INSIGHTS FROM A SENATE INSIDER
— An open letter to Texas GOP primary voters re the Cornyn/Paxton/Hunt Donnybrook —
If you’ve watched a confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court Justice, you’ve seen the row of lawyers sitting behind the Senators to furnish research, recommend questions, pass notes, and whisper advice in their ears.
I was one of those people for years. It’s the best job I ever had! I enjoyed it more than blowing things up with my Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s 25mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun when I was in the Army.
After working on the Bush-Cheney Recount Team & serving the Bush Admin. at the Dept. of Labor (under Secretary Chao & Solicitor Scalia), I worked on Capitol Hill for a decade.
Before I worked for several Texas Congressmen plus Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry, I was a Counsel to the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
That means I sat behind the Republican Senators, including John Cornyn, during the Bush-Obama era.
I had a front row seat for Cornyn’s legislative priorities. Needless to say, I was not surprised when, years later, Trump used social media to: (1) describe Cornyn as a “RINO,” (2) nickname Cornyn “The Stiff,” (3) ask whether Cornyn was worse than Mitt Romney (seriously, that happened), and (4) predict Cornyn would lose the 2026 primary if he inexplicably sought a fifth six-year term (folks, that’s 30 years).
And I sometimes had a back stage pass for the policy positions Cornyn advocated when he huddled behind closed doors with other Senators (e.g., in the anteroom or a “secret hideaway”).
(FYI. I was no longer on the committee staff by the time Ted Cruz became a Senator in 2013. However, I did donate to Ted’s campaign to succeed Greg Abbott as Texas AG (after KBH pledged to resign to primary Gov. Rick Perry), voted for Ted in 2012, and was a Louie Gohmert staffer when I celebrated Ted’s victory at his Election Night Party in Harris County.)
Texas GOP primary voters deserve to know my ex-boss — Rockefeller Republican Arlen Specter — was delighted when he discovered Cornyn was a moderate like Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH).
You also deserve to know my other ex-boss — immigration hardliner Jeff Sessions — was disappointed when he discovered Cornyn was NOT a conservative cut from the same bolt of cloth as his predecessor, Phil Gramm.
(Gramm was my wife’s boss long before @dalytweet earned @CPAC’s Ronald Reagan Award & served the Trump 2016 campaign as an authorized media surrogate.)
Would YOU like to know WHY Senate GOP leaders (such as McConnell protege Cornyn) voted to put Thom Tillis on the Judiciary Committee in December 2014?
WHY they did that even though Tillis isn’t a lawyer &!even though it wasn’t on the short list of committee assignments Tillis requested?
I bet @realDonaldTrump would like to know since that fateful decision a decade ago is why Tillis is now in a position to veto @POTUS’s nominations of courageous MAGA conservatives such as @EagleEdMartin.
(Thank God @HarmeetKDhillon was confirmed as AAG for @CivilRights before Trump supporters drove Tillis to retire rather than face the wrath of North Carolina’s GOP primary voters.)
The answer is this. Pro-amnesty Tillis was put on Judiciary to help amnesty champions Cornyn, Graham & Flake cancel out the votes of amnesty opponents Sessions, Lee, Cruz & Vitter.
Speaking of cancelling out the votes of conservatives, I am one of the very few people who has personally eyeballed every single roll call vote cast by Cornyn from 2003 to 2025.
Try these real statistics on for size …
In the 2023-2024 session, Cornyn cancelled out the vote of @VP/@JDVance a whopping one hundred nine times (109x)!
In 2023-2024 alone, Cornyn cancelled out the vote of fellow Texas Senator @tedcruz one hundred two times (102x).
Part 1 of 2 … continued
Please like & share if you think others will deem this information beneficial.
Follow @realMAGAmartyr if you’re a politico who appreciates inside baseball.
