Attacks Already Starting in Messy Texas GOP AG Runoff

 
Washington, DC — Yesterday The New York Times covered what is already a nasty runoff between Texas AG Ken Paxton and George P. Bush following Texas’ primary last week. They write, “The race for Texas attorney general is asking Republicans to determine how many indictments and allegations of corruption are too many. The answer may be there is no limit — so long as the candidate has an endorsement from former President Donald J. Trump.”

AG Paxton is known for his scandals and massive legal, ethical and political troubles over the last several years. The Times writes, “Ken Paxton, the Trump-backed attorney general, was indicted and arrested on criminal securities-fraud charges that are still pending. He has faced calls for his resignation after several of his top aides claimed he abused his office by helping a wealthy donor. And he has been serving as the state’s top lawyer while under threat of a possible new indictment, as the F.B.I. investigates the abuse-of-office and bribery accusations.”

It’s clear that AG Paxton will say and do anything to earn and keep the support of President Trump and his base. “Since the 2020 election, Mr. Paxton has made himself among the nation’s foremost Trump defenders, filing an audacious lawsuit with the Supreme Court seeking to delay certification of the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He spoke at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that preceded the attack on the United States Capitol, won an endorsement from Mr. Trump and earned praise from him at the former president’s rally outside Houston. And he has overlooked the fact that, although he has claimed otherwise, the federal abuse-of-power investigation began under Mr. Trump’s F.B.I., not Biden’s.”

But this is not stopping Paxton’s competitor from trying to gain Trump’s support of his own. “Mr. Bush, whose father was savaged as ‘low energy’ by Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, is not conceding Mr. Trump’s support. Last summer he distributed red koozies with a silhouette of himself shaking hands with Mr. Trump and a quote from the former president: ‘This is the only Bush that likes me! This is the Bush that got it right.’”

The attacks within the party have already started. “Mr. Paxton did not take long to attack Mr. Bush as a symbol of the moderate conservative politics that Mr. Trump has all but excised from the Republican Party,” the Times writes. “’What has happened with performance by the Bushes over the last decade, it’s been disappointing,’ Mr. Paxton said Wednesday during an interview on a conservative talk radio show in Lubbock. ‘I think a lot of Republicans have had enough of it. The Bushes have had their chance. It’s time for the dynasty to end.’”

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