President Donald Trump on Thursday once again had Texas on his mind, stumping for state Attorney General Ken Paxton a day after leaked audio added to the awkwardness between the president and a Senate candidate he called a “pain in the ass.”
He used an official White House event to tour a Peterbilt heavy truck plant in Denton to urge North Texas voters to send their embattled state AG to the Senate to replace longtime Sen. John Cornyn — even if Trump once again showed his annoyance with Paxton. Buoyed by Trump’s endorsement, Paxton trounced the former GOP Senate whip in a primary battle earlier this year. Paxton is in a tight general election race with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, whom Trump derisively calls “Tala-freako” and claims as a fringe politician.
“For decades, you were heartlessly betrayed by politicians — lousy politicians who let foreign trade cheaters plunder your wages, loot your factories, close up your jobs, and they robbed our country blind. They’d still be doing it if I wasn’t here, believe me,” Trump said during rally-style remarks at the truck factory. “And they’ll do it again if you don’t get guys like Ken Paxton elected.”
Still, the head of the Republican Party continued his trend of taking a few shots at Paxton — while pleading with those in attendance that the state AG’s election was a necessity.
“When I was being hit by the radical left very hard — harder than very few people could have withstood it, I was being hit — Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody. And I have to always remember that because he could be a pain in the ass sometimes, I’ll be honest,” Trump said before layering on some praise, calling Paxton “the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.”
“We need Ken so badly, and that’s why I’m here,” he added, with two blue big rig trucks parked behind him that he described as “no bullshit.”
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales lists the Texas Senate race as “Lean R.” The Cook Political Report has it in the “Toss Up” column. According to Trump, that and other races are too close because “we can’t get the word out,” something he contends he alone can change by barnstorming the country.
The Texas stop came ahead of a rally slated for later Thursday evening in neighboring Oklahoma for Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Mazzei — though Trump contended he was mostly going to say “thank you” to Oklahomans for his three presidential race wins there. On Friday night, he is slated to hold a rally in Alabama amid the battle there in the new 2nd District pitting GOP state Rep. Rhett Marques against incumbent Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the GOP gubernatorial nominee and frontrunner in Alabama, on Wednesday said he was excited to introduce Trump in the Yellowhammer State.
“He’s going to show support” for Republican candidates “in, probably, 20 to 25 stops in the next five weeks or so,” Tuberville said in a brief interview. “This kind of kicks it off. … He’s done a lot for us.”
Trump’s Thursday comments about Paxton came during the president’s second Texas visit in just a few weeks. During his Sept. 9-10 GOP midterms convention in Dallas, he vowed to return “a lot” before the Nov. 3 midterm elections to try pushing Paxton to victory.
But, notably, he also mocked Paxton on both nights of the party’s midterm shindig last month.
On the convention’s first night, Trump poked fun at the scandal-plagued Paxton as the audience chuckled along.
“He may not dress right, he may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of his party’s Senate race nominee. “But you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”
Trump was back at it during his closing remarks the next night.
“And I said something yesterday, and I don’t know if he’ll ever talk to me again,” Trump said of Paxton. “Perhaps he will. … I said, ‘I don’t like the way Ken dresses.’ Although I also said he looked really sharp in that suit yesterday. I thought spiffy. And then I said, ‘I don’t really like the way Ken talks.’ And then I said something that they really hated. … I said, ‘I don’t really like the way he looks,’” he said, prompting the American Airlines Center crowd to laugh in unison.
The presidential public ribbing had a distinct feel of Trump acknowledging to his Lone Star loyalists that he, too, has reservations about Paxton — but he needs them to vote for him anyway to help Republicans retain their Senate majority.
“But you know what I do like? He was the greatest attorney general in the history of Texas,” he added. “He was the greatest attorney general in the history of our country. … So I don’t know if he’s going to ever speak to me again. … I don’t care as long as he wins.”
‘Dropped our numbers’
In leaked audio first reported Wednesday by The New York Times, Paxton made clear he didn’t much like Trump’s midterms muster — and views the president as an albatross.
“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,” Paxton said in the recorded exchange.
He had been responding to an unnamed person asking him: “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?”
Asked by a reporter as he departed the White House on Thursday about Paxton’s comments and why he was still going to Texas, the president responded: “Well, I’ll tell you why. We have to win this election.”
New polling shows why Paxton might view him as a political anchor.
Thirty-six percent of registered voters surveyed Sept. 25-28 by YouGov and The Economist said they approve of Trump’s job performance, with 62 percent expressing dissatisfaction.
Voters for months have pointed to economic issues like high gas prices as a driver of their low marks for the 45th and 47th chief executive.
Asked to rate the state of the economy, 75 percent of respondents to the same survey called it “fair” or “poor,” compared to 23 percent who said “excellent” or “good.”
Still, Trump on Thursday continued to dismiss such concerns, just over a month until Election Day.
“We’re the hottest country — anywhere in the world,” he told reporters at the White House. “I give us an A-plus on the government, on economics — all of it.”