Why Republicans REALLY Turned on John Cornyn in Favor of a VERY Controversial Ken Paxton

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]James Taler Rico, Timu Richie Cunningham, as he's known on this show.

[00:00:04]We've been covering him for a long time because at first I thought the Texas Democrat primary was one of the most interesting primaries in the country. I stand by that. I think of this entire cycle, that was the most interesting race. And what's happened today since Ken Paxton's nearly 30 point blowout at least as I last checked it was 28 points of John Cornin who outspent him 3 to1 had the support of national democ of of national Republican apparatuses with the exception of Donald Trump himself $92 million of ad spending according to the New York Times on behalf of John Cornin.

[00:00:37]Ken Paxton was under $30 million of ad spending in this runoff competition.

[00:00:44]That's how badly Paxton was outspent and he won by nearly 30 points. Last I checked, Cornin had barely won in Dallas. So that should tell you how sick of John Cornin Republican voters in Texas were. And the narrative here in DC all day has been how sort of unsophisticated Republican voters are to elect somebody like Ken Paxton with, let me just say, some real baggage. There's no downplaying Ken Paxton's personal and professional baggage. Those two things go together. It's absolutely real. Uh he's not an ideal candidate for that seat. No question about it. Ken Paxton was up against John Cornin. John Cornin is the avatar of the swamp in Washington DC. He had of as of this session I think a 35% rating from Herit heritage action which scores senators on grassroots priorities and that's where Cornin was like 35%. That has to be one of the lowest in the Senate and I'm talking about the Senate here. So that's already not great. His lifetime rating from Harrier's action is somewhere in 60% range. People in Texas were furious.

[00:01:53]Republicans in Texas were furious with him uh for going against the base on guns. He's gone against the base on all kinds of things. He said Trump was like irrelevant a couple of years back. So basically when you have Ken Paxton who has as attorney general in Texas despite this checkered record uh which is not the type of person that I think you would probably want like your daughter to marry. That's what it looks like from Ken Paxton. Just some really gross stuff. You probably wouldn't want to get into business with Ken Paxton either uh from his record. Just it's not good. Uh, but this guy has taken on big tech. He has proactively fought for exactly the things that Texas Republicans feel John Cornin has gone soft on. And so if you're asking Texas Republicans to choose between John Cornin and Ken Paxton, they will of course in the Trump era after most Republicans voted against Donald Trump in 2016 for another candidate or when you put all the other candidates together, most of the votes were not for Donald Trump. And if you were not voting for Donald Trump, you were kind of proactively voting against Donald Trump in 2016 in those primaries.

[00:02:59]Uh, everyone learned, Republicans learned that they were in a new era, that they were going to have to deal with Trump's baggage to prevent Hillary Clinton from being president of the United States. And a lot of Republicans are now perfectly used to that. It's a lesser of two evils, voting calculus. And some people just sit it out. But some people think, especially if you're, for example, very anti-abortion, that um it's it's immoral to passively let a Democrat take that seat. So that's why people are are not particularly bothered. They don't love Ken Paxton. We had some interesting callers on the Megan Kelly wrap-up show today from Texas. That's over on SiriusXM, uh 2 to 3 p.m. We take calls after Megan show every day. We had some interesting callers from Texas being like, "Yeah, nobody is like embracing Paxton as like a fuzzy teddy bear, but uh they are embracing Paxton as an appropriate countermeasure to what Taller Rico would represent and to what John Cornin would represent. Often misunderstood fact about the Republican base is that they often detest Republicans as much if not more sometimes as they detest Democrats because maybe they have higher expectations for Republicans." So, James Terico, on the other hand, Democrats aren't getting any of this um any of these charges of being unsophisticated voters lobbed their way despite the fact that Taler Rico is unelectable. We didn't have this conversation about how foolish Texas Democrats were to nominate somebody as unelectable as James Terico.

[00:04:29]And because the Democratic Party is such a is in the midst of its own civil war right now and is a mess, their two choices in this Texas primary were James Terico and Jasmine Crockett.

[00:04:41]So, of course, uh they had no great choice either, but that is a problem of the Democratic Party of Texas's own making. Either of their options was unelectable.

