President Donald Trump supporters think Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a “toilet bowl” of a politician, according to a new analysis.
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The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell on Saturday released a slew of audio clips from Texas Republican voters who did not mince words when it came to their party’s Senate nominee.
“If that’s the best we can do, does it really even matter?” one Trump voter said. “Like a toilet bowl flushing, we’re going down, down, down.”
This was just one of multiple Trump voters who ticked off a list of problems they have with Paxton, Longwell reported during her interview with Texas Monthly journalist Christopher Hooks.
Those problems included an indictment for securities fraud, efforts to protect convicted felon real estate mogul Nate Paul, Paxton’s lenient plea deal for a man accused of child sex abuse, and his efforts to ban cannabis while accepting campaign cash from the alcohol industry.
“I think he’s a full-blown crook right in line with Trump as far as not being able to tell the truth,” one woman said. “Politicians are very dirty and corrupt.”
“I am so turned off by Ken Paxton,” another said. “I don’t know that I can vote for [state Rep. James] Talarico, who I think is a very attractive guy, you know, a hardworking guy who loves God and country and his family and all that sort of stuff.”
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Added the voter who compared Paxton to a toilet, “He’s getting paid beaucoup bucks to be the sheep or the puppet for the alcohol lobbyists.”
Hooks, the Texas journalist, suggested Texas Republicans might be more likely to vote for Talarico, or not at all, because Paxton has failed to prove his defeat would represent a serious problem for the state.
“What Ken Paxton is telling conservative voters right now is that if the Democrats get in this election, like, the Democrats are going to win forever here, and it’s going to be a blue state and there’s no coming back,” Hooks said. “But I think a lot of Republicans have the sense that if Ken Paxton loses this, it’s because Ken Paxton sucks.”
Texas Republicans ultimately don’t believe Talarico will “permanently derail” their coalition — but they have a lot of quiet concerns that Paxton might, said Hooks.
That’s in part because of Trump, who endorsed Paxton over incumbent Sen. James Cornyn.
“The way Trump got involved at the last minute is something that has left a lot of bad feeling here in private,” Hooks said. “It was my assumption that they were going to work this out eventually. And it just doesn’t seem like they are. And we’re about 45 days away from the start of early voting. They’re kind of running out of time.”
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