INTERNACIONAL
Trump flexes MAGA muscle in Texas Senate runoff clash between Cornyn and Paxton
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AUSTIN, TX – President Donald Trump has a new target this week as he takes aim at Republican critics — longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
Trump is targeting Cornyn as «VERY disloyal» as he backs Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major Trump ally and MAGA firebrand, in Tuesday’s combustible and expensive runoff election for the GOP Senate nomination in the right-leaning state. The ballot box showdown serves as the latest tests of Trump’s immense grip over the Republican Party and the strength of his endorsements in GOP nomination races.
The winner of the runoff will face off against rising Democratic Party star state Rep. James Talarico in the general election in a race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their slim 53-47 majority in the Senate. Talarico, who topped progressive star Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in the March primary, is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in Texas.
The Senate contest is the most high-profile showdown on a ballot that also includes Democratic and Republican runoffs for Texas Attorney General, as well as key primary battles for four U.S. House seats, including a Democratic Party runoff in the 35th Congressional District where one of the two candidates in a social media post proposed converting an ICE detention center into a prison for American supporters of Israel.
TRUMP BACKS MAGA ALLY PAXTON IN TEXAS SHOWDOWN WITH CORNYN
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, center, campaigns at a meet and greet in Corpus Christi, Texas, on May 22, 2026, days ahead of the runoff election for the GOP Senate nomination. (Luke Travisan/Fox News)
Trump’s targeting of Cornyn comes three weeks after the purging five state senators in Indiana’s primary who had opposed his push for congressional redistricting, a week and a half after helping to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who five and a half years ago voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial – and one week after defeating vocal GOP critic Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky.
The Texas runoff is also being held one week after Trump endorsed Paxton, after sitting on the sidelines in the race for months.
«Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,» Trump wrote in a social media post last Tuesday.
The two heated rivals topped a crowded field of contenders in the early March primary, with Cornyn edging Paxton. But since neither cleared the 50% threshold, the nomination race headed into overtime.
Trump, in backing Paxton, said that «John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.»
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton landed President Donald Trump’s endorsement one week ahead of his runoff election against Republican Sen. John Cornyn for the GOP Senate nomination. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)
Pointing to the senator’s past criticism of him, Trump added, «John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency.»
Cornyn, in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda.
«President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we’ve worked with him closely for both terms of office,» the senator said.
Paxton, who grabbed significant national attention the past dozen years by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, disagreed.
«John Cornyn fought Trump on the border. And you can go back over about a decade and see that he was not for the border wall,» Paxton charged in an interview on Fox News’ «The Big Weekend Show.»
CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADED INTO OVERTIME
Paxton also argued that the senator «fought the president’s reelection. He fought him in 2024, said his time had passed, and he fought him in 2016. So this is not a pro-Trump guy. I don’t know if we could be more different on the Republican issues than John Cornyn and me. So there is a vast difference between the two of us.»
Cornyn pushed back.
«I don’t know how much more with him I could be than 99.3% of the time,» the senator told Fox News Digital.
«I want him to be successful. I want America to be successful, and I want Republicans to be successful. But you know, in the end, as I said, Texans are the only ones going to be able to make a choice, and I think Texans can be pretty independent,» Cornyn added.
Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state senate.
And Paxton is dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing «biblical grounds» based on «recent discoveries» in filing last year to end their marriage.
Cornyn, who is supported by Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has repeatedly argued that if Paxton is the GOP’s nominee, the party will be forced to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat from flipping and that Republicans down-ballot will suffer.
«He’s gotten more and more emboldened as he’s gotten away with all the scandal and mischief that now is very well known, but were he to be the nominee and be exposed to general election voters, especially independents, I think it’s going to be a very rocky time,» the senator predicted.
TRUMP OWNS THE GOP – BUT WILL REPUBLICANS PAY A PRICE IN THE MIDTERMS?
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, the Democratic Party’s nominee, speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on March 2, 2026. (Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)
And pointing to Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising during the first three months of this year, Cornyn said «there will be an incredible tsunami of Democratic funds coming in against Paxton, were he the nominee. Conversely…if I am the nominee…we’ll be able to shoulder the burden pretty much on our own. I won my last general election by 10 points. I think I can do similarly against somebody who’s as far left and radical as James Talarico.»
