The GOP has already seen its fair share of crazy exes trying to claim the party for themselves, but outgoing Texas Sen. John Cornyn is angling for a hall of fame jacket in the category.
Cornyn lost his Senate primary to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the May runoff. President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton shortly before Election Day. That should have been the end of it. Instead, Cornyn has spent the weeks since acting like the classic toxic ex who cannot accept rejection.
In an exclusive interview Monday with Semafor, Cornyn showed he’s handling his breakup with Texas voters poorly. He told the outlet that Trump “revels in chaos,” despite having spent his failed campaign desperately seeking the president’s endorsement. He admitted to withholding support for Paxton in Texas and, using his remaining Senate leverage, acted like a woman scorned, saying he believes he still has “some cards to play.” (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
Cornyn said he isn’t sure Paxton can win in the general election and has decided he won’t be sending him any money to help keep the must-win Texas Senate seat red against Democratic candidate James Talarico. Instead, he jabs Trump, clearly still bitter about not being endorsed.
“The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million dollars. I think he can spend his money,” Cornyn told Semafor. “I’m going to try to help in other places.”
“I don’t know how Paxton raises the money he’s going to need to run against Talarico — who’s got unlimited resources — in the next four and a half months,” Cornyn said. “And while Talarico is definitely a weirdo, you know, take your pick.”
New – John Cornyn, unplugged and unleashed in interview w Semafor
– – Says Trump “seems to revel in chaos”: Conversations with Trump aren’t “particularly useful because he can and will change his mind depending on the next person he talks to on the phone
– Is hosting a…
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 22, 2026
Cornyn is the perfect pathetic example of taking his ball and going home. He’d rather see Paxton run a tight race, giving Democrats hope of flipping the state, than ensuring Texans are protected from a far-left radical. This is textbook toxic-ex conduct. The relationship ended because the voters moved on. Rather than accept the new reality, the rejected party frames every action as principled while pursuing personal payback against his former love. He believes it’s right and just to badmouth and withhold resources if it means the voters suffer for not picking him.
Cornyn saved his sharpest lines for Trump, which isn’t shocking if you know his history with the president. Cornyn was never “pro-Trump” or “MAGA.” He aligns with the old wing of the Republican party, which voters have been working to get out of Congress since Trump rode down those golden escalators in 2015.
“The president seems to revel in chaos, which is so different from any other leader that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know about you, but I like to minimize the chaos in my life,” Cornyn said. “He just seems to revel in it. We’ve seen even recent evidence of it on the DNI.”
“The question is, will [Trump] listen?” Cornyn said.
“Hopefully we can all get on the same page,” Cornyn added. “Right now, we’re not in a great place.”
Would be more effective in talking Trump down if it comes from rank-and-file, not leadership or YOLO caucus
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 23, 2026
Cornyn seems primed to help continue holding Trump’s nomination hostage, telling Semafor that Trump is “due a little deference on his Cabinet.” The idea that a voter mandate should dictate nominations is a foreign concept to Cornyn, which is why he’s demanding Trump bend the knee.
There are 51 nominations pending on the Senate’s Executive Calendar, despite Republicans holding the majority. This doesn’t count the two open Cabinet positions (attorney general and Director of National Intelligence) that haven’t made it to the calendar yet.
Cornyn is not alone. He is part of a recognizable pattern among former and outgoing GOP officials who treat Trump’s power as a personal betrayal rather than a voter mandate. Mitt Romney has spent years casting Trump as temperamentally unfit to hold office. Mike Pence broke with Trump over January 6 and has never fully moved on. Retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis has similarly used his remaining power to resist specific voter-backed priorities, framing the resistance as proof of his so-called “principles.”
I think it’s pretty easy to see now why Cornyn lost his primary race. He is simply out of step with the Republican base. https://t.co/IYIk3oqZWv
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) June 23, 2026
What they view as “principled conservatism” voters see as the establishment Republican Party’s response to repeated electoral rejection. When the base chooses America First-aligned candidates in primaries, the old guard’s response is rarely gracious enough to admit that “the voters have spoken.” Instead, it is a steady drip of commentary on chaos and pearl-clutching about how this is a “departure from norms.”
It exposes what voters sensed was true all along: Cornyn, Romney, Pence, Tillis, and others like them view Americans who voted against their version of the GOP as something lesser than them. The establishment believes American voters are too dumb to know what’s good for them. (RELATED: JD Vance’s Stock Goes Up As Iran War Winds Down)
In Cornyn’s case, GOP voters made their choice. But he is either unwilling or unable to accept the reality that the voters are just not that into him.
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