[00:04:54]And James Terico, I think, is actually a worse candidate than Betto Oor. Here's what the Paxton campaign is already running on against James Terico. This is S4.

[00:05:06]>> This is Texas. This is not.

[00:05:09]>> There are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.

[00:05:14]>> This is Texas. This is not.

[00:05:17]>> The American flag is such a complicated symbol for most of us.

[00:05:21]>> This is Texas. This is not.

[00:05:23]>> They're going to call me a radical leftist.

[00:05:26]>> This is Texas. This is not >> something that you love that's not family or friends.

[00:05:33]Um, I love, I'm just say this because it's on my mind, the trans children.

[00:05:40]>> This is Texas. This is not.

[00:05:43]>> Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front.

[00:05:49]>> This is Texas. This is not.

[00:05:52]>> It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption. I am proud to say that our campaign um has officially become a nonmeat campaign.

[00:06:02]>> This is Texas.

[00:06:04]This is not.

[00:06:07]>> So Tyler Rico has been on a campaign today trying to convince Texas voters.

[00:06:13]He's actually made overtures to Cornin voters that uh he he of course believes this is a real quote he said today. Of course he believes that there are two biological sexes. Well, you're on tape saying that the vegan element is actually I think it's even worse than what Terico said because it's not or what Taler Rico is saying it is. Now, we're going to get to that in just one moment because it's actually goes into policy and that's not a lot of the media isn't covering the kind of policy implications of what Taler Rico said in the veganism quote that's getting uh tossed around as red meat, no pun intended, uh in this effort to frame Toro as somebody who's just out of touch with the average Texans values. I think it's pretty obvious that he is. Uh but consultants looked at Ter Rico and said this is a seminarian. Actually Joe Rogan liked him. Joe Rogan had him on and Terico was talking about faith and how Republicans get it wrong. And I think Terrio uh I think Rogan told him he should run for president like that. But uh you at first glance people say this is somebody that sort of speaks the language of the like white Christian suburban base that is vulnerable in the Trump era. But when you look at who that base actually is, there are people who are not going to be comfortable with with Ken Paxton. No question about it.

[00:07:32]They're not going to be comfortable with what Terico has said on a host of issues either. So, it's not that simple. Let's take a look at his cleanup efforts here.

[00:07:41]S5, he went on CNN with Jake Tapper today and got asked some some questions about his past. National Republican Senate Committee is already highlighting comments that you've made as a state representative. Um, for example, they're >> Kyron's incredible quote, "God is non-binary.

[00:07:59]>> God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary."

[00:08:10]>> What is your response to them using that and explain what you were talking about?

[00:08:16]Well, I understand that that comment is a little provocative. I said it on the House floor when the extremists in the Republican legislature were picking on school kids who were different. But I don't think it's controversial theologically. Most Christians would acknowledge that God is beyond gender.

[00:08:35]In fact, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians said that in Christ there is neither male nor female. And so if someone's got a problem with that statement, they shouldn't take it up with me. They should take it up with the Apostle Paul.

[00:08:49]>> So there are no difference between Jews and Greeks either because the apostle the apostle Paul said there are no Jew nor there is no Jew nor Greek. Uh which is precisely about Christian universalism, egalitarianism. much of the western world is built on what the apostle Paul was saying. Uh which is that everybody our our differences are not as important as our salvation in Christ. That's what it's talking about.

[00:09:18]This idea that you can apply postmodern progressive gender ideology to the God of the Bible is obviously ridiculous, but it is totally progressive seminarian babble. The type of stuff uh that people are are chatting about. Like it's enormously profound. It's like those freshman dorm college those freshman college dorm conversations uh about libertarianism and uh the like. That's exactly it. It sounds like you he just hit a giant blunt and it's worse because he didn't. He really he really means this stuff and he is now going to get asked about it constantly. There's no running from it. But I would say that on this veganism question, uh, Republicans have more to work with than they've already stepped into. Uh, let me just put up on the screen. This is a politact fact check. Uh, Democratic Texas US Senate candidate James Tarico quote is a vegan. Apparently, that's what Ken Paxton said. And Politact rates that as false. Uh, Democrats put out a a tweet today of Telerico in his Texas t-shirt eating a big hunk of meat. I'm going to find this. See if I can put it up on the screen. It's Yeah, here it is. Uh, I'm sorry to do this to you everyone, but there Yeah, they said November, here we come. And it's Tyler Rico in his Texas t-shirt just diving into a big hunk of meat. But what he said about the veganism is honestly worse than if he were a vegan. Apparently he's not a vegan. Good for him. But what he actually said was in a 2022 campaign, and I'm reading again here from Politact where he's denied being a vegan. He's had fun with these allegations, but this is a 2022 speech that he gave in front of the Texas Humane Legislation Network.

