The Rot Runs Deep In The Texas GOP -- Digby

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2026/06/02/the-rot-runs-deep-in-the-texas-gop/

Excellent discussion on the differences between James Talarico and Paxton.

This is a 6-minute Republican video outlining Ken Paxton's corruption.

Link to tweet

This now "unlisted" YouTube video was repeatedly sent out by the NRSC. It's devastating. pic.twitter.com/hR50HJqq6K
-- PatriotTakes¸ (@patriottakes) May 29, 2026

During this year's Republican Senate primary campaign in Texas, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign distributed one of the most devastating campaign advertisements ever made. This video wasn't an artificial intelligence slop insult fest or a Nixonian ratf**k. It was a recitation of one candidate's long list of crimes, corruption and scandals since 2015 -- six long minutes of one shocking incident after another, all taking place in plain sight, well known to state officials and voters alike.

The ad wasn't about a Democrat or a run-of-the-mill crooked businessman. It was about the state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who would go on to win the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate over the powerful incumbent Sen. John Cornyn on May 26. And Paxton was helped across the finish line by none other than Donald Trump, his spiritual soul brother who offered an enthusiastic endorsement. (The ad has now been "unlisted" on YouTube, but it is still available on X and other social media platforms.)

The age of Trump is rife with corruption and degeneracy, and it's tempting to assume it will come to a close when he finally passes from the scene. But Paxton's primary victory proves that the rot in Republican politics runs much deeper than Trump. That Paxton, with the president's help, could take down someone with the stature of Cornyn, who had once himself served as Texas attorney general, as well as a state Supreme Court justice, shows where the party is headed.

None of this came out of the blue. After all, Ted Cruz, Cornyn's fellow Texan in the Senate, is not exactly what you would call a gentleman statesman. After his election in 2012, Cruz quickly became one of the avatars of the new GOP -- brash, aggressive, intensely ideological and politically extreme. At the time, he was perceived as occupying the party's far-right fringe. Today Cruz is considered the old guard. The new guard is Paxton, a man without ideology, principles or conscience, solely motivated by a will to power. He is the new Republican Party.

. . .