Katty Kay

So it's very much about

him personally.

And I think that's the problem, Anthony, is that he's done this before when he endorsed candidates who were very loyal to him, but were totally unelectable.

Herschel Walker down in Georgia, Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Mastriano also in Pennsylvania.

And it came back to hurt the party, which is why the Republican operatives like John Thune are saying this is actually not helpful to us.

And I don't know whether this is going to be a rerun of 2020.

Maybe the party is more in line with Donald Trump now, but independent voters aren't and swing voters aren't.

And his risk is that he's proposing these people.

And Ken Paxton has been kind of a joke.

in mainstream Republican politics for the last 10 years because of this constant scandals against him and accusations of financial fraud against him and accusations of having affairs against him.

I mean, he really has been kind of a joke.

So can Republican voters who are not diehard MAGA overlook his baggage and still vote for him because Donald Trump

I think there is a chance they will.

I think you're right.

I think the Republicans will still win.

And one Republican strategist said to me last night that an endorsement by Trump moves you up in the rankings in your race by 50 points.

He says there's nothing like it in Republican primary politics at the moment to boost your fortunes.

that compares remotely with an endorsement by Donald Trump.

You can have all of these standard conservative moves and issues that will move you up by 20 points, but nothing's going to move you up by 50 points apart from Donald Trump.

So he still does have a huge amount of sway, but it is very much a test of loyalty to him.