The Texas GOP Primary Is a Test of the Limits of Far-Right Extremism

Republican politics is described as moving toward more extreme positions, with conservatives split into varying degrees of ideological alignment. Trump loyalty is presented as the main test for whether a Republican is considered MAGA or ultra-MAGA. Texas is portrayed as amplifying these differences, including in the May 26 GOP runoff elections. The most prominent contest is Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging U.S. Senator John Cornyn. The race is framed as becoming less dramatic after Trump endorsed Paxton, despite opposition from much of the Senate Republican Conference and Texas Republican establishment figures. Trump’s stated reason is Cornyn’s late support for Trump’s presidential bid, and polls are said to show Paxton winning by a landslide, strengthening Paxton’s claim that Cornyn was not reliably conservative.

"Since loyalty to Donald Trump has become the true litmus test for conservatism, however, you have to note whether a given Republican is "MAGA" or "ultra-MAGA." All this hairsplitting on what used to be the right end of the spectrum is especially notable in the nation's second-largest state, where everything, including extremism, is just a little bit bigger."

"The highest-profile Lone Star runoff reportedly involves the most expensive non-presidential political race in American history, Attorney General Ken Paxton's challenge to four-term U.S. senator John Cornyn. This megabattle became somewhat anti-climactic on May 20, when the president stabbed Cornyn squarely in the front with an endorsement of Paxton, against the wishes of virtually the entire Senate Republican Conference in Washington and what passes for a Republican Establishment in Texas."

"By his own account on Truth Social, Trump decided to dump Cornyn because he was a bit too tardy in backing the 45th president's bid to become the 47th president, not climbing onboard until the nomination battle was all but over. If that's the reasoning, perhaps he should have been a bit quicker to share that old grievance with the GOP donors who have ponied up about $100 million in what looks like a wasted effort to save Cornyn."

"Polls now show Paxton winning by a landslide, which would have been unimaginable earlier this year. But in any event, the Paxton win will reinforce his claim that an incumbent who boasted of a 99 percent pro-Trump voting record was unreliably conservative - in fact a RINO. And that will be a warning to other Texas Republica"

Read at Intelligencer