The Oh-So-Brave Republicans
Let's do a little thought experiment, shall we?
Here's a quote from Senator A in January of 2025:
“Congratulations to President Trump on his historic victory. _____ have made their voices heard and have had enough of Democrats’ failed policies and absent leadership. Faced with higher costs for just about everything, a wide-open southern border, and a lagging economy that doesn’t work for them, the American people are rightly fed up with a Biden-Harris administration that has only made their lives harder, not easier.
“I’m confident President Trump will hit the ground running to restore the Office of the President to what it should be – one that keeps the American people safe and prosperous. It is critically important that the Senate is prepared to enact his pro-growth agenda from day one. Come January, we must be ready to confirm his nominees, pass a budget, address our debt, extend the Trump tax cuts, and reverse Kamala Harris’ disastrous border security policies.
“Over the years, President Trump and I have worked closely together, especially while I served as _____________, on some of his biggest achievements like landmark tax reform and the confirmations of Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. I am looking forward to continuing to serve our nation working hand in glove with him and my Republican colleagues to kickstart his administration and make America great again by making the Senate work again.”
Here's a quote from Senator B in June of 2026:
“There’s never going to be good enough for him, other than 100 percent, you know, slavish adherence to whatever he wants. But obviously that’s not what the senator’s role is supposed to be, especially in terms of checks and balances. If that’s the way friends treat you, you wonder about his enemies…”
…“It’s going to make things harder, certainly more expensive in ______, and make it harder around the country. I don’t say that with any sort of desire for vengeance; I just think that’s the way it’s going to be. He’s going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster.”
*Adds Morpheus meme from The Matrix* What if I told you that Senator A and Senator B were the same person?
Because it's true. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, of all places, has become an outspoken critic of the Republican Party's lord and savior. Since speaking this way back in the summer, Cornyn has gone to great lengths to keep Donald Trump in the crosshairs over the past three months, including landing significant blows in the last week. This past Tuesday, Cornyn made waves by publicly supporting Utah Senator John Curtis' request that the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate Donald Trump Jr.'s excessive wedding gifts given to him by a known Russian oligarch. On Friday, Cornyn joined six other Republican senators in an open letter questioning why Trump extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Miami later this year. It seems as if the fever is breaking with the Republican Party when a sitting Texas Senator is suddenly speaking up and out against the sitting president.
Except for the fact that John Cornyn will be out of a job come January.
Yes, that's right. Cornyn lost his May runoff by a whopping 28 points after Donald Trump swooped in and endorsed his opponent, Ken Paxton, during the final week. Cornyn, who actually won the primary but failed to receive over 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, had openly campaigned as the Trumpiest candidate in the race, going so far as to post a picture of himself on social media reading The Art of the Deal in early March. After he made it to the runoff, he penned an April 8th op-ed in The Washington Times praising Trump's business acumen in dealing with Iran, an op-ed that has aged about as well as Trump himself. In May, he prioritized the pain and suffering of Texas residents by bravely introducing legislation to rename a state highway in Donald Trump's honor. In the end, none of it mattered to Dear Leader. John Cornyn's 15-month public sycophancy could not compete with Ken Paxton being a true ride-or-die Trumper, the only real thing that matters to Donald Trump when he decides whom to bless with his public endorsement. In the land of true Trump believers, only one man can be king. Sorry, John, but you weren't him this time around.
But in losing, John Cornyn finally became free from the shackles and stink of Donald Trump, and decided to actually acknowledge his blatant corruption. Yet it's too little, too late. Cornyn has been a sitting senator since December of 2002. He has been a senator for nearly 6 years while Donald Trump has led the Executive Branch. And for all but the last four months, John Cornyn supported everything Donald Trump did. The Muslim ban. Children being held captive in cages in his own state. The terrible tariffs that have crippled Texas farmers. Rising inflation. Rising costs of diesel. A disastrous war with Iran. The appointment of RFK Jr. and a whole slew of incompetent administrative officials, all of whom were given a yes vote by John Cornyn himself. When Cornyn bragged about voting with Trump over 99% of the time during the primary, what he was saying was that he agreed with what the president was trying to do. It's only now that Cornyn is a lame duck that he can start to backtrack and say, "Well, maybe Donald Trump is doing some questionable things that we, as a party, should look into."
No, Senator.