— An open letter to Texas GOP primary voters re the Cornyn/Paxton/Hunt Donnybrook —
If you’ve watched a confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court Justice, you’ve seen the row of lawyers sitting behind the Senators to furnish research, recommend questions, pass notes, and whisper advice in their ears.
I was one of those people for years. It’s the best job I ever had! I enjoyed it more than blowing things up with my Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s 25mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun when I was in the Army.
After working on the Bush-Cheney Recount Team & serving the Bush Admin. at the Dept. of Labor (under Secretary Chao & Solicitor Scalia), I worked on Capitol Hill for a decade.
Before I worked for several Texas Congressmen plus Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry, I was a Counsel to the Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
That means I sat behind the Republican Senators, including John Cornyn, during the Bush-Obama era.
I had a front row seat for Cornyn’s legislative priorities. Needless to say, I was not surprised when, years later, Trump used social media to: (1) describe Cornyn as a “RINO,” (2) nickname Cornyn “The Stiff,” (3) ask whether Cornyn was worse than Mitt Romney (seriously, that happened), and (4) predict Cornyn would lose the 2026 primary if he inexplicably sought a fifth six-year term (folks, that’s 30 years).
And I sometimes had a back stage pass for the policy positions Cornyn advocated when he huddled behind closed doors with other Senators (e.g., in the anteroom or a “secret hideaway”).
(FYI. I was no longer on the committee staff by the time Ted Cruz became a Senator in 2013. However, I did donate to Ted’s campaign to succeed Greg Abbott as Texas AG (after KBH pledged to resign to primary Gov. Rick Perry), voted for Ted in 2012, and was a Louie Gohmert staffer when I celebrated Ted’s victory at his Election Night Party in Harris County.)
Texas GOP primary voters deserve to know my ex-boss — Rockefeller Republican Arlen Specter — was delighted when he discovered Cornyn was a moderate like Kay Bailey Hutchison (KBH).
You also deserve to know my other ex-boss — immigration hardliner Jeff Sessions — was disappointed when he discovered Cornyn was NOT a conservative cut from the same bolt of cloth as his predecessor, Phil Gramm.
(Gramm was my wife’s boss long before @dalytweet earned @CPAC’s Ronald Reagan Award & served the Trump 2016 campaign as an authorized media surrogate.)
Would YOU like to know WHY Senate GOP leaders (such as McConnell protege Cornyn) voted to put Thom Tillis on the Judiciary Committee in December 2014?
WHY they did that even though Tillis isn’t a lawyer &!even though it wasn’t on the short list of committee assignments Tillis requested?
I bet @realDonaldTrump would like to know since that fateful decision a decade ago is why Tillis is now in a position to veto @POTUS’s nominations of courageous MAGA conservatives such as @EagleEdMartin.
(Thank God @HarmeetKDhillon was confirmed as AAG for @CivilRights before Trump supporters drove Tillis to retire rather than face the wrath of North Carolina’s GOP primary voters.)
The answer is this. Pro-amnesty Tillis was put on Judiciary to help amnesty champions Cornyn, Graham & Flake cancel out the votes of amnesty opponents Sessions, Lee, Cruz & Vitter.
Speaking of cancelling out the votes of conservatives, I am one of the very few people who has personally eyeballed every single roll call vote cast by Cornyn from 2003 to 2025.
Try these real statistics on for size …
In the 2023-2024 session, Cornyn cancelled out the vote of @VP/@JDVance a whopping one hundred nine times (109x)!
In 2023-2024 alone, Cornyn cancelled out the vote of fellow Texas Senator @tedcruz one hundred two times (102x).
Part 1 of 2 … continued
Please like & share if you think others will deem this information beneficial.
Follow @realMAGAmartyr if you’re a politico who appreciates inside baseball.
