Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / 'Things are going SO BADLY' Ken Paxton's 'dumpster fire' Trump-backed campaign is in BIG trouble

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'Things are going SO BADLY' Ken Paxton's 'dumpster fire' Trump-backed campaign is in BIG trouble · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Things are going so badly for embattled Republican nominee for
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Texas Senate, Ken Paxton, that I almost but not quite
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: feel bad for him. He's running a dumpster fire of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a campaign that continues to get worse by the week.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: A second audio tape has leaked. It's been obtained by Politico.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: This guy, Ken Paxton, claims that he has functionally no
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: control over his campaign, something I've never heard of before.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Take a listen.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: It comes down to your messaging, which in a federal
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: race comes from other people a lot of times, which
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: you don't control. So I have a little control over
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: my bucket. That's about it. And my little bit of
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: time that I can go out and get to as
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: many people as I can. But I've never been in
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: a race where I felt less control over the campaign
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: and what issues are going to matter because it's all
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: coming from D.C. and I don't control messaging. or what
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: we're doing, and I don't have the ability to change anything.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: So I have to live with whatever I've got. So
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: it is a challenge.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Who in D.C. is controlling Ken Paxton's losing campaign? Fire them.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: That can't be true. In a statement, the spokesperson for
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Ken Paxton said that he was referring to super PACs
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and how with a super PAC, candidates can't coordinate with
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: super PACs. Ironically, being beholden to D.C. used to be
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: A deal breaker for Paxton, who during the primary said
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the following back in February about his opponent, Texas Senator
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: John Cornyn, quote, his money's coming from the D.C. establishment.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That's how he can afford these commercials. And that's how
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: they always try to convince us from Washington with their
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: money that we should select their person. Well, I'm not
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: their person and I'm never going to be their person.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Boo hoo. Wah wah. Complete liar. Now he's saying he's
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: so much their person, he can't make any of his
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: own decisions. Just in eight months. The comments from Paxton,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: where he claims he has no control over his campaign,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: follow an earlier audio leak obtained by the New York
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Times where Ken Paxton blames Donald Trump and his midterm
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: convention for the drop in his poll numbers. Joining us
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: at the table, political reporter Jake LaHutt. He writes the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: sub stack straight from the hut. What's going on here?
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, what is Ken Paxton's bucket was
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: a question I had. Is it showing up and bailing
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: out of events early when anyone asks a question?
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Is it 245 trips out of the country as a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Texas statewide official?
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: And the Tallarico campaign has been making a lot of
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: hay out of his property portfolio and all that. But
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: I think that, look, I mean, what did Ken Paxton
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: sign up for here? If you're going to get the
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Trump endorsement in a high profile race like this, you know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: you're going to have to follow the shots of Trump World,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: the Senate Leadership Fund when it comes to what John
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Thune wants. So, you know, putting aside the context of
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: that remark, the trend for Republicans in Texas is really notable.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, going into the 20 teens, people on the
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Republican side were winning statewide by almost 60 percent. And
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: now with the Democrats keeps creeping up and up and up.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: The high watermark was Beto in 2018 with about 48
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: percent of the vote. So, you know, Ken Paxton can
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: vent all he wants. He can complain about Citizens United
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: or whatever it may be, but he's really up against it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: And just today, some new ads from that race backed
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: by Trump. It's always complicated with campaign finance stuff, but
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: a super PAC affiliated with the Senate majority for the
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: GOP pulled two-something million dollars of advertisements, and it's a
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: sign of some triaging. That money's got to go to Kansas.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: They're not going to pull out of Texas entirely, but still.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: So they're spending less on Texas.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, marginally less on Texas. There are like 20-something million
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: dollars worth of ads reserved from here until Election Day,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: but something to pay attention to.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: So you never know with Texas polls, right? Like they're
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: kind of reliably unreliable. But the latest polling has Tallarico
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: up six points, which I think is one of the
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: first leads outside the margin of error that he's sustained. Also,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Trump's approval in Texas is almost 40-60, disapproved, 57 disapproved,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: 40% approved. That's the lowest Trump has been in Texas
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: in 10 years.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, he's one of the worst candidates in
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: my adult life following politics.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Like ever for anything.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Ever. And the fact that they're spending the millions of
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: dollars to elect him, that's one thing. The fact that
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: he still has supporters is another. And the fact that he's,
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: you know, blaming Trump.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: D.C.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Consultants. Right. Well, I don't I blame D.C. consultants as
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: well at times. But, you know, this is this is
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: a sign that that he's desperate, that Texas may be winnable, winnable. But, Nicole,
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: I keep I keep sounding like a Debbie Downer. We
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: all we have this wishful thinking that we're going to
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: flip Texas. Yeah. And I and I just don't know
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: about those polls and about, you know, the state of Texas.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Well, it's a real like dignity check for Texas. Like
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: what can you tolerate in the name of conservatism if
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: you're a Bush conservative or a Cornyn conservative? Or Ted
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Cruz conservative. I can't imagine anyone that isn't related to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: him liking him, but I suppose people do if he won.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, what is your sense of what is happening
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: right now in the in the Tallarico-Paxton race?
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, you know, on the polling point, totally
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: taken that, you know, there's been this dream of the
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: blue Texas going cycle after cycle. However, going back to
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: better work, I mean, he only led in a tiny
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: handful of those polls where Tallarico has been leading for
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: a while. So at least directionally on the trend, that's
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: good news for Democrats. When it comes to, you know,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Paxton is a uniquely weak opponent, obviously that helps Tallarico.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: But interestingly, there's been a meme going around about James
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: Tallarico where it basically is like, you know, relax, brother.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: You only need a series of impossible events to all
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: break your way and everything will be fine. And there
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: is this weird element of randomness in Texas. And with
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: this cycle overall, I think we actually have a hard
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: time of interpreting that. you know, in the news media.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: So that's really fascinating to me. But, you know, certainly
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: that $ 2 million we talked about, that goes by like
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: that in Texas, right? That bank for your buck is
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: a lot higher in Kansas. So keep an eye on
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: the money picture. And, you know, for Talrico, does he
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: have some coattails, right? You know, will candidates down ballot
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: benefit from that? But right now, Republicans I'm talking to
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: are panicked, and they're already even looking beyond the midterms,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: looking at maybe 2028 if Texas flips. that kind of
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: narrative might lead some people who would be inclined to
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: jump in the presidential race to say, this could be
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: a doom cycle. I'll take my chances in 2032.
• 6:24
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• 6:26
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• 6:50
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