GOP senator unveils 'unusual' move to play 'hardball' against his own party

Sen. John Cornyn spent years voting as President Donald Trump's demanded, cheering the president's speeches, and trying to rename a Texas highway after him. He lost his Senate seat anyway. Now he's done toeing the line for Trump and the Republican Party.

The four-term Texas Republican was ousted in May by Ken Paxton, whom President Donald Trump endorsed at the last minute. Paxton won by 28 points.

Cornyn sat down with Semafor this week and said what he apparently kept quiet through years of courtship.

The contrast with what came before is stark.

Cornyn wrote on X that he had a 99.3 percent voting record with the president and was "proud of what we have accomplished together." He pushed a state bill to rename a Dallas-area highway as Interstate 47 in Trump's honor — an effort he told the Daily Beast "may not make it into my priorities the next seven months." He posed for a widely mocked photo in which he appeared to be reading Trump's ghostwritten book, The Art of the Deal.

None of it was enough.

"The president seems to revel in chaos, which is so different from any other leader that I've ever seen," Cornyn told Semafor recently. "I don't know about you, but I like to minimize the chaos in my life. He just seems to revel in it."

Cornyn also made clear he has no illusions about Trump's reliability. Conversations with the president aren't "particularly useful," he said, "because he can and will change his mind depending on the next person he talks to on the phone."

Cornyn showed his remaining leverage by withholding his vote on Trump's immigration spending bill until the White House agreed to release more than $10 billion in border security reimbursements owed to Texas.

On Trump's decision to back Paxton over him — and spend on the general — Cornyn was dry. "The president picked Paxton, and he's got $350 million dollars," he said. "I think he can spend his money."

After the primary loss, Cornyn posted what he called "an old, but apt fable" — the frog and the scorpion. "The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence," he recited, "to which the scorpion replies: 'I am sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character.'"

And as for taking on his own party, Semafor noted Cornyn was "positioned to play more hardball" in an "unusual" move for him.

“That’s one example I think of what you can do when you have some cards to play," the senator told the publication.