INSIGHTS FROM A SENATE INSIDER
— An open letter re the Cornyn/Paxton/Hunt Donnybrook —
Part 2 of 2
Relying upon VoteView .com (a project of the UCLA Poli-Sci Dept.), through mid-July 2025 the GOP Senators below have the following lifetime “Ideology Score” (defined as “more conservative than ___% of fellow Republican Senators):
92% JD Vance
91% Ted Cruz
90% Phil Gramm
87% Rick Scott
80% Marco Rubio
60% John Cornyn
54% Mitch McConnell
51% John McCain
50% John Thune
Cornyn’s floor votes were scored “more conservative” than those of ONLY 42% of his fellow GOP Senators in his 4th term, 55% in his 3rd term, 67% in his 2nd term, and 75% in his 1st term.
Translation: the longer Cornyn’s in DC, the more liberal his voting record gets.
The @Heritage_Action scorecard lifetime rating (which incl. points for bill co-sponsorships) is also instructive:
96% Jim Banks
96% Ted Budd
95% Mike Lee
95% Rick Scott
93% JD Vance
92% Ted Cruz
92% Eric Schmitt
91% Josh Hawley
90% Rand Paul
83% Ron Johnson
82% Marco Rubio
81% Jeff Sessions
77% John Kennedy
64% John Cornyn
62% Bill Cassidy
62% John Thune
60% John McCain
59% Mitch McConnell
59% Thom Tillis
47% Mitt Romney
34% Lisa Murkowski
24% Susan Collins
A family member in Texas asked me for insights about who’s who and what’s what. I wasn’t planning to make any public observations about this internecine fight for the soul of the GOP in the Lone Star state.
But I feel obligated to do so after watching, from the sidelines, the pro-Cornyn camp spend approximately seventy million dollars:
(1) claiming Cornyn is a hard charging MAGA conservative — to the right of @VP/@JDVance & @tedcruz! — who voted with Trump 99.2% of the time;
(2) smearing Paxton with vile ad hominem insults concerning a family matter,
repeating false & defamatory accusations hurled by lawfare perpetrators,
claiming Paxton is secretly a liberal who exercises discretion to forward taxpayer funds to woke, leftist, pro-DEI orgs
(I dare you to read that again w/o shaking your head in disgust & disbelief;
(3) criticizing Hunt for missing important floor votes in the House.
Regarding #1, I suppose one could isolate the inevitably modest number of “Statements of Administration Policy” issued by the Trump 45 White House (and pretend @realDonaldTrump’s position on all other legislation and votes is unknown even if his view is well known or expressed in a social media post).
If that measuring stick were meaningful, more than 95% of Senate Republicans “voted with @POTUS more than 99% of the time.” Manifestly absurd seems too charitable a phrase to describe a claim so brazen in its distortion & deception.
Regarding #2, the notion the GOP should create a new litmus test based upon the happenstance of a candidate’s marital or relationship status is a terrible idea.
It’s obviously a self-serving contrivance if the proposed standard’s champion claims it should apply to only Cornyn’s Senate seat (but not his predecessors or colleagues?) & no other elective office in the land.
If Cornyn actually believed he couldn’t support any Republican who has ever endured the dissolution of a marriage and/or is alleged to have ever had a relationship outside of that marriage, that would mean he VOTED AGAINST or opposed Republicans such as:
Ronald Reagan
Donald Trump
Bob Dole
John McCain
Newt Gingrich
Byron Donalds
Joni Ernst
Roy Blunt
John Warner
John Tower
Phil Gramm
Tim Scott
Regarding #3, hypocrisy & projection is an understatement. I am unaware of any Republican bill or amendment that failed to pass by one vote due to Hunt’s absence. The same cannot be said for Cornyn.
When Bush was POTUS, I authored legislation to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax rate increase signed into law by Clinton.
My tax cut amendment failed by ONE vote because Cornyn was AWOL. His staff said he missed the vote because he attended a fundraiser too far away from the Senate floor & got stuck in traffic.
Please like, comment & share.
