The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has a message for President Donald Trump: take responsibility if Republicans do badly on November 3, and stop blaming others.
In an editorial titled “All the President’s Election Excuses,” the board said “you can tell the election campaign isn’t going well for Republicans because President Trump is already blaming others if things go as badly for the GOP on Nov. 3 as most expect.” His latest target is a pair of Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and Karl Rove.
“If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The board says he offered no evidence that they’re “doing everything possible to make it hard for Ken Paxton.”
The board called that logic backwards: “This is like blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion.” The board noted Trump helped Paxton defeat Cornyn in the GOP primary with a last-minute endorsement, and that Senate GOP leaders, including campaign chair Tim Scott, “warned Mr. Trump for months that siding with Mr. Paxton would put the seat in jeopardy. And so it has.”
The board argued Paxton won the endorsement with what Trump most values: “slavish devotion.” Cornyn, it said, “has too much self-respect to become a political toady,” and Trump “won’t forgive Mr. Rove for being right” about Paxton’s liabilities.
Additionally, Democrat James Talarico “hides his hard left views behind a soft exterior,” said the board, but traditional Republicans are telling pollsters they may sit out the race after Paxton’s 2023 impeachment by the Texas House. Because Paxton struggles to raise money, Republicans are pouring hundreds of millions into Texas, money that could help other Senate races.
“The bottom line is that if Mr. Paxton loses, Mr. Trump will own the defeat,” the board wrote.
Trump is trying other excuses, too, noted the board. For instance, he blames Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for not killing the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, though the board says “Mr. Trump knows there aren’t 50 Senate votes to do that.” He also blames Ukraine’s bombing of Russian energy sites for high diesel prices, “though the main reason is the war in the Middle East.”
“If it’s a Democratic rout, man up, Mr. President, and take political responsibility,” the board concluded.
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