Trump Slinks Away From His Promise of a Texas Senate Endorsement

Trump unable to save Republicans from self-imposed damage in Texas Senate runoff

President Donald Trump boasts about the power of his endorsement — he wields it like a sword of Damocles at Republican candidates who adore his endorsement.

But his weakness shows through in his hesitant deployment. His favorite sponsors are those who are certain to win. In a Trumpian perversion of the purpose of an endorsement, it is less useful to him for influencing close races than for reassuring his own power.

In Texas, he pretended to put his political capital on the line. Facing three more months of bloody, fist-fighting between two candidates who hate each other, Republicans urged the president to support Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and push Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton out of the runoff. Cornyn has been seen as the strongest candidate for a general election matchup with Democratic candidate James Talarico, although polls have not clearly confirmed this.

Paxton, however, having survived impeachment, indictment, and recorded pen theft, refused to go quietly into that good night. Making it clear he would stay in the race regardless, he shifted his focus to the Republicans’ voter suppression bill and Cornyn’s long-standing support for the filibuster. The conversation has become confusing because Trump let it happen – better to talk about the unpassable SAVE America Act than to contemplate possible insubordination on the part of an ambitious Republican underling. And it became less certain that Cornyn – still too polite for Trump’s tastes – was a safe bet.

“I heard that,” Trump told NBC when asked about the theory that Cornyn would outperform Paxton against Talarico. “I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s a fact.”

Paxton could have ignored Trump’s abandonment order; Republican voters in Texas might have ignored Trump’s preference. Weak, weak, weak. The king has no clothes.

Better to retreat, to tell yourself that could have he changed course if he felt like it. Meanwhile, the March dropout deadline has passed; Cornyn and Paxton’s names will appear on the May ballot. And Talarico has three months to consolidate the base and gain momentum while the Republicans spend millions to weaken his ultimate opponent.

-Kate Riga

By the way, DHS is still closed

We are over a month into the government shutdown specific to the Department of Homeland Security. Public outrage over the killings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents dominated headlines, but congressional Democrats stayed the course. Democrats continue their unwavering efforts to pass meaningful reforms for ICE and CBP officers, refusing to defund the entire DHS without changes to officer practices and conduct.

Although they have held the line on funding ICE and CBP, congressional Democrats have attempted to rally Republicans with a bill that would fund all other agencies under the DHS umbrella — including TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the Coast Guard — while negotiations continue. Democrats in both chambers have tried to pass this bill several times in recent weeks. Each time, it was blocked by the Republicans.

Hoping to once again check in with Senate Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly plans to force a cloture vote Saturday (as the upper chamber continues to debate the SAVE Act) on a bill to pay TSA agents through the end of the fiscal year. The bill would be subject to filibuster and would likely fail.

Senate Democrats and the Trump White House have been trading proposals on ICE reform for weeks, without much progress. Taking the negotiations a step further, White House border czar Tom Homan was on Capitol Hill on Thursday for an in-person meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), who represents Senate Republicans in the ongoing negotiations, called the meeting “useful.”

“The first step is dialogue, and this is the very first time we’ve had that,” Britt said. “I hope we see more in the days to come.”

Meanwhile, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who also attended the meeting, indicated that a deal was far from imminent.

“I’m glad the White House is here, but we’re very far away,” Murray told reporters after the meeting.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) recently warned that the planned two-week Easter recess — a time senators often use to connect with their families and constituents and, in an election year, to campaign — could be canceled if no progress is made to end the ongoing shutdown.

“This problem needs to be resolved by the end of next week. I don’t see us taking a break if the government is still paralyzed,” Thune told reporters Thursday.

-Emine Yucel

State Railroad Secretaries Against SAVE America Act

Secretaries of State are speaking out against the Trump administration’s restrictive voting bill, known as the SAVE America Act. This ambitious bill, among other things, requires documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

This is expected to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who do not have easily accessible proof of citizenship. According to data from the Brennan Center, that represents some 21.3 million eligible American voters.

“It would change the rules in the run-up to an election in a very substantial way,” Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon told MinnPost this week.

Simon also said the issue of non-citizen voting, which is a myth the SAVE America Act perpetuates, is “microscopic.”

As TPM reported, there is no evidence to suggest that non-citizen voting is a problem.

Connecticut Democratic Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas also pointed out to Democracy Docket that the bill would disenfranchise eligible voters.

“This bill assumes that every voter can adapt to and quickly comply with these requirements, and that’s simply not the reality,” she said. “Imagine a divorced woman, she moved, changed her name and needs to update her voter registration. With this bill, that’s no longer a simple matter. It means tracking down multiple documents.”

And Democratic Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, during a press briefing Thursday, said the legislation “removes Americans’ ability to access the ballot box.”

Senate Republicans began a marathon debate this week ahead of a possible Senate vote on the SAVE America Act.

For several weeks now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has faced pressure from President Trump to change the filibuster rules in order to pass the bill. Thune has repeatedly said there is not enough support in the Senate to do so. The bill is not expected to advance because it requires a supermajority to pass.

—Khaya Himmelman