While Paxton has shifted his ads to target Talarico in the wake of the Trump endorsement, Cornyn and allied groups continue to blast Paxton.
«I don’t think anybody could honestly argue that we haven’t fought hard to make the case here,» Cornyn said of his campaign.
And he emphatically said he’s «worked too long and too hard to help build the Republican Party in Texas, and in the United States Senate, and to keep Texas the envy of the nation when it comes to opportunities and pursuing the American dream, to let that go, to squander it, and let it go without a fight. So I’m still optimistic on the outcome, but obviously it depends on who shows up.»
The other statewide runoff in Texas is for attorney general, in the race to succeed Paxton.
In the expensive GOP showdown, four-term Rep. Chip Roy is battling state Sen. Mayes Middleton, the president of an independent oil and gas company.
State Senator Mayes Middleton, a Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Grapevine, Texas, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Middleton, who edged Roy in the March primary, has dished out roughly $17 million of his own money to back his campaign. But Roy, a former Texas assistant attorney general and former chief of staff to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, received a late surge in fundraising from major backers.
«We’ve gotten the financial support necessary to compete with my self-funder opponent, who’s got his inheritance money that he can just spend,» Roy highlighted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff.
Roy has argued that Middleton’s lack of courtroom experience would make him a poor attorney general.
«Having been the first assistant attorney general makes me ready on day one, but it’s also that I’ve been a prosecutor, I’ve been in court, I’ve sat in front of a judge, stood in front of a judge, argued cases, and he has never done any of those things. And we think those things should matter,» Roy emphasized.
Middleton has pushed back, questioning Roy’s conservative credentials and run ads claiming Roy’s «betrayed MAGA» as he’s pointed to the times the congressman has broken with Trump over policy.
«Chip Roy has someone that has spent a decade fighting the president. He actually said President Trump committed impeachable conduct on the House floor,» Middleton told Fox News Digital. «Instead of spending 10 years fighting President Trump, what have I done? I’ve spent 10 years, fighting to defeat the left, which is what matters the most in this race.»
But Roy, responding, said «everyone knows that I’m a longtime defender and supporter of the president’s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I’m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make the case. And pointing to Middleton, Roy charged, «MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand.»
Middleton returned fire, arguing «Chip Roy is putting out there that he is a top ally to President Trump when the exact opposite is the case.»
Roy, showcasing his electability, said «I beat Democrats before in a tough race» and that he «knows how to win.»
The winner of the GOP runoff will likely face Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson, who came close to clinching his party’s nomination in the primary. Johnson is facing off against former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.
Also in the spotlight are Democratic and GOP runoffs in the redrawn majority-Latino 35th Congressional District,
Democratic Party leaders are slamming housing activist and sex therapist Maureen Galindo for her Instagram post on imprisoning American Zionists at an ICE detention center. She added that the prison would have a castration facility for pedophiles, which she claimed would likely include «most of the Zionists.
Maureen Galindo speaks at a League of Women Voters meeting in Texas. (Katina Zentz/Getty Images)
She also said that her rival in the runoff, Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia, should be tried for treason over his support for Israel.
The comments have spurred support for Garcia, who’s running as a moderate. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Texas Democratic Party, Talarico, and even progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have backed Garcia.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against either Republican state Rep. John Lujan or Carlos De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran and brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Texas.
In the solidly blue, Houston-based 18th Congressional District, 78-year-old Democratic Rep. Al Green will face off with recently-elected 38-year-old Rep. Christian Menefee, for a seat redrawn last year by Republicans as part of their congressional redistricting push.
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Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson is running against former Rep. Colin Allred in the Democratic-dominated, Dallas-based, 33rd Congressional District.
And in the newly drawn 9th Congressional District, a right-tilting seat in the Houston area, Trump-endorsed Army veteran Alex Mealer faces Abbott-endorsed state Rep. Briscoe Cain.
midterm elections, donald trump, republicans, texas, senate elections, elections
INTERNACIONAL
Far-left candidate’s past anti-meat activism clashes with campaign pivot in cattle country
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Manny Rutinel, a state legislator and Democratic candidate for Congress in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, has a long track record of activism against ranching and other animal-related businesses — even as the district he’s running to represent depends heavily on the sector.
