President Donald Trump has stepped into a Texas race that many state Republicans have treated with caution, delivering a full-throated defense of Attorney General Ken Paxton and a blistering attack on Democrat James Talarico while much of the GOP establishment hesitates or openly undercuts its own nominee.
In a five-minute video released Saturday, Trump did what many grassroots conservatives have been demanding from party leaders for months: he showed up and drew a sharp contrast.
According to RedState, the president praised Paxtons record as attorney general, accused Talarico of backing open borders and gun-control measures, and made it clear he has little patience for Republicans who still refuse to support the partys nominee.
Trump also chose to highlight something most politicians would ignore: Talaricos personal lifestyle and eating habits.
In his accompanying Twitter/X post, Trump branded the Democrat TalaFREAKO, a Radical Left Lunatic and the ANTITHESIS of Texas Values, while describing Paxton as the greatest attorney general in Texas history and giving him his Complete and Total Endorsement.
The presidents written statement left no doubt about where he stands in the Senate contest.
James TalaFREAKO is a Radical Left Lunatic and Vegan who is the ANTITHESIS of Texas Values. Ken Paxton is the Greatest Attorney General in the History of Texas, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next U.S. Senator from Texas HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN! President DONALD J. TRUMP.
Trump went on to accuse Talarico of insulting God and making offensive remarks about both men and women, urging Texans to judge the Democrat by his own words before he became a statewide candidate.
The presidents argument was that Talaricos past rhetoric reveals a worldview fundamentally at odds with the values of conservative voters, and that no amount of campaign rebranding should erase that record.
From there, Trump pivoted to a line of attack that blended policy with personal ridicule.
One thing not that important, but he's a vegan. He was always a vegan. He never had meat in his life. Now he's trying to stuff meat down his throat, and it's not working. He gets sick every time he eats meat.
Talarico has denied being vegan, and Trumps colorful description of the Democrat allegedly getting ill from eating meat remains unsubstantiated.
Even so, the president devoted a notable portion of his video to the subject, apparently viewing it as symbolic of what he portrays as Talaricos inauthenticity and sudden reinvention for a statewide audience.
Trump then raised another issue: a reported 12-day disappearance by Talarico from the campaign trail.
He mocked the explanation of a prolonged flu and strongly implied the Democrat had gotten himself into some kind of trouble, though he did not identify any specific wrongdoing or provide evidence, leaving the insinuation hanging for voters to consider.
Beyond the theatrics, Trumps core case against Talarico rested on substantive conservative concerns.
He hit the Democrat on open borders, hostility to the Second Amendment, and support for transgender medical procedures for childrenissues that, in Trumps telling, should keep any self-respecting Texas conservative far away from Talaricos side of the ballot.
The stakes are high, and the money reflects it.
Talaricos campaign has touted a $64 million third-quarter fundraising haul, calling it a record for a Senate candidate in that period, while Paxton and his affiliated committees reported raising $18 million.
Outside spending has also surged as national groups recognize that Texas, long considered safely red at the Senate level, is now a battleground.
Republican-aligned organizations have poured more than $175 million since September 1 into supporting Paxton or attacking Talarico, according to AdImpact, even as FiftyPlusOnes polling average shows Talarico at 48.5 percent and Paxton at 45.2 percent.
Democrats have been tryingand failingto flip a Texas Senate seat for decades, with their last victory dating back to 1988.
This time, they have an extraordinarily well-funded nominee and polling that suggests Paxton, despite his conservative record and Trumps backing, faces a serious fight.
Trump used the latter portion of his video to remind Texans why he chose Paxton in the first place.
He credited the attorney general with standing shoulder to shoulder with his administration on border security, opposition to heavy-handed COVID restrictions, and legal battles over election disputes that conservatives view as central to safeguarding election integrity.
Ken Paxton was a great and is a great Attorney General, and he deserves to be your next senator. He will represent you so well. You won't have to worry about what's going to come out of his thought process, what's going to come out of his mouth.
For Trump, Paxtons reliability on core conservative issuesimmigration, religious liberty, constitutional rightsmatters far more than the complaints of his critics.
The president acknowledged that Paxton has detractors, including within his own party.
But he brushed aside their objections, urging Texans to judge Paxton by his record of fighting the Biden administration on the border, resisting draconian COVID mandates, and challenging what many on the right see as irregularities in the 2020 election.
Some Republicans, however, still appear reluctant to fall in line.
As RedState reported Friday, Trump had already unloaded on Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and his Liddle' Buddy Karl Rove, making clear he blames them for undermining Paxton and, by extension, the conservative agenda in Texas.
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 to win, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He added, 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.
That is the sitting president publicly naming two of the most prominent Texas Republicans as potential culprits if the GOP loses a Senate seat it has held for generations.
Cornyn already lost the primary to Paxton after Trump endorsed the attorney general, while Rove has announced he is voting Democrat in another Texas race and spent September on television criticizing Trumps immigration enforcement, behavior that has only reinforced his RINO label among conservatives.
Trumps latest intervention is therefore more than a routine endorsement; it is a direct appeal to Texas voters over the heads of the states cautious establishment.
Whatever Republicans thought of Paxton during the primary, the president has made it unmistakably clear that, in his view, the choice in November is between a proven conservative fighter and a Radical Left Lunatic who is the ANTITHESIS of Texas Values.
For grassroots conservatives worried about border chaos, attacks on the Second Amendment, and the lefts push on gender ideology, Trumps message is that sitting on the sidelines is not an option.
And judging by his escalating criticism of Cornyn and Rove, neither man should expect the president to stop reminding Texas Republicans exactly who he believes will be responsible if James Talarico ends up in the United States Senate.
Login