In one of the funnier moments to come out of the Texas primary race for the US Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn, particularly the Republican primary battle between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who has since tried running for the seat and lost handily.
That came during the summer of 2025, when Rep. Crockett insisted that Sen. Cornyn is a “real Republican” who is just trying to pretend to be a MAGA Republican so that he can try to stave off AG Paxton and keep his seat. She, in effect, endorsed him as being a “real Republican” and tried to shame him into not adopting MAGA talking points.
Such came when Rep. Crockett appeared on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” and explained that really she doesn’t “hate” Sen. Cornyn because he is a “real Republican”, rather than a MAG Republican. She began, “Now listen, I’m about to tell all of MSNBC a secret. I actually don’t hate Senator Cornyn at all.”
Continuing, she noted that Cornyn was just adopting the MAGA framing of issues as a way of trying to fend off the primary challenge and holding onto his Senate seat, a classic RINO tactic, saying, “And right now, what we have is a Senator who actually is a real Republican who’s doing everything that he can to make it seem like he’s a MAGA Republican so that he can get through his primary.”
Still not done, Rep. Crockett insisted that Cornyn was much more willing to work with Democrats than Sen. Ted Cruz, who many in MAGA already find too moderate and Establishment-friendly. She said, “But Senator Cornyn, this is not him. This is somebody that sat on our Supreme Court in the state of Texas. This is somebody who typically works in a very bipartisan way, unlike Senator Cruz.”
Returning to her point that Sen. Cornyn was just trying to win over the MAGA base by sounding more MAGA-friendly and MAGA-minded than he really is, Rep. Crockett then told the MSNBC host, “This is somebody who is literally doing everything that he can to hopefully get some of that MAGA base.”
Watch her here:
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Noting that Crockett wasn’t necessarily incorrect, one commenter on X said, “Cornyn’s record proves Crockett right. He voted for Biden’s gun control, backed omnibus spending that funded open borders, and partnered with Democrats to block Trump-era enforcement. Texas border agents begged for wall funding and deportation authority—Cornyn sent press releases while voting with Schumer.”
That commenter then added, “His 2025 omnibus deal preserved Biden’s catch-and-release, directly undermining DPS and sheriffs. Crockett’s admission exposes the con: Cornyn’s “MAGA” act is theater. Real Texas leadership doesn’t fake allegiance—it delivers.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video