Welcome to Trump’s America, The i Paper’s World Insight series presenting the sharpest, deepest thinking on an era-defining shift in history and politics, investigating how Donald Trump and his administration have changed the US and the world – and where we go from here.
Everything, they say, is bigger in Texas. Certainly, Donald Trump could not be placing a larger bet on the Lone Star State in November’s mid-term elections.
Either his actions are those of a Machiavellian political genius, or he’s a reckless fool who is carelessly placing the future of the Republican majority in the Senate in the hands of Texas voters. Whatever the case, thanks to Trump’s intervention last month, Texas is suddenly in play.
Until mid-May, Senator John Cornyn – a fixture on Capitol Hill for the past 23 years – was considered a popular and solid Republican bet for re-election this November. But then, Trump pulled the rug out from under him, deeming Cornyn insufficiently loyal.
Instead, in the state’s Republican primary, the President endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Days after Trump gave Cornyn the thumbs down, loyalists within his Make America Great Again (Maga) voter base did their President’s bidding. After a staggering $130m (£96m) was spent on the most expensive Senate primary in history, Cornyn was cast aside in favour of his scandal-drenched rival.
