GOP campaign chief says Ken Paxton ‘just wrong’ to ding Trump

It’s a strange thing when a sitting Texas official looks a gift horse in the mouth and decides it’s a mule. Ken Paxton’s claim that President Trump’s September visit was a drag on his campaign doesn’t just ignore the rally’s energy—it ignores basic math. The runoff against a stiff like George P. Bush was always going to come down to who could turn out the base, and an internal squabble over the President’s coattails is a gift to the other side. Tim Scott’s response wasn’t just polite; it was the only sane read of the room.

Paxton’s team seems to think they can win by distancing themselves from the man who defines the current Republican coalition. That’s a losing strategy, and frankly, it’s an insult to the voters who packed that convention center. The truth is, Trump’s endorsement is still the biggest single asset in any GOP primary. When you have the President of the United States willing to fly into your state and put his name behind you, you say thank you, and you get to work. Nitpicking the size of the bounce is how you end up with a primary fight that bleeds into November.

We’d suggest Paxton’s camp re-read the coverage from that day. The crowd wasn’t there for the usual politician’s platitudes; they were there to see the standard-bearer. If the final count comes down to a few thousand votes, the energy from that rally could be the difference. Discounting that support is a strategic error, and Scott was right to call it out. There’s room for internal debate in this party, but not when the criticism is factually shaky and politically self-defeating. You don’t bite the hand that feeds the base.