#candidates-distance

Caught on Leaked Audio at a Private Donor Event, Trump's Own Endorsed Texas Senate Candidate — Ken Paxton, Who Owes His Nomination to Trump's Backing — Agreed the President Is "a Drag" and Admitted His Dallas Midterm Convention Tanked the Party's Polling: "The Numbers — When We Did That Convention — It Dropped Our Numbers. Everybody's Numbers Dropped… Not Good"

On September 30, 2026, the New York Times reported on leaked audio of Ken Paxton — the Texas attorney general, Trump-endorsed Senate candidate, and a longtime MAGA stalwart — privately telling a small gathering of conservative donors and lobbyists in Washington that Trump is hurting Republicans heading into the midterms. Asked directly, "Do you feel like he's a little bit of a drag?", Paxton answered: "So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody's numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good." This is not a Democrat's talking point or a pundit's theory. It is the private admission of the man who won his primary against four-term Sen. John Cornyn precisely because of Trump's endorsement — conceding that the president's own Dallas "Trumpalooza" convention, documented across this archive as a half-empty spectacle of pay-to-play tiers, a "cheat like hell" pledge, and a champagne video, measurably drove down GOP polling. Paxton's campaign dismissed the Times report as "manipulated nonsense" and noted he looks forward to Trump's visit to Texas, and the recording was leaked by an attendee who opposes him — caveats worth stating. But the words are Paxton's, on tape, and CNN's assessment was blunt: he has a point. The candidates cannot say it in public, because the base will punish them. In private, even Trump's own endorsee says the quiet part: the president is a drag, and his convention made it worse.

The Unprecedented Off-Year "Convention" Trump Forced His Party to Stage Finally Happened — and Flopped in Public View: He Took the Stage to Hundreds of Empty Seats and Insisted "This Place Is Packed," Battleground Candidates the GOP Needs Stayed Away, the Program Ran on Hours of Praise for Him, and He Dangled a Vague $5,000 "Dividend" — All While Keeping Up the Social-Media Sprees That Defined His Week

On September 9-10, 2026, the first-ever midterm "convention" — the off-year Trump rally in Dallas that he personally demanded and that his party priced like a fundraiser, documented earlier in this archive — actually took place, and it played out as a self-inflicted embarrassment. Trump keynoted the opening night to an American Airlines Center with hundreds of empty seats, and told the crowd anyway that "this place is packed." A number of Republican lawmakers and candidates skipped it entirely — including some running in the battleground races the party must win to keep the House — a vote of no-confidence from the very people the event was supposed to help. The program leaned on hours of speeches praising Trump before he appeared, and his keynote featured a vague promise to send American adults $5,000 "dividends" if Republicans win control of Congress, an assurance long on number and short on mechanism. All of it unfolded against the backdrop of the erratic Truth Social sprees that have defined his week — renaming New Mexico "New America," a stock-trading brag, a threat to halt global trade. The convention was pitched as a show of strength before November. What it displayed instead was a party that spent a fortune to build a stage for a leader too unpopular for its own candidates to stand on with him — and a leader who looked at a half-empty arena and told everyone it was full.