Trump Explodes in Wild 2026 Panic as Texas Senate Results Rattle GOP

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week’s Texas Senate primaries, Democrat James Talarico triumphed, while GOP Senator John Cornyn and MAGA extremist Ken Paxton are headed for a runoff. Talarico, who speaks openly about his religious commitments and about the need to win over MAGA voters, might have a shot, especially against Paxton. That caused Donald Trump to explode in an agitated, panicky tirade on Truth Social, where he warned that the GOP primary could cost Republicans the seat and “MUST STOP NOW!” He vowed to endorse soon and insisted that the other candidate will have to “DROP OUT OF THE RACE!” This comes as other Republicans are publicly airing their fears of a Talarico-Paxton matchup. We talked to Democratic operative Sawyer Hackett, a veteran of Texas races. He explains Talarico’s unique appeal, why Texas is so hard for Democrats, what has to happen for them to win, and why they could fall short of this dream yet again. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:16.4	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
0:33.3	In the Texas primaries on Tuesday, Democrat James Tala Rico triumphed, while on the GOP side,
0:39.2	Establishment Senator John Cornyn and Mago-Wack Job Ken Paxton are headed for a runoff.
0:45.7	This outcome caused Donald Trump to explode on truth social, where he announced he'll soon make an endorsement designed to a protracted GOP bloodbath. For Democrats, Texas is like baseball. It keeps
0:53.4	breaking your heart. Yet Republicans are clearly worried. Whatever is to be in this race, what's happening there now is highly illuminating about this political moment, and we're unraveling it all with Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett, a veteran of Texas races. Sawyer, nice to have you on, man. Great to be with you, Greg. So in the
1:12.6	Democratic primary in Texas, state legislator James Tala Rico defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
1:19.5	He's openly religious. He talks about the need to reach out to moderates and independence and even
1:23.9	Trump voters. He's mild-mannered and genuinely seems to believe in his ability to
1:28.6	persuade voters to cross over. Sawyer, can you sum up James Tellerico for us?
1:34.4	Yeah, I would say the summary, the best summary I could give would be he's a progressive preacher
1:38.4	who can throw a punch. He's somebody who can level a blistering attack against Trump and
1:43.7	Republicans in the Trump era while not shutting the door on voters who may disagree with him on a lot of issues.
1:50.4	You know, he's kind of exactly the kind of candidate that Democrats need to win in a state like Texas, where we do have to win over some of Trump's voters to pull out a victory.
2:00.3	He's someone who can both excite the
2:02.0	base and widen the tent. So I think Democrats are feeling pretty good about his nomination.
2:07.9	Obviously, it's going to be tough because it's Texas, but we'll get to that. Meanwhile,
2:11.7	on the GOP side, Texas Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton both fell short of 50% due to a spoiler.
2:19.9	They're advancing to a runoff.
2:21.9	Trump exploded on truth social over this.
2:24.4	He said the GOP primary, quote, must stop now, all caps.
2:29.4	You know, when he's angry, he uses all caps.
	...

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