Fox News host and former congressman Trey Gowdy is being raked over the coals by conservatives after he sat down for an interview with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) just before his big primary loss to Attorney General Ken Paxton, where the two seemingly tried to convince viewers watching the program to vote against Trump-endorsed Paxton in the primary for Cornyn’s Senate seat.
During the segment, Cornyn, who many consider to be a Republican In Name Only (RINO), slammed Paxton as being a “flawed” candidate before going on to toot his own horn about having won the seat he now occupies by a total of 10 points during the 2020 election. “Well, I think I can help maintain the Senate seat in Republican hands,” Cornyn told Gowdy.
“I won in 2020 by 10 points. Ken Paxton, as you know, is a flawed candidate. He’s got scandals that follow him everywhere,” Cornyn continued. The Texas Republican is referring to criminal charges that were brought against Paxton, along with several allegations of infidelity. Just a few short months after he took office in 2015, Paxton was indicted on felony securities fraud charges and was accused of misleading investors.
Had he been convicted, he would have faced a potential sentence of decades in prison. The case, according to a report from CNN, dragged on for almost ten years before a pretrial agreement was reached in March 2024, which required Paxton to do community service and pay restitution. A second civil case based on similar accusations was brought against him, but that one was tossed out. Paxton has denied all charges, saying they are politically motivated.
Continuing to speak on Paxton, Cornyn said, “He survived so far, but if James Talarico, who raised $26-27 million in the first quarter of this year alone, if he gets the chance to litigate all of these issues in the general election, when there’s not just Republicans voting, I think that the seat is very much at risk.” Cornyn also said that these allegations against Paxton could lead to major congressional losses down the ballot as well.
“I do think also down ballot, as you know, I served as a judge, attorney general, down ballot races, and I think Paxton could not only might not only lose the Senate seat but be the reason why we lose congressional seats by new congressional districts are judicial candidates in a lot of local and state legislative races, so this really isn’t just about me,” Cornyn told Gowdy.
“This is about the Republican Party. This is about the state of Texas, and what we built here, and I don’t want to see it slipping through our fingers because of a flawed nominee,” he concluded. A user on social media platform X commented on the interview saying, “RINO talking with a RINO working for Fox News.” Another individual wrote, “All the libtards running to support RINO Cornyn tells you everything you need to know about him.”
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Someone else took an opportunity in the comment section to make it clear to everyone on the left that true, diehard conservatives and MAGA supporters would not support Cornyn. “Liberals and Democrats…read this…We are not supporting Cornyn. He is a RINO. By all means, rally around this loser,” the individual said. User Angie Pratt summed up the overall sentiment of conservatives by stating, “Cornyn is a deeply flawed RINO who has lost sight of his voters.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video