John Cornyn

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told Newsmax on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is less about a personal split with Cornyn and more about Trump's frustration that Senate Republicans are not delivering on the conservative agenda.

Appearing on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," Meadows said the president's endorsement created immediate buzz, but he framed it as Trump sending a broader message to Washington.

"Both candidates certainly wanted his endorsement," he said of the Senate race.

"Texas was looking for the late-breaking news, and obviously the president made it in his typical Donald Trump fashion," he added.

But Meadows said the move should not be viewed simply as Trump choosing one Republican over another.

"For the people of Texas, it's not as much a personal decision between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton as much as it is to suggest the Senate is not working well," he said.

"And when the Senate is not working well — it's not getting the SAVE America Act across the finish line, voter ID, other things they care about — the president's all about changing the team and making sure that he mixes it up."

Van Susteren noted Cornyn has often voted for Trump's priorities and is not in the same category as Republicans who opposed him during impeachment.

Meadows agreed that Cornyn has been supportive of Trump "recently," but said the test comes when difficult priorities need to move through Congress.

"When the going gets tough, when you have things, and I mentioned the SAVE America Act, voter ID — 85% of the people that tuned in, whether you're Democrat, Republican, or unaffiliated, think that having a voter ID is important — and yet they can't get that across the finish line," he said.

Meadows said the endorsement could have prompted Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other Republicans to act, "but it didn't."

"At the end of the day, it's all about going with that Make America Great base in Texas, and they're strongly behind Paxton," he said.

Van Susteren also raised Republican concerns that Paxton could be a risk in November against a Democrat.

Meadows said those fears echo past doubts about Trump himself.

"You got a president in the Oval Office that has been told not once but twice that he couldn't be in the Oval Office, and yet there he is, the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump," he said.

Meadows acknowledged Paxton has "personal baggage" and predicted the race will be "very, very expensive," but said much of the criticism has already been absorbed.

"The president has been one of those guys that goes all in," he said.

"He is all in, and certainly, all in on this particular decision as well," Meadows said.

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