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Inside Politics

Trump Tightens Grip Over GOP With Massie Loss, Paxton Endorsement; Trump Demands Obedience From GOP As Independents Turn On Him; Cornyn Says He's Staying In Race After Trump Endorses Paxton; Trump Transforms Texas Senate Primary With Paxton Endorsement; Democrats Growing More Bullish On Their Chances In Texas; Lawsuit: $1.8B Fund Could Finance Violent Rioters, Paramilitaries. Aired 12- 12:30p ET

Aired May 20, 2026 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: In today's GOP, it's Trump's way or the highway.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

It's not about retribution, it's about sending a message. That's what a senior Trump advisor told our Kristen Holmes last night about Thomas Massie's loss in Kentucky. Meaning, Republican officials defied President Trump at their peril, and that won't change, even as Trump's standing with non-MAGA voters hits record lows.

Over the past three weeks, Thomas Massie, Bill Cassidy, and five Republican state senators in Indiana were defeated by the president, who backed their GOP challengers and rallied primary voters to throw out the incumbent Republicans, who he believes crossed him. Senator John Cornyn in Texas could be next. President Trump wrote that Cornyn was not supportive of me when times were tough in his endorsement of Cornyn's far-right rival Ken Paxton.

And it's been nearly seven -- excuse me, 11 years, if you can believe it, 11 years since the moment, you're looking at. When the president, then private citizen Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower, his dominance now over his party is probably as clear as it has ever been.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here today. David Chalian?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. I mean, there is no doubt that he got the trifecta here that he was looking for in these last few weeks, those Indiana state senators who didn't go his way on redistricting, then followed by Bill Cassidy over the weekend in Louisiana. And the one that he cared most about and was most focused on was getting rid of Thomas Massie in Kentucky.

And so, there's no doubt that the president and his team feel really emboldened in this moment of exerting that political power that you're talking about. Here's the problem for him, that he -- that they have to solve. Having a ton of proven power, which he has, and political might within the context of a Republican primary electorate is not the same thing as having that kind of sway and power and determinative ability in a general election midterm context, for example.

And it's given what we're seeing across the board of his standing with the broader American public, record low approval rating, losing some key -- losing a lot of support with some key constituencies that helped deliver him the White House in 2024. That doesn't go away as a fact, because he had these successful victories. It's how do those two things live in concert for each other? And the White House team seems to believe, this political power in the Republican primary electorate context can help them reshape the electorate and help them mitigate what history would suggest would be a tough midterm way.

BASH: Let's give a visual and some numbers to our viewers to underpin what you just said, David, because it's such an important point. If you look at the president's job approval, it's 82 percent among Republicans. That's pretty high. But if you look at all respondents, only 37 percent, and just one of those sort of important constituencies that will determine who wins in November and certainly helped the president in last year's November in 2024, only 26 percent of independents. So, there you see the sort of rock and a hard place that you were just describing, David, in data.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST AND CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Listen, if I'm Trump, I want the Republican number to be a bit higher as well, right? I'm a little surprised that you got 18 percent out there, that is a little soured on this president. In so many ways, he should be popular, right, in the primary. We shouldn't necessarily be surprised, and in some ways --

CHALIAN: Actually, we are.

HENDERSON: Yeah. It shouldn't be -- probably shouldn't have been as expensive as it was for the party to get rid of folks that had crossed the sitting president of their own party. But no, I think you're right. Across these states, I think we're going to see a couple of things. One of which is some of these people are going to be thorns in the side of the president going forward for the next six or seven months. Massie already is. I'm sure that's going to, you know, be torqued up even more. You see what Cassidy is doing, basically saying, he's no longer going to play nice with this president this for the -- for the last seven months or whatever of his term, so that's going to be a problem.

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And then the other problem is, in Texas, is Paxton actually the person they want in that seat to run against Talarico. It will probably be more expensive. I've said all along, I think Paxton is a fine candidate for Texas, and I think he'll do fine against Talarico, but it's certainly going to be a more costly race for Republicans.

