President Donald Trump has opened a new front in the Republican civil war, unleashing a scathing late-night broadside against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and his Liddle Buddy, Karl Rove, for what he describes as an effort to sabotage Attorney General Ken Paxtons U.S. Senate bid in Texas.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump charged that the pair is doing everything possible to weaken Paxton and ease the path for Democrat James Talarico, whom he derided with a new moniker, "TalaFreako," while branding the left-wing hopeful a Radical Left Lunatic and the ANTITHESIS of Texas Values. According to RedState, the presidents message was unmistakable: in a race where the ideological stakes could not be clearer, senior figures in the GOP establishment appear more interested in settling old scores than in keeping a crucial Senate seat in conservative hands.
Trumps criticism went beyond Talarico, whom he plainly views as an out-of-step progressive in a deeply red state, and zeroed in on Cornyn and Rove for refusing to rally behind a candidate he called clearly superior. James Talarico may be guilty on both counts of radicalism and hostility to Texas values, but Trumps ire was reserved for Republicans who, in his view, are enabling a Democrat oddity to slip into the Senate by withholding full-throated support from Paxton.
Sadly, and very stupidly, John Cornyn, and his Liddle Buddy, Super RINO, Karl Rove, are doing everything possible to make it hard for Ken Paxton, the Greatest Attorney General in the History of Texas, and one of the Best in the United States, to win the upcoming Midterm Election against (Talarico), Trump wrote. He went on to blast Cornyns political record and Roves media presence, declaring, John Cornyn, who, after my Endorsement, lost the Primary to Ken by a very wide margin, and Karl Rove, who shouldnt be allowed to spew his jealousy on Fox News, should be ashamed of themselves, adding, They are hurting Texas and, more importantly, hurting the United States of America!
The president framed the stakes in stark terms, warning that a Paxton defeat would be laid at the feet of the Republican old guard. If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career, he declared, tying their alleged sabotage of Paxton to their long-standing resistance to his America First agenda.
Trumps message to Texas Republicans was equally blunt: anyone who once backed Cornyn should now move decisively into Paxtons camp. He urged GOP voters to consolidate behind the conservative attorney general and ensure the seat remains in Republican hands, a move that aligns with the instincts of anybody with actual conservative values who understands that splitting the right-of-center coalition only benefits the left.
From a conservative vantage point, the logic is straightforward: refusing to support Paxton at this stage is less an act of principle than a capitulation to the same establishment impulses that produced figures like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. Otherwise, you're just Adam Kinzinger Lite or Liz Cheney in drag, the critique runs, underscoring the view that lingering grudges or stylistic objections to Paxton pale in comparison to the threat of handing a Senate seat to a Radical Left Lunatic.
Roves recent behavior has only deepened suspicions among grassroots conservatives that he has drifted far from the partys base. It is not the first time in recent weeks that the former top adviser to President George W. Bush has been accused of acting like a faux Republican, as he publicly announced last month that he would vote for a Democrat in the Texas Railroad Commissioner race, a down-ballot contest that rarely attracts national attention.
Rove described his decision as the final straw after Republican candidate Bo French made what Rove labeled racist comments, though supporters argue French was merely pointing out demographics. Critics on the right mocked Roves stance, suggesting that perhaps he would have understood the argument if French presented the information on a whiteboard and drew pictures to help him out, and social media users piled on with barbed attacks such as, Of course Boomer Karl Rove wants to trans the kids now. It only took Karl Rove 75 years to become a supporter of gay race communists. Tell Boomer Karl, we dont care if were called racists.
Rove also came under fire in September for his public criticism of Trumps immigration enforcement strategy, accusing the president of moving beyond targeting bad actors and creating new political headaches with broader ICE operations in major cities. He went from being the guy who solved the border problem to one who had created a new problem, which was all this descension in major cities... over an ill-informed ICE effort, Rove said, deriding arrests at places like Home Depot and claiming they were turning the country against Trump, even though Trump had campaigned from the outset on deporting all illegal aliens, not just those with criminal records.
For many conservatives, Roves comments underscored a fundamental disconnect between the consultant class and voters who see border security as a non-negotiable element of national sovereignty. As one pointed rejoinder put it, Note to Rove ALL illegal aliens are bad actors. Breaching a nation's sovereign borders is often a gateway to other crimes, a sentiment that reflects the broader grassroots insistence that immigration laws be enforced consistently rather than selectively.
Cornyn, for his part, has faced his own backlash from the right over his handling of election integrity legislation, particularly the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and photo identification to vote. Although he co-sponsored and voted for the measure, he later dismissed renewed efforts to push it through as unrealistic, opposed canceling the August recess to force action, and publicly pronounced the bill not gonna happen, effectively aligning himself with Democratic obstruction instead of leading the fight to overcome it.
To many conservatives, that posture amounted to a dereliction of duty at a time when confidence in elections is already fragile and when robust safeguards are seen as essential to protecting Republican candidates in the midterms. By signaling defeat rather than mobilizing pressure, Cornyn was viewed as undercutting his own partys prospects and reinforcing the perception that some GOP leaders are more comfortable managing decline than contesting the lefts agenda.
Against this backdrop, Trumps attack on Cornyn and Rove resonates as more than a personal feud; it is a proxy battle over whether the Republican Party will be defined by its voters or by its consultants and career politicians. Cornyn and his liddle buddy are being told, in no uncertain terms, to get a grip, because abandoning your entire life's morals by helping out a freak like this in Texas is abhorrent, and for conservatives who believe Texas must remain a bulwark of traditional values, the choice between rallying behind Paxton or enabling TalaFreako is not a close call.
Login