On Thursday, outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) let Donald Trump know in no uncertain terms that his second term is about to become a nightmare, and he has no one to blame but himself.
In an interview with the New York Times, Cornyn, stung by Trump’s endorsement of scandal-plagued Ken Paxton in his primary loss, predicted the November midterm elections would be a “disaster” for Republicans. He attributed the coming catastrophe to Trump’s miscalculation in driving away critics within his own party.
Responding to Trump’s claim that Cornyn would “remain my friend for a long time to come” despite the president’s interference, Cornyn delivered a sharp retort: “If that’s the way friends treat you, you wonder about his enemies.”
The defeated senator told the Times he has come to terms with his loss, which he attributed in part to voter disillusionment with extreme partisan politics and depressed turnout. But his defeat has freed him from political constraints, giving him newfound leverage alongside other Senate Republicans who either lost primaries at Trump’s behest or chose not to seek reelection.
“I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months,” Cornyn said.
Now armed with political freedom, Cornyn is making clear he intends to use it. “It does give some of us a little more freedom, and certainly leverage,” he said, invoking Trump’s contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year. “As the president told President Zelensky when he was in his office a year or so ago—he said, ‘You don’t have any cards.’ Well, we’ve got some cards to play.”
“If he would do that to me, he would do that to anybody. 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,” he told The Times.
The Texas Republican predicted Trump will come to regret his actions—not out of vengeful desire, but due to inevitable political consequences. “It’s going to make things harder, certainly more expensive in Texas, 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.”
“I am going to continue to look for opportunities to make this next seven months as productive as possible. I’ve always said that former senators look happier, healthier, and they’re certainly more prosperous. So, I’m kind of, like, looking forward to what comes next,” he admitted.
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