During this year’s Republican Senate primary campaign in Texas, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign distributed one of the most devastating campaign advertisements ever made. This video wasn’t an artificial intelligence slop insult fest or a Nixonian ratf**k. It was a recitation of one candidate’s long list of crimes, corruption and scandals since 2015 — six long minutes of one shocking incident after another, all taking place in plain sight, well known to state officials and voters alike.
The ad wasn’t about a Democrat or a run-of-the-mill crooked businessman. It was about the state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who would go on to win the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate over the powerful incumbent Sen. John Cornyn on May 26. And Paxton was helped across the finish line by none other than Donald Trump, his spiritual soul brother who offered an enthusiastic endorsement. (The ad has now been “unlisted” on YouTube, but it is still available on X and other social media platforms.)
