John Cornyn

How to explain Paxton’s win

I am truly concerned for some of my fellow Texans. I believe they may have come down with that affliction I’ve been hearing about called Trump Derangement Syndrome. How else could Ken Paxton’s victory over John Cornyn be explained?

Alan Bryan, Richardson

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Vote for decency

One of my favorite uncles was raised in a military family deep in the heart of Texas. He served in World War II and went on to live a life of service to the country. He was a fine American and a loyal Texan to the end of his days: big-hearted, honest, genteel, plain-spoken, courageous, an outdoorsman, kind and fun.

My uncle would be heartbroken to see a person like Ken Paxton on the Republican ticket. Other candidates in the Senate race have records unsoiled by sordid scandals. Texas, will you embrace corruption or stand up for what is right? Vote for decency, not sleaze.

Laura Deford, Cambridge, Mass.

What happened to some voters?

Re: “In Ken Paxton vs. John Cornyn, Texas GOP shows its true self,” Thursday editorial.

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My note to the editorial team is a simple thank you for saying what many of us felt Tuesday night. The question to my fellow Texans is this: What happened to the 400,000 of you who voted in March for John Cornyn (who had 907,00 votes then, compared to 501,000 on Tuesday)?

Ken Paxton got only 4,000 votes more Tuesday night (885,000) than on March 3 (881,000), thus not making his case to more of us, nor late blooming due to the White House endorsement. So, if y’all had just bothered to show up again, Cornyn would have won.

My sixth grade teacher taught us first that voting is not just a right but a responsibility, and then she told us a story about a good acquaintance of her family who had run for city council and lost by fewer than 50 votes (small town). He came around to everyone he knew to thank them for their vote, except it turned out her parents had missed the election altogether (for an unimportant reason).

Simply remember this: If you don’t vote, you cannot criticize the outcome. We really do apparently get the government we deserve.

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Maria Carter, Plano

What makes up Texas?

When did The Dallas Morning News go full GOP? This paper was always more centrist than the venerable, and unfortunately defunct, Dallas Times Herald, but wow. “Strong suspicion,” what does that even mean? Thinly veiled xenophobia or non-Christian religious intolerance? What traditions are you talking about? Capitalism? And what movements are you suspicious of? Immigration? LGBTQ+ rights? Voting rights of non-white citizens?

A lot was left unsaid in this editorial. It raised many more questions than it answered. The editorial is certainly negative about Ken Paxton, which is good, but then you come out with this boilerplate conservative stance.

That’s what blew my mind. It’s like you’re lost in some nonexistent nostalgia or fantasy about who and what makes up Texas.

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Please make yourself more clear.

Jan Gartenberg, Dallas

DMN’s woke agenda

“Shameful” is right.

Regarding your recent editorials, what indeed was “most telling” and “shameful” about your branding of Ken Paxton and by extension his overwhelming level of support was that it exposed the deep prejudice of you and your editorial staff.

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The Dallas Morning News’ never-ending journey to the left has turned into an all-out sprint. Perhaps it is time for a slight amount of reflection and introspection which might reveal that the positions and characteristics which you find so abhorrent — hard work, anti-criminality, law and order, accountability, self-reliance and anti-wokeness — are traits still dominant and held dear by a vast majority of Texans.

The fact that almost two-thirds of Texas voters disagree with your leftist/woke agenda should be an eye opener as to how out of touch your editorial and news writers are with your own readers and their values.

Your bold assertion that Paxton “is simply unfit for office” (and that neither Mayes Middleton nor Chip Roy were worthy of consideration) speaks volumes to your elitist “holier than thou” attitude so antithetical to the positions of such an overwhelming majority of hard-working, tax-paying, non-woke Texans. An attitude of superiority that so characterizes your political and news coverage.

Now, you can start your five-month campaign electioneering for James Talarico, as you tell us daily why he should be elected. Sorry, but we Texans can still see with our own eyes and decide for ourselves, notwithstanding your efforts to the contrary.

Dan Stewart, North Dallas

The enemy is us

Texas voters have spoken. And what did they say? They rejected John Cornyn, who committed the unpardonable sin of daring to occasionally go against President Donald Trump. They said they would rather have Ken Paxton, a man repeatedly shown to be corrupt and morally bankrupt.

But that’s apparently OK, as long as he is another puppet, ready to dance to whatever strings Trump pulls. Thanks to The Dallas Morning News for pointing all this out, more than once. Apparently, Paxton voters don’t read the newspaper.

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So where does this leave conservatives such as me? James Talarico seems like a nice guy, but he holds the same idiotic policies as the Democratic Party in general.

Friends might tell me to vote for Paxton to stop Talarico. Not gonna happen. Perhaps I’ll write in that great philosopher Pogo, famous for summing up our current political malaise: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Ben Willis, Garland

No compromise with Republicans

There is a lot of pontificating about how MAGA is not true conservatism, how so many real conservatives feel trapped by President Donald Trump and think he’s ruining their party. This sentiment has never materialized in actual numbers, as Ken Paxton’s landslide victory shows.

Political revanchism, cruelty towards minorities, absurdist economic policy, war for the sake of war, rule by executive fiat — these seem to be normal beliefs among conservatives. Conservatives have no qualms with a bootlicking philanderer whose sole accomplishments as attorney general involve making life in Texas miserable for LGBTQ people. In fact, it’s exactly what they want.

Trump supporters are not misguided souls lured in by a siren song. They know exactly what they support and love it. There is no point in appeasing or appealing to misanthropic reactionaries.

I’m sick of all the nonsense about compromise. There is no compromising with MAGA Republicans.

Thomas Urech, Richardson

Cheap laughs

I just watched Ken Paxton’s speech about his opponent, and he began by listing three derogatory nicknames for him. His supporters laughed loudly.

Does no one remember the days before President Donald Trump, when name-calling was something our parents put an end to in elementary school?

Name-calling is not related in any way to the actual issues. It’s just done for cheap laughs.

Paul K. Van Doorn, Columbus, Ohio

A question for Cornyn

While I am really dismayed that Ken Paxton won the primary over John Cornyn, I have to ask, will Cornyn continue his push to name an interstate highway after President Donald Trump? This will tell us if politics (an endorsement) or love of Texas was his real game. Sadly, I think I know the answer.

Jodi Slabaugh, Denton

What will Cornyn do?

The best thing John Cornyn can do now is to courageously try to pull us, and possibly the entire country, back from becoming a failed state. He correctly identified Ken Paxton as a morally unfit, corrupt adulterer whose election denial, Islamophobia, racism and mafia-like flaunting of law and order while attorney general are only exceeded by that of his mentor, President Donald Trump.

Having served Texas competently and with best intentions over a 20-year span, Cornyn can now help reverse our downward spiral by calling out the MAGA hijacking of the GOP and hit them where it hurts most by encouraging his followers and any rational independent to join James Talarico.

Yes, there may be policy disagreements to be debated, but Talarico will restore honor and a moral compass to public service which benefits all Texans.

Cornyn has the opportunity to help send Paxton, the most self-serving, anti-democratic politician, to his rightful oblivion.