Republican Party Internal Fights

Axios reports that President Donald Trump is facing an unusually unified pressure campaign from MAGA activists and pro‑Trump influencers to withhold his expected endorsement of Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ May 26 Republican Senate runoff against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Trump was leaning toward backing Cornyn, whom Senate leaders view as far more electable than the scandal‑plagued Paxton, but MAGA figures including Steve Bannon, Laura Loomer, Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec are flooding X with clips of Cornyn criticizing Trump over Jan. 6 and the Russia probe in an effort aimed primarily at influencing Trump rather than Texas voters. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, NRSC Chair Tim Scott and other GOP leaders are lobbying Trump privately to support Cornyn, warning that a Paxton nomination could hand the seat to Democrat James Talarico and endanger the GOP’s Senate majority. The story also says Trump is using top Republicans’ desire for a Cornyn endorsement as leverage to press them on strict voter‑ID and anti‑transgender provisions, while some senior Republicans suspect parts of the pro‑Paxton social‑media blitz may be paid, a charge Paxton’s camp denies. The clash lays bare the widening rift between MAGA activists and party leadership and shows how Trump’s endorsement calculus is now tightly intertwined with internal policy fights and grassroots anger over his Iran war decision.