President Donald Trump has publicly humiliated scandal-laden Senate hopeful Ken Paxton in a series of brutal jabs.
Trump, 80, convened a crisis meeting with his most vulnerable Republican candidates and members in the paved-over Rose Garden on Wednesday evening as the party heads into a grim midterm season.
Paxton, 63, did not appear at the dinner, but Trump had plenty to say about him anyway—just not the sort of sales pitch the Texas attorney general’s Senate campaign is in dire need of. Instead, the looks-obsessed president rattled off a list of what he thinks makes Paxton so hard to like, starting with his appearance.
“Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses. And I say this, it’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it,” Trump said, shrugging his shoulders. “You might not... like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews.”
“But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps,” he continued, glossing over the fact that the attorney general was impeached by the Texas House on bribery and corruption-related charges before being acquitted by the Texas Senate.
“He was one of the best in the entire country. And that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great—or, than anything, frankly.”
A single laugh could be heard from the audience.
It was the third time Trump had raised the issue of Paxton’s likability on Wednesday alone, as he seemingly wrestles with the consequences of his decision to endorse Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn despite Republican concerns that Paxton would be the weaker candidate.
Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the 37-year-old Democratic Senate nominee, is both out-fundraising and narrowly leading Paxton in some polls.
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office, “And you know, we have a guy named Ken Paxton. And some people don’t like the way he dresses, or some people don’t like the way he interviews or talks. But, you know, the one thing about him, he was the best attorney general in this country for the last 10 years or more.”
And in an interview on the Lt. Dan Podcast, Trump once again hailed Paxton as a “phenomenal” attorney general, but without mentioning, “some people don’t like an interview that he’ll do or something.”
Paxton’s campaign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paxton has struggled to explain away his many controversies, including being charged with securities fraud, impeached by the Texas House, and accused by his wife, Angela, of adultery in a high-profile divorce, which is ongoing.
And even though Trump pledged last week that he was “going to help Ken Paxton,” the president’s political operation, MAGA Inc., has refused to throw Paxton a financial lifeline, despite having $400 million-plus on hand.