BASH: And going back to what happened last night with Thomas Massie. The House Speaker Mike Johnson, who obviously is the head Republican in all of the House -- the head member of the House, but also the head Republican, is probably not that upset about Thomas Massie ultimately going bye-bye because he doesn't always help Mike Johnson. But he was asked about really the core question that we're talking about, and that is the president and the power that he is trying to put on these Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): President has the strongest endorsement in history of politics, as I mentioned, but we don't -- we don't demand loyalty to the president. What I demand, as speaker of the House, is loyalty to our core principles, the principles of our party, which are the principles of America.

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BASH: Really, do you buy that?

ALEX GANGITANO, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Right. It's interesting how he's saying it's not the president, it's the party because, you know, Thomas Massie has been a thorn in the president's side, the party side, all the above. But I think it's Speaker Johnson's way of saying, if you cross this president, it doesn't necessarily mean your political career is over, because we're trying to get things done here in the House. It's hard to buy that argument when Speaker Johnson is very afraid of crossing this president. A lot of what he does is exactly in line of what this president wants.

We actually heard from Trump just a few hours ago when he was heading off to Connecticut because -- and he was asked, did you tell the Senate leadership, Thune, that you are going to endorse against the incumbent, against Senator Cornyn. And he said, I did, but they know the power that I have, and I think I've proven that power. So, I think Speaker Johnson got that same message of, this is what the president wants to do, and you better go along with it because he's going to be the one that's right at the end of the day.

CHALIAN: The interesting thing to watch, and we're going to actually get an example of this this week, is like, what we're talking about inside the Republican primary electorate and all that power there. But if that's not the case of how he's standing with the American people broadly. What do you do if you're a Republican in a battleground district, really dependent upon independents showing up for you this fall, like -- what do you do? Well, what is Mike Lawler doing?

One of three Republicans sitting in a Harris district, he's inviting President Trump to come campaign with him on Friday --

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: --in his district and he's making the calculation. He's going to get saddled with the all the negative of attaching -- to being attached to Donald Trump. He might as well try and get some of the positive out of it and juice up the base as much as possible. That is different. That is what's different about Donald Trump. George W. Bush, when he was unpopular, those battleground folks, they just ran away from him in his own party. That Mike Lawler is making a different calculation. That's really interesting to watch.

BASH: Because that's another sort of manifestation of what we've seen in the last week. We've seen how much power the president has with the base. And if you're somebody like Mike Lawler, you're right. He obviously needs Democrats to cross over, he needs independents, but more than anything, he needs Republicans to actually get out and vote those who support him, which he thinks Trump will help with.

Let me just read something from our colleague Aaron Blake this morning. And he poses the question, is Trump even trying to win in November? He's governing like someone more interested in using his time as president to enrich himself, help his allies, and pursue pet projects, rather than helping Republicans avoid a blowout in 2026. There have been whispers that he's largely given up on the ladder, and that tracks.

HENDERSON: Well. Listen, I mean, there is the whole sort of forcing people to redistrict, right? I mean, that's part of the strategy, but I think this is a fair question. He certainly isn't doing what Republicans need him to do, which is stay focused on affordability, stay focused on what Americans want him to focus on, which is lowering prices.

He's -- I mean, he had the ballroom presser yesterday, which I think should be, and if you're a Democrat, put that in an ad, and then the ticking up of your grocery bill and your gas prices. So, you know, this is an unfocused president when it comes to what Americans really want him to focus on. He has everything else going, and I think that is going to be a strong argument that Democrats are going to make against him.

GANGITANO: I think it comes down to a loyalty test, though. How much of his base just don't care? If he wants to spend money, taxpayer dollars on the ballroom. If he wants to spend taxpayer dollars on the arch going up in D.C., that they just are with him no matter what, and that is a dwindling number, because as much as there ready to have his back on a lot of fights that the president has been in. When it comes down to gas prices, they're going to hit $5 across the country, inflation is going up, meat prices, whatever it is. Then that's when he loses those people.

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But so far he's really testing his limits on how much can I do here now that I have the reins, everything's through executive order. I can pretend that I don't care if the House and Senate are gone, because I'm not doing much to help the candidates there because will the base stick with me. But when it comes down to the economy, that's going to be the one that the base slowly starts to chip away.

CHALIAN: He'll care a lot if the House and Senate are gone -- when they're gone.

