Sen. John Cornyn is apparently still miffed that he lost the Texas Republican Senate primary earlier this week to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in part, due to President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The defeated Texas senator made his thoughts known — sort of — on Friday in a cryptic social media post that seemed very similar to a song that the president is fond of quoting at rallies.
Trump has been known to quote “The Snake,” a 1969 hit from soul singer Al Wilson, where a woman is bitten by a snake she previously helped, only to have the animal tell her, “You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.”
Cornyn’s post substituted a scorpion and a frog for the woman and the snake, respectively, but it was basically the same story. He called it “an old, but apt fable,” and credited it to Wikipedia.
Many people on social media assumed that Cornyn was referring to Trump’s decision to endorse Paxton despite ― or, perhaps because of ― a long history of corruption allegations.
Some people wondered why Cornyn was being so cryptic.
Puck reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell said Cornyn’s post reflected what other Republican politicians are saying in private.
Others just called out Cornyn for making the mistake of getting involved with Trump in the first place.
Some questioned the timing of Cornyn’s post …
Will Saletan, who writes for the Bulwark, told Cornyn that he should have learned the lesson in the parable years ago.
“The reason they wrote these fables is so you’d learn them as a child, not when you’re 74,” he responded.