Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who lost his re-election bid after President Donald Trump endorsed his GOP primary opponent, confused onlookers Tuesday night after sharing an image online depicting a Senate GOP colleague sitting atop a throne made of human skulls.
“My favorite Senator [Susan] Collins (R-MA) picture,” Cornyn wrote Tuesday evening in a social media post on X, alongside a cartoon depiction of Collins with a fierce look on her face, sitting atop a throne of human skulls in a fiery abyss.
MS NOW columnist Eric Michael Garcia quipped that Cornyn “seems to be enjoying his post-primary life,” while Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker expressed only confusion.
“Unclear if this is a compliment or an insult,” he wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 90,000 followers.
Cornyn was defeated in the Texas GOP primary election last month by Ken Paxton, the Trump-backed state attorney general whose career has been fraught with controversy, which includes a 2023 impeachment trial for alleged bribery and fraud and a controversial plea deal his office offered a Texas attorney accused of “sexually abusing a young boy.”
As to Cornyn’s social media post and bizarre depiction of Collins, countless others continued to express their confusion.
“Weird to post her support for genocide like it's a win,” wrote Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan Robinson in a social media post on X.
And Kyle Kulinski, a prominent left-leaning commentator and podcaster, took a dig at Collins for her support for the One Big Beautiful Bill and its impact on Medicaid enrollment.
“That's all the people she killed from kicking 18 million people off Medicaid,” Kulinski wrote, referencing the pile of human skulls Collins was depicted as sitting atop.
Cornyn, who’s held his Senate seat for nearly 24 years, is set to leave Congress next January.
Are the skulls from women who died because of abortion bans in Republican states after Roe v. Wade was overturned thanks to Susan Collins? https://t.co/9TRdexvoGD
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) June 16, 2026