable exceptions. A rare state Senate race that drew Trump’s endorsement ahead of Tuesday’s primary election in North Carolina remains too close to call. Trump’s favored candidate — the incumbent state Senate leader — trails two votes behind a lesser-funded challenger who had the backing of many conservative activists.
• After word spread Wednesday of Trump’s intentions to back Cornyn, MAGA activists plastered their social media pages with headlines about Cornyn pushing back on Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, or Cornyn’s comments to reporters in 2023 that it was time for Republicans to move on from Trump.
• “This is why the grassroots is apoplectic,” said Stephen K. Bannon, a former top Trump adviser who has aired his “War Room” podcast from Texas for the past five weeks. He is supporting Paxton.
• “They hate Cornyn,” Bannon said. “They don’t hate him because he’s a ‘RINO,’ they don’t hate him because of his record. They don’t like him because of that, but they hate him because he has hated on Trump.”
• Conservative activists in Texas have questioned whether Trump’s endorsement will prove to be as effective this time.
• Davis, the conservative radio host in Texas, told The Post on Thursday that he had tried repeatedly to identify listeners who were leaning toward supporting Paxton in the runoff but intend to support Cornyn if Trump endorses him.
• “I can’t find any. I can’t find one,” Davis said. “So everybody at the White House should know that while Trump endorsements carry a lot of weight, that a large number — I mean, in the millions — of Trump fans in Texas, their message to him is: ‘We thank God every day for you, Mr. President, but we’re going to make up our own minds on this one.’”

Washington Examiner: Trump triggers backlash among MAGA faithful over potential Cornyn endorsement

• The MAGA movement is in visible uproar over speculation President Donald Trump could endorse establishment favorite Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas Senate GOP primary runoff over hard-line conservative state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• Trump triggered the backlash among the MAGA faithful after posting on Truth Social that he would endorse a candidate in the race and whoever he didn’t endorse should drop out. The post came only minutes after the Atlantic published a story saying that Trump was going to back Cornyn.
• “Trump endorsing John Cornyn will be the single greatest insult to the Republican / MAGA base of the last 10 years,” Florida Republican County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini wrote on X. “There have been hundreds of other betrayals—but this one is worse. It will also guarantee that the mid-terms will be a major blowout for the GOP.”
• Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who still identifies as MAGA despite breaking with Trump, was even more pointed in her criticism.
• “This is wrong and the people of Texas should be able to vote for WHOEVER THEY WANT!!! NOT the candidate Trump demands,” Greene wrote on X. “People are furious over this and if Trump does this, it could actually be the real reason Texas Senate seat flips blue.”
• “I would vote for the devil to keep the senate Republican, but this would be completely idiotic,” conservative activist Ann Coulter said. “Incumbents who can’t win their own primaries generally go on to lose. Texans obviously do not want another 6 years of Cornyn.”