Donald Trump just handed Texas Democrats the one thing they could not manufacture on their own — a beatable Republican.
Ken Paxton won the Texas Republican Senate primary because Trump endorsed him. That endorsement cost the Republican Party $100 million in the most expensive Senate primary in American history and ended the career of John Cornyn, a mainstream incumbent who would have won reelection without breaking a sweat. In his place: a man under felony indictment for securities fraud, impeached by his own Republican colleagues, and so personally compromised that his own wife filed for divorce on biblical grounds, citing discoveries she said made it impossible to honor God by staying in the marriage.
Trump did that. Deliberately. On purpose. With his whole chest.
This is not a one-time mistake. This is a pattern. Herschel Walker in Georgia 2022 — a Trump loyalty candidate who lost a winnable Senate seat. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania 2022 — another Trump pick who turned a competitive race into a Democratic pickup. The formula is consistent. Trump finds the candidate most personally devoted to him, attaches his brand to them, and dares the electorate to choose loyalty over electability. The electorate keeps choosing electability. Trump keeps running the same play.
In Texas the stakes are higher. Democrats have not won a statewide race since 1994. Cornyn was the wall that was going to hold that streak another six years. Trump tore the wall down himself and put a scandal-soaked attorney general in the breach. James Talarico — a former middle school teacher with a clean record and a compelling story — now has a real race on his hands because Trump needed Paxton more than Republicans needed to hold the seat.
The cruelest part is that Republican voters in Texas did this to themselves. They had a choice between a senator who could win and a senator Trump wanted. They chose Trump.
Walker lost. Oz lost. If Paxton loses in November the only person responsible is the man who made him the nominee. Trump doesn’t just back losers. He manufactures them.