GOP Texas senator says relationship with Trump similar to bad marriage

John Cornyn says it's like 'women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse.'

Oct 19, 2020

As the presidential election nears, polls show Democratic challenger Joe Biden leading by double-digits in his race to defeat incumbent President Donald Trump.

The potential loss is causing many Republicans to break ties with the current Oval Office occupant.

One U.S. senator, John Cornyn of Texas, recently compared his relationship with the president to a bad marriage.

Describing his relationship with President Trump, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas (above) explained it as “maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well.”
(Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

In a meeting with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board, the senator was asked if he and other Republicans regret not pushing the president more aggressively to combat the COVID-19 crisis.

Describing his relationship with the president, Cornyn explained it as “maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well.”

The senator, who is up for reelection, acknowledged that he has disagreed with the president on a number of issues and claims he has tried not to “get into public confrontations and fights with him because, as I’ve observed, those usually don’t end too well.”

“But when I have had differences of opinion, which I have, (I) do that privately,” Cornyn said. “I have found that has allowed me to be much more effective, I believe, than to satisfy those who say I ought to call him out or get into a public fight with him.”

The Texas lawmaker, in office since 2002, has previously disagreed with the president on trade agreements with China, as well as border security in a state that borders Mexico.

“I think what we found is that we’re not going to change President Trump,” Cornyn said. “He is who he is. You either love him or hate him, and there’s not much in between.”

Cornyn is polling with a small lead over his Democratic challenger, MJ Hegar. A self-described centrist, Hegar is a “combat veteran, working mom and Texan,” she writes on her website.

Hegar is a recipient of a Purple Heart after being injured in Afghanistan. She successfully advocated for the military to overturn an outdated policy that barred women from ground combat positions and writes that her work helped “open up hundreds of thousands of jobs for women in the military.” That experience inspired her Senate run.

Cornyn’s campaign recently released an ad featuring Texas State Senator Royce West, who said that Hegar has a “problem” with Black voters.

“She has never reached out, and it is what it is with her, and I’m not voting for her; I’m not voting in that race,” West said.

Hegar maintains that she hadn’t sought the elder statesman’s endorsement because she believes “personal endorsements tend to come with quid pro quo that I believe are a big part of what’s broken in politics.”

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