It doesn't work that way. You don't get to finally do your job for the first time in 25 years simply because you no longer have the looming threat of reelection and the ire of Donald J. Trump. You sold your soul to a conman from Queens. You sold out your constituents to a conman from Queens. Your whole party did. And it's complete and utter bullshit that none of you speak the truth until you know you won't be in office in six months. That's not leadership; that's capitulation. That's bending the knee so that you and your compatriots can get tax breaks time and time again while life for the vast majority of Texans becomes worse and worse. You don't get brownie points for doing the right thing at this point in the game. That's like a championship athlete having taken steroids his entire career, only to stop doing so for his final season. The damage that you helped cause has already been done. You don't get to pretend you haven't been one of Donald Trump's guaranteed votes in the Senate to force his horrific agenda onto the American people. You deeply hurt the people of Texas to help yourself, and no amount of "good" you do between now and January can fix that. You had your chance. What you're doing now is nothing more than performative bullshit.
And everyone can see right through it.
Because it's true. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, of all places, has become an outspoken critic of the Republican Party's lord and savior. Since speaking this way back in the summer, Cornyn has gone to great lengths to keep Donald Trump in the crosshairs over the past three months, including landing significant blows in the last week. This past Tuesday, Cornyn made waves by publicly supporting Utah Senator John Curtis' request that the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate Donald Trump Jr.'s excessive wedding gifts given to him by a known Russian oligarch. On Friday, Cornyn joined six other Republican senators in an open letter questioning why Trump extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin to attend the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Miami later this year. It seems as if the fever is breaking with the Republican Party when a sitting Texas Senator is suddenly speaking up and out against the sitting president.
Except for the fact that John Cornyn will be out of a job come January.
Yes, that's right. Cornyn lost his May runoff by a whopping 28 points after Donald Trump swooped in and endorsed his opponent, Ken Paxton, during the final week. Cornyn, who actually won the primary but failed to receive over 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, had openly campaigned as the Trumpiest candidate in the race, going so far as to post a picture of himself on social media reading The Art of the Deal in early March. After he made it to the runoff, he penned an April 8th op-ed in The Washington Times praising Trump's business acumen in dealing with Iran, an op-ed that has aged about as well as Trump himself. In May, he prioritized the pain and suffering of Texas residents by bravely introducing legislation to rename a state highway in Donald Trump's honor. In the end, none of it mattered to Dear Leader. John Cornyn's 15-month public sycophancy could not compete with Ken Paxton being a true ride-or-die Trumper, the only real thing that matters to Donald Trump when he decides whom to bless with his public endorsement. In the land of true Trump believers, only one man can be king. Sorry, John, but you weren't him this time around.
But in losing, John Cornyn finally became free from the shackles and stink of Donald Trump, and decided to actually acknowledge his blatant corruption. Yet it's too little, too late. Cornyn has been a sitting senator since December of 2002. He has been a senator for nearly 6 years while Donald Trump has led the Executive Branch. And for all but the last four months, John Cornyn supported everything Donald Trump did. The Muslim ban. Children being held captive in cages in his own state. The terrible tariffs that have crippled Texas farmers. Rising inflation. Rising costs of diesel. A disastrous war with Iran. The appointment of RFK Jr. and a whole slew of incompetent administrative officials, all of whom were given a yes vote by John Cornyn himself. When Cornyn bragged about voting with Trump over 99% of the time during the primary, what he was saying was that he agreed with what the president was trying to do. It's only now that Cornyn is a lame duck that he can start to backtrack and say, "Well, maybe Donald Trump is doing some questionable things that we, as a party, should look into."
No, Senator.
It doesn't work that way. You don't get to finally do your job for the first time in 25 years simply because you no longer have the looming threat of reelection and the ire of Donald J. Trump. You sold your soul to a conman from Queens. You sold out your constituents to a conman from Queens. Your whole party did. And it's complete and utter bullshit that none of you speak the truth until you know you won't be in office in six months. That's not leadership; that's capitulation. That's bending the knee so that you and your compatriots can get tax breaks time and time again while life for the vast majority of Texans becomes worse and worse. You don't get brownie points for doing the right thing at this point in the game. That's like a championship athlete having taken steroids his entire career, only to stop doing so for his final season. The damage that you helped cause has already been done. You don't get to pretend you haven't been one of Donald Trump's guaranteed votes in the Senate to force his horrific agenda onto the American people. You deeply hurt the people of Texas to help yourself, and no amount of "good" you do between now and January can fix that. You had your chance. What you're doing now is nothing more than performative bullshit.
And everyone can see right through it.