HENDERSON: Yeah, when they're gone. BASH: Yes. Coming up. Could one presidential endorsement scramble Republicans' Senate math? New comments from Senator John Cornyn himself to our Manu Raju. Plus, in a capital defined by division, I'm going to speak with a Republican and a Democrat, two senators who are actually working together and they're not afraid to admit it.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: Trump is throwing his weight behind Ken Paxton, but incumbent Senator John Cornyn is not going anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why stay in this race?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Well, because only Texans get to vote, and we've had two days of early voting. It looks very encouraging. And I believe that we still have a very good chance of winning in the race.

RAJU: Trump just said that he believes that Paxton can win.

CORNYN: Paxton can win. I think it's a toss-up. And I also think he's going to be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got to make it to this elevator.

CORNYN: It's going to be a drag on down-ballot races.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Ken Paxton isn't letting up on John Cornyn ahead of Tuesday's primary runoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: This guy has been a friend of Donald Trump ever since I got into the race a year ago, but he's not been a friend to him prior to that, and as soon as this race is over, he will not be a friend to Donald Trump. That is not his history, that is not his record, and he's been dishonest with the voters of Texas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back. Really interesting from Cornyn, not only talking about himself, but warning about down-ballot Republicans.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And listen, that is part of what he and the Republican Party has been saying all along. This idea that, if you put Ken Paxton up there, he's not going to be a strong general election candidate. And there's all this money that's going to have to be poured into that, it hasn't worked, right? That hasn't worked for voters, you know, and part of I think, one of the things that's going on as well, particularly in a state like Texas, in particular with Paxton's record of sort of being a fighter and sort of Trumpist, they like that, and they're sort of sick of the sort of go along to get along establishment patrician figures in the -- in the Republican party, and Cornyn is on the other end of that.

BASH: Yeah. I just -- I find it fascinating how much the president's endorsement of Paxton is about just the basics that we've been talking about, that Cornyn said not nice things about the president after January 6, despite, you know, voting with the president and supporting the president, even trying to name a highway after the president. All the things that he was supposed to do.

And whether or not, the president is trying to send a broader message to his fellow Republicans in the Senate about them not pushing ahead on his legislative agenda, specifically to save what he calls the Save America Act, which Paxton, now in retrospect, kind of brilliantly said right after the primary, during the runoff -- beginning of the runoff, said, I'll drop out of the race if you guys pass this because it's exactly what the president wants.

GANGITANO: That's right. I think this is a case of the president wants to see 100 percent loyalty, and he's looking at Leader Thune, at John Cornyn, as giving him 99 percent. That yes, there was some defections after January 6, but also in what they've done in the Senate. They haven't fired the parliamentarian. That's something that the president behind the scenes wants them to do. They haven't gotten rid of the filibuster, so that he can pass the Save Act. That's his main agenda, above everything else. That's what the president wants to see done in the Senate.

So, these are small things that have piled up for him, that he said these people are not 100 percent loyal to me. And Ken Paxton, from the sidelines, can say, that's exactly what I would deliver for you and that's what he wants to hear.

BASH: Yeah. They sound like small things, but they're really important things to the president.

CHALIAN: And our colleague Kristen Holmes reported that it was Cassidy's defeat on Saturday that really also like pushed President Trump, and thinking like, he like -- he felt validated by that in a way, and was like, well, let's go ahead with Ken Paxton then.

BASH: Speaking of Ken Paxton, you know, one of the questions -- the question, is, what is going to happen when he's up against the Dem -- if he wins up against the Democrat James Talarico. Just to remind everybody the kind of things that are in Talarico's vault, and the reason we know this is because of what John Cornyn and the National Republican Senatorial Committee ran during the primaries about Paxton. Watch this.

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[12:20:00] BASH: Now, David, CNN hasn't independently verified any of the claims in that ad. And in the statement that Paxton gave after the ad was released. He said, when you have no record to run on, you run the campaign he's running.

CHALIAN: Makes you look forward to that Cornyn endorsement event for Paxton. If you lose the election--

BASH: Well, that's the question is. It's not just Cornyn (Ph) and how is that going to work out?

