Cornyn broke ranks with President Trump. Is that good or bad for his political future?
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s comments critical of President Trump have raised eyebrows in recent days.
But political observers don’t necessarily think they’re a sign that Cornyn’s re-election bid is in trouble, or his Washington career is near an end.
Cornyn late last week told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board that he had disagreed with Trump on issues such as budget deficits, tariffs and trade and use of national security funds for a border wall, but kept his opposition private rather than speaking up and potentially drawing Trump’s wrath.
The comments went viral, with election candidates, pundits and other news organizations chiming in.
Democrats over the weekend took the opportunity to lambaste Cornyn, with his Democratic opponent MJ Hegar calling Cornyn a “coward” on her Twitter feed.
But Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston, says Cornyn’s break with Trump likely won’t hurt his re-election chances and could actually help him among suburban voters, especially women.
Rottinghaus said long-time elected officials in states such as Texas and Florida may find that the demographics of their constituencies have changed so much while they have been in office that their old messages may not work anymore. Cornyn, already seen as less conservative than Texas’s other Republican senator, Ted Cruz, may feel like the moment is right for sending voters a moderate message.
“He’s had a measured and reasonable and methodological approach to the politics of 2020, in a way that hasn’t captured him in the swirl of Trump’s downspiral in Texas,” Rottinghaus said in an interview. “Cornyn’s pivot to saying he doesn’t always back Trump might be persuadable to voters in Texas who don’t have the same party allegiances as others.”
Still others wondered about the truthfulness of Cornyn’s previous positions on the issues.
In early 2019, Trump declared an emergency to build a border wall. Cornyn and Cruz both voted against a measure to stop his emergency declaration, effectively giving Trump the authority to build the wall without funds from Congress.
Cornyn at the time blamed Democrats for forcing Trump to spend emergency funds on the wall.
“Our colleagues across the aisle left the president with few options to fund what he believed were so important for the nation’s security, and that’s what led us to this situation,” Cornyn was quoted as saying at the time.
Last week, Cornyn confided in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board that he had opposed spending national security funds on a border wall, but kept his thoughts private — opting to negotiate behind the scenes with Trump’s staffers, rather than speak critically of the president.
In March, Cornyn blamed China for the spread of COVID-19, saying the country’s culture embraces the consumption of bats, snakes and other exotic wildlife.
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans rebuked Cornyn’s comment on Twitter.
“@JohnCornyn, there are over 1M Asian Americans in your state,” the group tweeted. “These are wildly irresponsible comments when anti asian hate crimes are on the rise.”
But last week, Cornyn had a different tone in discussing Asian relations with the Star-Telegram.
Cornyn said he had disagreed with the way Trump handled trade agreements with China and other Asian countries. In 2017, Trump pulled the United States out of a Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have expanded trade in 12 countries.
“I applaud him for standing up to China but, frankly, this idea that China is paying the price and we’re not paying the price here at home is just not true,” Cornyn said.
Trump this week called on Republicans to “stick together.” During a rally in Nevada, Trump lashed out at Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, for breaking ranks with him.
In describing his relationship with Trump, Cornyn compared it to a strained personal relationship.
“Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well,” Cornyn said.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:32 PM.