[00:11:09]That is a group that according to Politact quote lobbies for humane animal treatment. He said during this speech, reducing meat consumption is the quote moral thing to do and quote necessary to fight climate change. I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. So we are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses. Everyone has to take personal responsibility in this effort.

[00:11:35]So that's Terico in 2022. Now he wants to act like he's a big meat lover. But what he said in 2022 was that he believes it is necessary, it is ethical to reduce meat consumption for the sake of fighting climate change.

[00:11:51]That is pretty clearly representative of an ideology that in a state like Texas concerns people's pocketbooks, concerns people's lifestyles, and it's a lot worse than whether or not is personally a vegan. Now, I would say it's kind of weird to not be a vegan and brag about your campaign being vegan. I feel like that's actually dishonest to the people who are here uh lobbying for humane treatment of animals. But it's also for him running as Teimu Richie Cunningham as a man of of great character juaposed with Ken Paxton who will certainly be attacked already has been attacked as a man of of illreute with all of this personal baggage.

[00:12:32]Telerico can't afford to look like he's misleading people. It's already bad enough that he clearly has these cultural values. Uh and I would say this is an economic value that's out of step with the average Texan. Uh but it's worse actually if he looks like he's being evasive about it because he's also preaching literally he is a seminarian.

[00:12:57]He's also preaching uh about decency and moral character and the like. And so he really can't afford to look like he's dancing around the truth on this issue.

[00:13:05]So little political analysis of the stupid vegan controversy is I think it's actually worse than Republicans are are making it out to be. And Taler Rico is promising to run a campaign on economic populism. And I think Republicans have some really powerful uh weapons figuratively to undermine the Talorico campaign on these cultural questions.

[00:13:26]Don't get me wrong. Uh but if he is in a an economy where the AAA gas price average is over $4 a gallon, uh the president is mired in an unpopular war.

[00:13:37]He's uh unpopular on all kinds of different issues that are going to be attached to Republican candidates like Ken Paxton. Um Republicans will need to have, I think, more creative responses and and less sort of lazy responses than just, hey, this dude's a vegan. Now it's 24 hours into the campaign, but there's a much more serious, dare I say sinister undertone to what Taller Rico really said about meat consumption, to be honest. And here, as if to prove my point, is Senator Ted Cruz, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had a nailbiter with a Betto Oor turned out to not be the champion that Democrats hoped Beetto or would be. But Cruz says take Tarico seriously. I will tell you what makes Terico dangerous and that worries me is he packages it in this very nice ashucks demeanor.

[00:14:29]>> Um, and he sounds like a preacher. He he he he went to to seminary. He has much of what he says. He quotes biblical verses. And what worries me is someone who's not paying attention much to politics might turn on the TV and look at him and say, "Oh, he seems like a nice young man." And and for me, I would rather my wolves come in wolves clothing.

[00:14:54]>> H yeah, I think Ted Cruz is right. This could be a closer race than people realize. Uh I I don't really think that it's ultimately in play. I think it like puts it in play and there will be a lot of money coming into this race. probably would have been easier for Republicans to coast with Cornin who's not a particularly good candidate either to be honest for the reasons that he lost to Paxton. Uh but yes, I think it's it's definitely going to be a race where money has to be spent to attack Telerico at this point. I doubt that he wins, but President Trump is obviously unpopular.

