Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) admitted in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he's disagreed with President Trump on a number of major issues, but that he's kept the differences of opinion private. "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," Cornyn said.
The comments come as Cornyn faces a tight reelection campaign against Democrat challenger MJ Hegar, who lags in the polls by only a handful of percentage points. The move fits a pattern of a number of threatened Republican senators who are now distancing themselves from Trump out of the concern that he risks their chances of holding their seats.
Cornyn specifically described differing from Trump on topics like budget deficits during the COVID-19 crisis, funneling money from the defense budget to the construction of the border wall, and trade. "I applaud him for standing up to China but, frankly, this idea that China is paying the price and we're not paying the price here at home is just not true," Cornyn said, as one example.
Cornyn likened his relationship with the president to "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." He added, "He is who he is. You either love him or hate him, and there's not much in between. What I tried to do is not get into public confrontations and fights with him because, as I've observed, those usually don't end too well." Read more about Cornyn's differences from the president, and his justification for keeping them quiet, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.