REPORT: Trump Planning To Snub GOP Establishment, Endorse MAGA-Aligned Senate Challenger

The MAGA base is already popping champagne at CPAC, framing President Donald Trump’s silence in Texas as a win before a single runoff vote is cast. Activists and insiders say blocking a Trump endorsement of Sen. John Cornyn ahead of May’s GOP primary runoff is a major early victory, and a sign Washington may be bracing for a showdown between Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. The evidence, they argue, is in what hasn’t happened: no major spending push and little polling muscle from Cornyn’s campaign or aligned groups like the NRSC and Senate Leadership Fund’s nonprofit arm, One Nation. “The grassroots stood in the breach and said a resounding ‘NO’ to Cornyn,” Steve Bannon told POLITICO. “Polling and spending indicates that the Republican DC establishment reluctantly c