His past positions cast doubt on his current posture towards the meat business as he looks to unseat Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., in one of the most competitive districts in the country.
Rutinel said he had recently rethought his position towards ranching during an interview with the Colorado Sun late last year.
MAMDANI COMPARISONS FOLLOW COLORADO DEMOCRAT INTO PIVOTAL HOUSE RACE AFTER PRIMARY WIN
Rep. Manny Rutinel listens to a speaker during the general assembly at the Colorado State Capitol Building on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
«Like all industry, there are bad apples, and I’ve spoken out against those bad apples that cause extreme and unnecessary animal cruelty in parts of the food industry and against the environmental cost of unsustainable food practices,» he said.
«They’re good stewards of the land, they care for their animals and they are the backbone of our economy and our communities. Colorado ranchers are my friends and neighbors, and I’ve gotten to know them,» he added.
Notably, Colorado’s 8th district is Colorado’s leading producer of beef cattle and dairy, accounting for 26% of the state’s output, according to Upstate Colorado Economic Development. Of its 2.5 million acres, 75% are devoted to farming and raising livestock.
«Meatless Manny makes PETA look reasonable and he wants to force Coloradans to scrounge for berries and nuts off the ground like cave men,» Republican National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft told Fox News Digital. «The lack of protein in Rutinel’s diet must be messing with his brain because there is a zero percent chance the ranching capital of Colorado votes for a vegan
DSA’S THIRD MAJOR PRIMARY WIN DEEPENS DEMOCRATS’ FIGHT OVER THE PARTY’S FUTURE
Despite his reframing on ranching, Rutinel has suggested his ideal world might exclude them.
«In order to go green, you have to eat green,» Rutinel said when, as a 21-year-old, he prompted veganism by stripping and wearing a pro-vegan sign at an Earth Day celebration.
He reflected that thinking in testimony before the Connecticut legislature during his time at Yale Law School.
STEVE FORBES: CHUCK SCHUMER HAS A BEEF WITH BEEF, BUT DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO GRILL IT
Vance Alfrey, 84, observes heifers at the Schroder family ranch in Walsh, Colorado on May 9, 2026. The Schroder ranch, established in 1926, has been forced to dramatically reduce its planted acreage this year due to drought conditions. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
«The report concludes that the globe must dramatically shift away from animal products and towards fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts. This environmental shift will also have tremendous health benefits for consumers,» Rutinel said, referring to the Planetary Health Diet, a collaborative report on food production ideals to address climate change.
Years later, as a state legislator, he would call a proposed ban on fur «really awesome,» even as the Denver Democrats opposed the idea.
Additionally, Rutinel began a petition to get Popeyes to implement a plant-based menu as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that doing so would lessen the risk of employees at slaughterhouses contracting the disease.
Rutinel would also go on to found Climate Refarm, a group that helped readers make the transition towards more plant-based food sources.
«At Climate Refarm, we exist to turn everyday choices into powerful tools for climate action. Our mission is to help institutions transition to plant-based food systems while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through science-backed carbon credit solutions,» the group’s website reads.
Visitors stand on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol on April 23, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
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Rutinel’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he continues to believe that climate reform must, on some level, mean change for farming industries.
Having cleared the Democratic primary, Rutinel will face off against Evans in the state’s Nov. 3, 2026, general election.
politics, house of representatives, west, campaigning
Netanyahu blasts Iran’s ‘Death to America’ chants, praises US-Israel alliance
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu details Iran’s tyrannical regime, citing ‘Death to America’ chants at a funeral and the murder of 40,000 citizens. He underscores the crucial U.S.-Israel alliance in combating Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats. Netanyahu also criticizes Turkey for supporting Hamas and threatening NATO allies.
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As Iran, Russia’s war with Ukraine and NATO’s defense spending dominate the organization’s summit in Ankara — one issue that has escaped the media glare is the increasingly antisemitic rhetoric coming from Turkish leaders.
As relations between Turkey and Israel continue to hit new lows, a war of words between the two nations has erupted.
