Trump Tells Crowd Ken Paxton Is ‘A Pain in the A**’ Before Asking, ‘Is He Here, by the Way?’

President Donald Trump again insulted Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, calling him “a pain in the a**” before wondering aloud, “Is he here, by the way?”

The president has used similar lines countless times before, including at his Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where he declared, “He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen, but you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”

His latest remarks came as he returned to Denton, Texas, on Thursday to continue rallying support for Paxton, who is running against Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico.

“He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, one of the most loyal people,” Trump told the crowd. “When I was being hit by the radical left… Ken Paxton was at my side, more than anybody, and I have to always remember that because he can be a pain in the a** sometimes — I’ll be honest.”

“Is he here, by the way?” the president questioned. “Oh, there he is. Good. I didn’t even know if he was here! I don’t care. I would say the same thing whether — the guy is the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.”

Some of the frustration Trump was referring to may stem from unearthed audio in which Paxton privately acknowledged that the president’s recent Dallas gathering appeared to hurt his campaign.

“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said in a recording obtained by The New York Times. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

CNN data analyst Harry Enten noted Thursday that Paxton’s net favorability stood at minus-16 points, which he said made Paxton the least popular Texas Republican Senate nominee this century.

Watch above on Real America’s Voice.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!