The Texas Republican party, like the national party, is run by Republicans In Name Only (RINOs). The Lone Star State is giving us hope of knocking some out.
For decades, the RINOs running the GOP have worked to ensure their type of candidate is the “choice” for the voter. See Charlie Crist (Republican to “Independent” to Democrat-FL) or Arlen Specter (Democrat to RINO to Democrat-PA). Both men share two features. One, they were despised by the GOP base. Two, they were well funded by the Republican party establishment and donor class.
I haven’t donated a dime to the RNC or the RNSC in over a decade. I make donations directly to candidates I support so I’m not supporting the RINOs the party hierarchy promotes. The Republican National Senatorial Committee’s stated purpose “is as the only national organization solely devoted to strengthening the Republican Senate Majority and electing Republicans to the United States Senate.” You would think they would not waste resources on losing candidates, and back winning ones. You would be mistaken.
Texas’s senior senator is John Cornyn, a 24-year veteran of the upper house. As red as Texas is, you would believe he represents the views of his constituents. No, he does not. He is a long-time backer of Mitch McConnel and the other moderates in the Senate (rumor is he was the Turtle’s choice to replace him). For the first time in his professional career, he is facing a serious opponent in the primary, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. And the RINO class is worried. From Politico:
‘Money being burned’: Donors fret over Cornyn primary as Trump sits back
Privately, Republican donors fret that a three-way primary for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat is burning cash – and wish President Donald Trump would douse the flames.
The hundreds of donors gathered in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm retreat on Saturday heard President Donald Trump’s political team outline how they plan to win the midterms.
While no one at the Breakers resort publicly complained about Trump’s refusal to endorse Sen. John Cornyn, privately donors are furious, discussing over cocktail hour a looming and seemingly avoidable debacle, according to three people who attended the events.
One of those donors, who like others interviewed was granted anonymity to discuss the gathering candidly, said an off-cycle election “was always going to be complicated, but this three-way primary is a self-inflicted wound.”
Nervous donors watching a formerly safe Republican seat and high-profile special elections lost to insurgent Democrats fretted that Texas could also suddenly become unnecessarily competitive – and even more expensive for them – if Cornyn’s primary challengers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or Rep. Wesley Hunt, force a runoff. Those establishment GOP donors gathered at the Breakers were largely aligned behind Cornyn and want to pull Trump into that, thinking he can clear the field, despite the president keeping the incumbent twisting in the wind…
Yes, the “establishment GOP donors” are aligned with Cornyn and want Trump to do the same. Why would the president do that? Cornyn despises Trump, famously mocked the idea of a border wall. “The idea of just building the wall obviously … would not have done the job, I’ve said a million times in order to secure the border we need infrastructure, we need technology and we need boots on the ground.” In 2024 he also said Trump should drop out of the race, that his time has passed and the Republican party needed to look to another leader.
Right as usual John. If you want a good laugh, see the Cornyn campaign website. You would swear he put Trump’s name into nomination at the 2016 convention.
Late in 2025, after Congressman Wesley Hunt entered the race, the initial polling showed Paxton in first place, Hunt in second, and Cornyn in a very close third. For a four-term incumbent to be losing a primary like that shows what a week candidate he is. As it stands right now, there are only push polls being put out. Forgive me if I don’t believe polls with a sampling of 600 people in a state of 31 million, and over 18 million registered voters. These “polls” show the race tightening, with Cornyn now just 5 points behind Paxton and Hunt in a distant third. Right.
Paxton is a lifelong conservative, and unlike Mr. Hunt (who I do respect for his views and service), has won a statewide election multiple times. He was elected as the state Attorney General in 2014, 2018, and 2022. In the 2022 primary, after a trumped-up (pardon the pun) impeachment, Paxton was challenged by the GOP establishment’s candidate, George P. Bush (son of JEB!, nephew of W). He defeated P. 68% to 32%, then defeated the Democrat nominee by 53% to 43%.
Trump has wisely stayed out of the primary, saying all three would make good candidates. But I believe he will not shed a tear if John Cornyn is a lame duck come the May 26th runoff. A major issue will come this fall. I (like millions of Republicans) will be inundated with emails/texts/phone calls begging for money from the GOP campaign committees. They will plead poverty, and it is relatively true.
If they had not wasted money trying to get their candidate nominated, it they had let the voters of the states choose their nominees, the committees would have millions to support getting Republicans elected. Back to Texas, reportedly the RNSC and many large donors have dumped over 100 million into Cornyn’s campaign. I think it’s rearranging chairs on the Titanic at this moment. One RINO on the way out, God willing, soon. A start.
Where do we go from here? One, Trump and his people must purge the GOP bureaucracy of the RINOs in the leadership. As long as they are only concerned with getting moderates nominated in the states, we will always loose elections. You give the voter a choice of an open Democrat and a Democrat like, the open one will win.
Two, voters, DO NOT send a dime to the national committees until they get their heads straight. Send donations directly to the candidates you support (suggest you mail a money order anonymously; you don’t want all the texts or emails). Get them where it hurts, the bank account. Democrats have billionaires and Hollywood funding them. The Republicans have more American middle class with smaller donations. Voters, make your money heard.
Three, invoke the term limits we already have, primary elections. Republicans from the grass roots must recruit candidates for all offices to run against the entrenched members of the party elite. Ted Cruz came from nowhere and defeated the sitting lieutenant governor to win a senate seat. Same with Marco Rubio. Defeating the establishment requires knocking them out of nomination. Hopefully we see more Cruz’s and Rubio’s rising in the future to knock out the dead wood in DC.
It’s time for the GOP establishment to have a reformation. They need to understand they work for the Republican voters, not the two party system or themselves. And it looks like my adopted home of the Lone Star State is leading the way.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA