Leaked audio catches Ken Paxton in full panic mode, whimpering about having zero control over his own campaign and needing to distance himself from Trump at the molecular level. "I've never been in a race where I felt like I had less control over a campaign... I don't have the ability to change anything... Make sure that we are maximizing every cent so that people understand the difference between him and me" A Republican politician so desperate to escape Trump's gravity that he's publicly admitting his own campaign isn't his. That's the state of the party right now. Context: This is Trump's consolidation in real time. Paxton can't run from him, can't control him, and can't even pretend to be independent anymore. The GOP isn't a party, it's a personality cult with increasingly frantic midtiers trying to prove they're still relevant.