[00:15:25]Who knows what happens with the Iran war? Who knows what happens in the economy? So, uh we'll stay tuned to that. But these cultural issues that really felt like they peaked for the left in 2022ish maybe when Terica was making that uh statement, they're just not going away. Now, California is different, but I wanted to roll this clip of Tommy Styer, billionaire Tommy Styer, who is running for governor, also on an economic populist platform, who went on with Jennifer Welsh over at the I've had it podcast and had this to say when it comes to transports. I'm totally in favor of trans athletes in high school. I I I think when you understand the vulnerability, the stress, the danger of being a trans kid and you understand that almost half of them try to commit suicide.

[00:16:15]>> Yeah.

[00:16:16]>> And then you think we're going to punish those kids. We're going to cut them off from team sports. We're going to cut them off from participating in the community. We're going to cut them off from fun.

[00:16:25]It's like, no, we're not. No, we're not.

[00:16:29]They're more important things than whether you start on your high school basketball team. And that is standing up for people who are under threat of death.

[00:16:39]>> The class dynamics at play in that clip are truly despicable. You have a billionaire politician telling girls who actually do care. Do you think it's a very important thing whether they start on their high school basketball team because maybe they've been grinding since middle school to be a starter and hopefully by the time they're seniors get a scholarship. Not doesn't have to be a D1 scholarship, but a lot of people pay for their college tuition, which is extraordinarily high right now obviously by athletic scholarships. And so yes, it does matter to them if they're starting on their school basketball team. and to tell middle class girls, don't worry about it if one trans kid takes that spot. Um, don't worry about there are more important things than whether you get your teeth knocked out, whether you get concussed. Tommy Star doesn't say that. It's obviously the implication of the policy that he supports. And these debunked ideas uh about the suicidality of people suffering from very real gender dysphoria. Uh those are ideas that have been pedled by the special interest groups promoted by billionaires like Tom Styer. Uh it's just a it's a never- ending cycle here. Now I actually think Tommy Styer and I'm curious how Grant Platner will handle this in Maine.

[00:17:50]I'm curious how Tal Rico is going to handle this in Texas. I think Tom Styer in California, first of all, it's not a huge issue. It probably hurts him with some people, but I think Tommy Styer believes exactly what he just said. I honestly think he believes what he said.

[00:18:01]He's one of a minority of people in this country who believes exactly what he just said. I think Graham Platner also falls into that category. So, if you're one of those people, by all means, probably the best way to mitigate the fallout. It's probably the less bad option for you to just be honest and say, "Listen, maybe people don't agree with me, but this is what I believe. So, I am leaning all in on it." It's actually I make this argument all the time about Republican candidates and abortion. If you actually are very anti-abortion, then you should lean in on it because you believe it is the taking of a human life. Now this is not apples to apples but the point is if you believe what you say you believe then you should of course not try to evade and jump around on it. I am fascinated by how Tyler Rico who now is as of I think a CB recent CBS interview saying of course I know there are two sexes.

[00:18:48]Well, you said that there are more than there are at least six biological sexes not that long ago. So what do you mean of course you know that's true? I'm really fascinated by how Tyler Rico is going to handle questions on this issue because I suspect it's not going to go well for him. And I don't think Republicans have a slam dunk here, but I also think some of uh the the what's it's it's like brat summer right now for Terrio for the next like 48 hours. And as the summer goes on, again, it's going to be a grind for Paxton, don't get me wrong. Uh, but I think some of the the shine is going to wear off Terrico pretty quickly as he has to answer some complicated questions about the policies he believes in. What does it feel like when your clothes actually feel good? Cozy Earth proves what you wear at home matters as much as what you wear out. The outfit that I have been living in lately is the brushed bamboo jogger set. And that's not an understatement. I actually really have been living in the brushed bamboo jogger set lately. It's incredible. Crafted from bamboo viscous, it's breathable and unbelievably soft. The fit is also the perfect balance. It's tapered to look put together, but also relaxed for total comfort. You can complete the vibe with the Lakehouse clogs. I also love these, and I'm also living in these. They have a very cushioned footed and soft interior, so they're supportive for all day wear, but also so cozy that you can kind of forget that you're they're even on. Cozy Earth offers a 30-day return policy and a lifetime warranty on clothing. It is completely hassle-free.

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