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PoliticsMay 27, 20266 min read
Media figures create chaos on one side while voters peacefully cast ballots on the other.

Texas Voters Chose Paxton on Policy. USA Today Called It Authoritarianism.

USA Today's Paxton opinion skipped Cornyn's gun bill, his 99% Trump voting record, and why Texas conservatives had real policy reasons to choose Paxton.

USA TodaySara PequeñoKen PaxtonJohn CornynTexas Senate2026 MidtermsOpinion Labeled AnalysisMissing ContextFraming AnalysisMedia AccountabilityRepublican PrimaryTrump EndorsementSAVE ActUvalde Gun Bill

The Claim

"Pequeño argues that Paxton's win over Cornyn is evidence that Republicans are too afraid to defy Trump's authoritarian grip on the party, describing the dynamic as "the president's tyranny from the right." Her thesis is that Cornyn lost not because voters preferred Paxton's policy positions but because Republican officeholders are too cowed by Trump to stand up to him."

Our Verdict

Misleading

Opinion writers are entitled to argue. The critique is that her central argument rests on characterizations that substitute loaded rhetoric for evidence, and that the facts she omits systematically dismantle the premise she is arguing. Pequeño's piece omits several. The most important: the specific policy reasons Texas Republican primary voters had to oppose Cornyn that had nothing to do with fear of Trump; the fact that Cornyn voted FOR the SAVE Act, directly contradicting the piece's implied framing of him as a principled moderate; and the documented grassroots opposition to Cornyn that predated Trump's endorsement by years. The "tyranny" and "authoritarian" framing is rhetorical opinion. The missing facts are an accountability issue.

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