CHALIAN: Yeah, no. I mean, listen, primaries are tough, right?

BASH: I know.

CHALIAN: And we have seen -- and we have seen nastier ads than that in our careers of watching this--

BASH: I don't know that was up there.

CHALIAN: No, no, it is. It's up there, but I'm just saying, and yet people find a way to come together. I'm not sure, though, if you're just looking at that equation, like, what does -- what is John Cornyn going to bring to the table for a pen, cat pen -- Ken Paxton candidacy against Talarico? Like, I'm not, you know, so I'm sure party unity will be a goal, and Ken Paxton will do his work if he is the nominee to bring the party together. But yeah, they're going to have to get over patches like that.

BASH: Yeah. Listen to what the president said this morning about Talarico, the Democrat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think he'll go on to defeat a very defective candidate, a candidate that believes in six genders, and he takes hits at Jesus Christ, and he's wearing a mask six months ago. Where's that guy? Anybody wearing a mask six months ago doesn't get it, and he's a vegan. He's a vegan in Texas, and you can't get elected as a vegan in Texas.

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BASH: Just for the record, Nia, Talarico said in March. I deny all accusations of vegan.

HENDERSON: That's pretty serious anywhere in the south. This is the race they're going to run against him. It's going to be total culture war race. They're going to use that sort of blunt Elaine (Ph). He thinks he has carved out around his Christian faith and his interpretation of Christianity. I think it's going to be effective, you know. I guess one of his statements was something like, it's not clear if Jesus or God was a man or woman, or he contains both masculine and femininity.

That's going to be a problem in Texas. And it's going to be a problem for a lot of Christian voters, whether you're Latino, black, or white. They don't agree with that interpretation of the faith and of Christianity. And so, I think, you know, he's a vulnerable candidate in Texas.

BASH: Yeah. And there hasn't been a Democrat elected in the Senate -- to the Senate from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen back in the late 80s.

GANGITANO: That's right. I mean, if Paxton loses to Talarico in the end, how huge of a defeat that would be because of those numbers, and just the fact that the president is throwing his weight behind him. But I think it is telling that we're already seeing the president coming out against Talarico, coming out with these Republican talking points just today. This is before the runoff has even happened.

He's already going after Talarico because he doesn't want to hitch his wagon to a loser. That was a lot of what we were hearing of what was taking so long for him to endorse Ken Paxton was because he wanted to make sure that Paxton could win this runoff. Now that he thought that those numbers were safe, now he wants to make sure that he can definitely decisively win the general.

BASH: Because that's what happened to Donald Trump when he was out of office, and he was endorsing candidates like Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania lost, Herschel Walker in Georgia lost, not to mention the gubernatorial candidate also in Pennsylvania. So, he made bets that he loved in the primary and didn't work out in the generals. So that's going to be one of the many things we're looking at.

Up next. A new lawsuit challenging the $1.8 billion fund created for Trump allies. Why officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 say it endangers their lives. And also, who is already filing for that money?

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: This morning, the first legal challenge to President Trump's new $1.8 billion fund to pay supporters who say, they were unfairly investigated by previous administrations. Law enforcement officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, seen here defending the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Filed a federal lawsuit today to dissolve the fund. They argue it endangers their lives. Writing quote, if allowed to begin making payments, the fund will directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters who threatened plaintiffs' lives that day, and continue to do so.

My panel is back here. Alex, I want to play another clip from the House speaker, also with Manu earlier today on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Would you be OK if they had access to that money? JOHNSON: We don't know any of the details of that settlement fund. The Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, testified yesterday, and he gave a lot of details, and I'll just defer to what he said, because he obviously knows a lot more about it than I do. He did not say who will be eligible, that there's many details to be filled out on that and I'm not going to comment it -- on it until that -- I'm not going to comment on that until it comes out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Different answer than what we heard from the Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who said something to the effect of, I'm not a fan of this.

GANGITANO: Right. He distanced himself much more than we saw Speaker Johnson and Vice President Vance yesterday at the White House briefing room, also went more of a Johnson approach, saying, you know, we're not quite sure exactly how these will be targeted out. I think everyone is trying to make sense of this thing that it's important to note, slipped in on these IRS settlement documents.

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