In a July 2 interview with CNN Türk, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Israel has «become a burden that humanity can no longer bear,» the Jerusalem Post reported. Fidan also said that Israel is representative of «humanity’s common problems,» and asked other countries to apply pressure to the Jewish State, according to Israel National News.
ISRAELI OFFICIAL SAYS EU SANCTIONS REVEAL ANTISEMITISM HIDING BEHIND ‘SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE MASK’
Anti-Israel protesters rally in Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 17, 2024, over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
In a press statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Fidan’s words «a clear call for genocide. The Jewish people know very well what happens when such words are allowed to go unchallenged. The first step on the road to genocide is dehumanization.
«This is a sentence that sounds very familiar to sentences from about 100 years ago,» Sa’ar added. «To speak about a people as a ‘problem for humanity.’ What do you do with a ‘burden that you can no longer bear?’» he asked.
Sinan Ciddi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of FDD’s Turkey program, told Fox News Digital that Fidan’s statement was «some of the vilest rhetoric to come out of any statesman since the Holocaust.»
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Istanbul, Turkey October 28, 2023. (Dilara Senkaya/Reuters)
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Ciddi said that escalated anti-Israel rhetoric in Turkey «goes all the way back to 2008» when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan «began the process of ripping apart the bilateral relationship between Israel and Turkey. But after Oct. 7, it just went into overdrive,» he said. «I have never heard any Arab leader utter the words that Foreign Minister Fidan has said.»
Yet Erdogan has condemned antisemitism; the Turkish Minute reported that he told Turkish religious minority representatives at an Ankara dinner in March that «just as Islamophobia is a crime against humanity, antisemitism is also a crime, an evil that cannot be considered reasonable or legitimate.»
Yet despite his recent condemnation, he and other ministers have continued with their rhetoric against the Jewish state.
In June, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Ҁiftҁi said that the world would «witness the liberation of Jerusalem,» according to the Times of Israel.
WHO IS TURKEY’S RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN? HOW NATO’S MOST UNPREDICTABLE LEADER KEEPS REINVENTING HIMSELF
In May 2021, the Times of Israel reported that Erdoğan called Israelis «murderers,» claiming they were ‘only satisfied by sucking their [victims’] blood.» At the time, the State Department spokesperson issued a strong condemnation of Erdoğan’s «anti-Semitic comments regarding the Jewish people,» calling them «reprehensible.»
In May 2025, Erdoğan invoked similar language, accusing Israel of being «a terror state that feeds on the blood, lives and tears of the innocent,» Israel National News reported.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar (R) and Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon (L) speak to journalists ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters on August 5, 2025 in New York (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Anti-Israel sentiment in Turkey has infiltrated far beyond leadership. A Pew Research poll from June found that Turkey had the highest level of anti-Israel sentiment of any polled country, with 91 percent of the population holding «very unfavorable» views on Israel, 6% holding an «unfavorable» view, and just 1% expressing any favor of Israel.
In response to questions about whether the State Department plans to respond to antisemitic statements from Turkish leadership, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that «Türkiye is a longstanding and valued NATO Ally and we continue to engage on all aspects of our important and multi-faceted relationship.»
Ciddi said there are «numerous channels» for the State Department and Trump administration to reprimand Turkey for its unchecked hatred. «The president could obviously pull aside a Turkish counterpart and demand an apology,» he explained, while the State Department could address the comments or place Turkey on a watchlist.
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The Hague, Netherlands – In photos, NATO leaders participate in the summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. NATO countries pledged to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, as demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump. The summit’s final declaration states that countries will invest «at least 3.5%» of their GDP annually in military capabilities and an additional 1.5% in protecting critical infrastructure. (Handout / Latin America News Agency via Reuters Connect)
As the two-day NATO summit winds down in Ankara, Ciddi said that Turkey «is going to try and overshadow anything else» and «promote itself as the sort of premiere NATO ally, so we need to watch out for Turkey’s whitewashing of its human rights record.» Ciddi warned that «We cannot safeguard our allies’ democratic norms, rights and practices if we don’t hold member states like Turkey accountable for the threats that it presents.»
The Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
anti semitism, turkey, nato, state department
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