— An open letter re the Cornyn/Paxton/Hunt Donnybrook —
Part 2 of 2
Relying upon VoteView .com (a project of the UCLA Poli-Sci Dept.), through mid-July 2025 the GOP Senators below have the following lifetime “Ideology Score” (defined as “more conservative than ___% of fellow Republican Senators):
92% JD Vance
91% Ted Cruz
90% Phil Gramm
87% Rick Scott
80% Marco Rubio
60% John Cornyn
54% Mitch McConnell
51% John McCain
50% John Thune
Cornyn’s floor votes were scored “more conservative” than those of ONLY 42% of his fellow GOP Senators in his 4th term, 55% in his 3rd term, 67% in his 2nd term, and 75% in his 1st term.
Translation: the longer Cornyn’s in DC, the more liberal his voting record gets.
The @Heritage_Action scorecard lifetime rating (which incl. points for bill co-sponsorships) is also instructive:
96% Jim Banks
96% Ted Budd
95% Mike Lee
95% Rick Scott
93% JD Vance
92% Ted Cruz
92% Eric Schmitt
91% Josh Hawley
90% Rand Paul
83% Ron Johnson
82% Marco Rubio
81% Jeff Sessions
77% John Kennedy
64% John Cornyn
62% Bill Cassidy
62% John Thune
60% John McCain
59% Mitch McConnell
59% Thom Tillis
47% Mitt Romney
34% Lisa Murkowski
24% Susan Collins
A family member in Texas asked me for insights about who’s who and what’s what. I wasn’t planning to make any public observations about this internecine fight for the soul of the GOP in the Lone Star state.
But I feel obligated to do so after watching, from the sidelines, the pro-Cornyn camp spend approximately seventy million dollars:
(1) claiming Cornyn is a hard charging MAGA conservative — to the right of @VP/@JDVance & @tedcruz! — who voted with Trump 99.2% of the time;
(2) smearing Paxton with vile ad hominem insults concerning a family matter,
repeating false & defamatory accusations hurled by lawfare perpetrators,
claiming Paxton is secretly a liberal who exercises discretion to forward taxpayer funds to woke, leftist, pro-DEI orgs
(I dare you to read that again w/o shaking your head in disgust & disbelief;
(3) criticizing Hunt for missing important floor votes in the House.
Regarding #1, I suppose one could isolate the inevitably modest number of “Statements of Administration Policy” issued by the Trump 45 White House (and pretend @realDonaldTrump’s position on all other legislation and votes is unknown even if his view is well known or expressed in a social media post).
If that measuring stick were meaningful, more than 95% of Senate Republicans “voted with @POTUS more than 99% of the time.” Manifestly absurd seems too charitable a phrase to describe a claim so brazen in its distortion & deception.
Regarding #2, the notion the GOP should create a new litmus test based upon the happenstance of a candidate’s marital or relationship status is a terrible idea.
It’s obviously a self-serving contrivance if the proposed standard’s champion claims it should apply to only Cornyn’s Senate seat (but not his predecessors or colleagues?) & no other elective office in the land.
If Cornyn actually believed he couldn’t support any Republican who has ever endured the dissolution of a marriage and/or is alleged to have ever had a relationship outside of that marriage, that would mean he VOTED AGAINST or opposed Republicans such as:
Ronald Reagan
Donald Trump
Bob Dole
John McCain
Newt Gingrich
Byron Donalds
Joni Ernst
Roy Blunt
John Warner
John Tower
Phil Gramm
Tim Scott
Regarding #3, hypocrisy & projection is an understatement. I am unaware of any Republican bill or amendment that failed to pass by one vote due to Hunt’s absence. The same cannot be said for Cornyn.
When Bush was POTUS, I authored legislation to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax rate increase signed into law by Clinton.
My tax cut amendment failed by ONE vote because Cornyn was AWOL. His staff said he missed the vote because he attended a fundraiser too far away from the Senate floor & got stuck in traffic.
Please like, comment & share.
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