Ken Paxton privately says that Trump’s midterm convention hurt him
For the first time in his life, Ken Paxton may have said something true. No, not his wedding vows. No, not the oath of office he took to represent Texas. No, not when he claimed to believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. And no, not when he was defending himself from accusations of massive heaps upon massive heaps of corruption.
Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas and the Republican/MAGA nominee to become senator of that state, admitted on a hidden audio recording that Donald Trump’s midterm emotional support convention hurt his election chances.
Republicans, I know that you’re worried about the Democrats springing an October surprise on you, but you’re not supposed to create that surprise for them.
I’m sure you recall Trump’s two-day circle jerk in Dallas last month that posed as a political convention. Trump spoke both nights in an arena that contained a lot of empty seats, despite Trump pointing at those seats and telling us how full they were. Some of the more intelligent Republicans, such as Susan Collins, stayed away as if it was a Jeffrey Epstein party being held in a leper colony with musical entertainment provided by Kid Rock.
One of the candidates featured at this midterm convention was Ken Paxton, who was basically required to attend. Last week, during a fundraiser for Paxton, he told a group of donors and lobbyists that the convention had actually hurt his campaign to become the state’s next senator.
Paxton defeated Senator John Cornyn and the Republican primary for the Senate seat, and he is now trailing Democratic nominee James Talerico in every poll. In every. Single. Poll.
During this fundraiser, an audio recording later provided to the New York Times captured Paxton explaining that the convention had hurt him.
The recording, which is muffled at times, captures Paxton being asked, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” The questioner is obviously referring to Donald Trump.
Paxton responds: “So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.” He might as well have said his numbers made a big ploppy splashy sound like a big turd into a toilet. Too much?
The audio of Paxton was shared with The Times by an attendee who recorded him speaking at a private fundraiser in Washington attended by roughly a dozen people. The person, who opposes Paxton’s campaign and provided the recording to The Times, was granted anonymity because Paxton’s remarks were private, and MAGAts are violent lunatics who would probably murder him. Three other people with knowledge of the event confirmed Paxton’s attendance. Two of these people recalled that Paxton had been posed this question, and one recalled his response about the negative consequences of Trump’s convention.
The event was hosted last Thursday by two Republican lobbyists, Susan Hirschmann and Chris Brinson, in a conference room near Capitol Hill.
During the convention, Trump said Paxton “may not dress right, may not talk exactly perfectly and may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen, but you know what, he is — he’s the greatest attorney general in America.”
Gee, I don’t know why Paxton thinks that hurt him. Why didn’t Trump also say he has breath that smells like a burnt diaper full of Indian food? Trump has given higher praise to Kim Jong-un.
Asked about the remarks, Nick Maddux, a senior Paxton adviser, said, “This is more manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist.” Except the Times did not manipulate it, and the story does exist.
Maddux continued, “Our latest poll from the last week has Ken Paxton leading by three points, and every serious pollster will tell you that our numbers have improved since early September. Ken Paxton is going to win this race, and he looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump, including when he comes to Texas this week.”
Sure, you have secret polls no one else can see that have Paxton leading. Why they are so strong for Paxton, they probably have Paxton breathing into a paper bag for an hour.
A new poll by Big Data Poll has Talarico leader Paxton at 43.6% to 39.3%. Other recent polls by Texas Southern University, ReconMR Texas Poll, Emerson College, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, SoCal Strategies, AARP, and N+ Univision each have Talarico leading by one to five points.
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