(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump keeps screwing over Ken Paxton [1] ['Emily Singer'] Date: 2026-10-08 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is having a rough go of it in his bid for Senate in the Lone Star State. The morally bankrupt Republican is being plagued by a series of leaks from a GOP donor who doesn’t support his candidacy—including a fourth audio clip that dropped Thursday morning. Hundreds of millions in ad spending on his behalf has not moved Paxton’s numbers, as polls show he is still losing to Democratic nominee James Talarico. And now, President Donald Trump offered Paxton up to debate Talarico—something Paxton has been refusing to do as he likely fears it could only hurt his flailing campaign even more. Cartoon by Clay Jones Clay Jones In a Wednesday night Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “Ladies and Gentlemen, upon information and belief, James TalaFREAKo, who is running for the United States Senate in Texas, is MISSING IN ACTION! No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him? Bad rumors are coming out. He should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton, who is ready, willing, and able, one of the best Attorney Generals in the Country, and will soon be, hopefully, a United States Senator representing the Great People of Texas! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” Where to even begin with this? First, Talarico is not MIA. He has been off the campaign trail for a few days after being diagnosed with the flu. “I was starting to feel kind of under the weather a few days ago, and last night it got so bad that I went to the urgent care here in Dallas and I was diagnosed with the flu and so I’m running a fever and I’m at my most contagious right now,” Talarico said Sept. 30 in a video message to the Hispanic Business Council, where Talarico was slated to speak but had to cancel due to his illness. Paxton has been trying to use Talarico’s brief absence from the campaign trail to recover to start rumors about where Talarico is. On Wednesday, Paxton released a video accusing Talarico of lying to voters. Related | Republican donors hate Ken Paxton “WATCH: James Talarico has been missing for 11 days. He was last seen in Texas on September 26th. While his campaign continues to lie to Texans, he is nowhere to be seen,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. And at a Wednesday evening campaign rally with Trump in Texas, Paxton tried to get this cringeworthy chant started in which he had the audience yell “where is James Talarico.” The second-hand embarrassment is strong. Ken Paxton is totally cringe trying to use the Texas crowd. "One…Two…Three…Where is James Talarico" pic.twitter.com/a5AwONDncP — Donk Media ♻️™ (@donkoclock) October 7, 2026 What Paxton didn’t want, however, was Trump to force him onto a debate stage with Talarico—something he’s never done during any of his runs for attorney general in Texas. It’s easy to see why. Paxton is an awful public speaker. Hell, even Trump has crapped on Paxton’s public speaking abilities. Just look at this word salad Paxton spewed at the Wednesday campaign rally with Trump to know why he avoids having to speak off the cuff. Have y’all ever heard that this is the most important election of your lifetime. Anybody ever heard that? Well, you know what, I’ve been thinking about that—and, you know, why do we always say that? And you know what, I want you to think about this. The continental divide in the United States. If a drop of rain falls one inch or more on the right side, on the East side, it ends up in the Atlantic Ocean. If it falls one inch on the other side, or more, it ends up in the Pacific Ocean—unless we’re renamed it. I think that’s possible. This election, we’re not talking about red versus blue. We’re not talking about a moderate Democrat. We’re talking about the Constitutional Republic. Freedom. The Bill of Rights. We’re talking about capitalism. On the other side, we’re talking about communism, socialism. The government controlling. That’s why these elections are really mattering. And they matter, unfortunately, right here in Texas. Huh? Talarico, for his part, welcomed Trump’s offer of a Paxton debate. “President Trump just said Ken Paxton should debate. I agree. Ball’s in your court @KenPaxtonTX,” Talarico wrote in a post on X. Will we get a Texas Senate debate? I’m not holding my breath. But Trump now reignited this Paxton hiding from debates story, which will make Paxton’s already bad predicament even worse. That’s a shame. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/8/800109256/elections/trump-keeps-screwing-over-ken-paxton/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/