Republican Sen. John Cornyn is seemingly done with his MAGA suck-up project after President Donald Trump handed him a career-ending blow.
The four-term senator said that his quest to rename a Texas highway after Trump “may not make it into my priorities the next seven months.”
Cornyn had been pushing a state bill that would rename a Dallas-area highway as Interstate 47 to represent Trump as the 47th president.
With Cornyn having lost interest, that effort has been picked up by MAGA Texas state Rep. Jared Patterson, he announced online.
Cornyn’s comments come after his brutal primary loss to MAGA firebrand Ken Paxton, whom Trump endorsed at the last minute.
The effort to rename the Texas highway after Trump was just one of Cornyn’s many unsuccessful efforts to curry favor with the president ahead of the nasty primary.
He posted a picture of himself appearing to read Trump’s ghostwritten book, The Art of the Deal, which was widely mocked online. Cornyn also attempted to pander to Trump on MAGA’s signature voting legislation, the doomed SAVE Act, as he became one of its biggest cheerleaders.
Still, after several weeks of uncertainty about the president’s pick, Trump endorsed Paxton just before the runoff election, calling him “someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT.”
At the same time, the president dissed Cornyn as disloyal and complained he “was not supportive of me when times were tough.”
After the 28-point loss, Cornyn vaguely posted what he referred to as “an old, but apt fable,” in what appeared to be a dig at Trump.
“The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: ‘I am sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my character,’” Cornyn recited.
Trump’s endorsement of the state’s scandal-ridden attorney general may backfire, however, as the controversial pick is widely expected to scare off voters and hand leverage to Democrats.
Some polling suggests that Democratic candidate James Talarico would have an easier time beating Paxton in a general election than he would Cornyn.
Paxton has also been plagued by high-profile scandals.
The Texas House impeached him in 2023 over allegations of bribery, abuse of public trust, and obstruction of justice, and his ex-wife, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, divorced him on “biblical grounds” last year.
