Trump downplays midterm concerns after Paxton win

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Politics, Washington, Congress, News, Ms Now, President, Versant Media, Policy, Msnbc, Versant, Government, Senate

4.4 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With Trump-backed candidate Ken Paxton winning the Republican nomination for Senate in Texas, Democrats are bullish in the battle for the chamber. Plus, The U.S. reportedly carried out new strikes on Iran, this time targeting a military site. And, the pain Americans are facing at the pump may soon appear at the grocery store. Akayla Gardner, David Drucker, Joel Payne, and Angelo Carusone join The 11th Hour this Wednesday night.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Greetings, everyone. I'm Simone Sanders Townsend, in for Stephanie Rule, and welcome to the midweek nightcap.
0:10.9	We are now 160 days away from the midterms, which President Donald Trump apparently is not worried about.
0:17.5	Watch what he had to say in a cabinet meeting called to discuss negotiations with Iran.
0:24.9	They thought they were going to outweigh me, you know, we'll outweigh him. He's got the
0:28.8	midterms. I don't care about the midterms. Look what happened last night. That was the prelude
0:32.8	to the midterms. People understand that they know that very simple, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
0:40.4	So what happened last night? Well, Trump backed state attorney general Ken Paxton,
0:45.9	won the Republican nomination for Senate in Texas. He will face Democrats' choice,
0:50.5	state lawmaker James Tolariko in November who kicked off his first rally of the
0:55.3	People versus Ken Paxton tour in Houston tonight.
1:00.1	Well, well, well, there we go.
1:02.3	With that, folks, let's bring in our nightcap with us tonight.
1:07.2	We have a Kayla Gardner, MS Now White House correspondent.
1:11.1	David Drucker is here, senior writer at the dispatch, Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
1:15.8	He was also a senior aide for Hillary for America and press secretary for former Senator Harry Reid and
1:21.3	Angelo Corazon, President of Media Matters.
1:25.0	Thank you all for joining us tonight.
1:26.8	Joel, there's many places we could start.
1:29.1	I want to start with Trump and Paxton here. Look, primaries are thing. One thing, a general election,
1:36.8	as we all at this table know, is a whole another. What do you make of the Paxton endorsement?
1:43.9	I know folks have made a lot about the fact that he's a criminal.
1:47.4	He has a mugshot, but the voters in Texas, they knew that.
	...

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