Trump left the door wide open for midterms with '$100 million' mistake: GOP analyst
As results came in for the Texas GOP Senate primary, CNN analysts weighed in on what the cost will be down the line.
Veteran CNN correspondent Brian Todd said that President Donald Trump's decision to endorse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a "$100 million mistake." Trump chose to endorse Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), whom political pundit Alyssa Farah Griffin described as a "monster fundraiser and big contributor to Senate Republicans."
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper already pointed out that nearly $130 million has been poured into the Texas GOP primary. According to Griffin, if Paxton wins and squares off with Democrat Rep. James Talarico (D-TX), "you may be having to bail out this candidate who has tremendous vulnerabilities."
Todd, meanwhile, said that one of "Paxton's biggest weaknesses is that he's a bad fundraiser." He also said Cornyn's defeat gave Democrats a "theoretical chance" of winning in the midterms, but predicted that Republicans would retain Cornyn's seat, even though doing so could be costly.
Cooper described Talarico as a "phenomenal fundraiser."
Political commentator Van Jones agreed. "Trump has taken a big gamble tonight," but it was "a reckless gamble," he said.
"He's going to wind up flushing $200 million down the drain in Texas to pull this off," Van Jones said.