Trump’s teasing is the price Paxton had to pay to use Republican midterm convention to raise money

DALLAS (AP) — President Donald Trump said he wasn’t going to say it — and then he said it anyway. For the second night in a row at the Republicans’ midterm convention, he mocked Ken Paxton on stage. “I don’t really like the way he looks,” Trump told the laughing crowd in Paxton’s home state of Texas.

But never mind that because “he was our greatest attorney general and he deserves to go to the United States Senate.” Paxton just grinned. He’s locked in a tight race with Democratic nominee James Talarico, and Trump helped turn the convention stage into a national fundraiser for one of his party’s most important yet outfunded candidates. “I need your prayers, your votes and your support,” Paxton said during his turn at the microphone.

The money has started to trickle out to him with two months to go. MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC, announced last week it would spend $10 million. America PAC, which is connected to Elon Musk, has spent $250,000.

And on Friday, the Senate Leadership Fund said it would contribute $13.8 million. Paxton is perhaps Trump’s biggest political test this year. The president endorsed Paxton on the eve of his defeat of four-term incumbent Sen.

John Cornyn in the May primary runoff, over the objections of Republican leaders including Thune, who viewed Cornyn as a far stronger candidate than the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general. If Paxton wins, it will be hailed as proof of Trump’s political instincts and his ability to mold the Republican Party in his image. If he loses, it would be the first time that Texas has sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, and Trump could be blamed for doing too little, too late.

With so much riding on the race, the teasing from Trump seems to be a small price to pay for Paxton, who is enduring quite a lot of mockery. Trump started it last week in the Oval Office, when he said “some people don’t like the way he dresses, or some people don’t like the way he interviews or talks.” Later that night in the Rose Garden, it became clear that by “some people,” Trump meant himself. “It’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it.