Quick Hits: Volume CDXII

 - New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart appeared at a rally for GOP Congressman Mike Lawler. His appearance culminated with introducing the keynote speaker for the evening - President Donald J. Trump. 

Upon learning of this interaction, Dart's teammate Abdul Carter expressed incredulity over Twitter. 

Naturally, Carter was roasted on Twitter for this take. 

The fact of the matter is NFL players who have been the most outspoken about Trump during his time in the White House have been given huge platforms within mainstream media. But even tacit support of Trump triggers some of the more visceral and unhinged reactions. 

Carter's response to the backlash over his tweet was stunning in its lack of self awareness. 

Uhhh....*our* narratives???? This would have been little more than a footnote were it not for Carter himself reacting to it in the manner he did. Clearly he was not pleased with his teammate associating with Trump, so I'm not really sure why he seems taken aback to the reactions. 

Realizing he was out of his depth, Carter ultimately deleted both tweets. 

Offseason workout for the Giants are slated to resume on Wednesday. No doubt that new coach John Harbaugh will answer all the inevitable inquiries about this flap and then look to move on ASAP. 

- GOP Senate hopeful out of Minnesota (and my next door neighbor's cousin) Adam Schwarze recently gave an interview to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. 

The candidate himself seemed proud of this particular excerpt of the story. 

He is largely unknown to the general public. A February poll of Minnesota Republican primary voters released by the campaign arm of Senate Republicans found nearly 60% had never heard of him.

Yet he’s now a front-runner to win the Republican endorsement this weekend at the party’s convention in Duluth, a remarkable development for a candidate facing two rivals with wider name recognition.

Hmmm. This feels like an implementation of Mitch Berg's Eleventh Law of Inverse Viability, which states  "The conservative progressives “respect” for their “conservative principles” will the the one that has the least chance of ever getting elected."

The fact of the matter is the leading GOP candidate, Michele Tafoya, is a legit moderate who may have trouble locking in staunch right wingers but appeal to moderate Dems and Independents in a way no Minnesota Republican has since Gov. Tim Pawlenty. And who was the last GOP candidate to win a statewide race in Minnesota???? Why, that would be Pawlenty. 

As a staunch conservative myself, I would guess my ideological bent more closely aligns with Schwarze over Tafoya. But I would give far better odds to Tafoya to win a statewide race. And the Strib legitimately fears that as well, which is the answer to the question of why they would seemingly prop up a "Trump conservative" like Schwarze.

- Another incumbent GOP Senator loses his primary battle. Just over a week ago it was Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. On Tuesday, it was the senior Senator from Texas. 

BREAKING: Trump ally Ken Paxton defeats Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ bitter Republican primary war.

Trump targeted Cornyn as "VERY disloyal" as he backed Paxton, a MAGA firebrand, in the final days of the runoff campaign.

Paxton now faces off against state Rep. James Talarico — a… pic.twitter.com/hEo4SJiEGY

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 27, 2026

The victory for Paxton may be red meat for MAGA-ites, but it puts the GOP Senate majority in more jeopardy than if Cornyn remained the candidate. The reason being is a significant number of MAGA members are low propensity voters, essentially only showing up when Trump is on the ballot. So while I believe Paxton likely prevails over the kooky Talarico, it's going to take a lot more financial resources for Republicans to defend this seat. And that means less cash to unseat incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) as well as make a play for open Dem seats in Minnesota and Michigan. Also, Republicans are playing defense in Maine (incumbent Susan Collins is in a tight race) and North Carolina (Democrat Roy Cooper, who was very popular two-term governor, is prime to flip this open seat), but, again, they may not be prioritized as a result. 

So for all you MAGA-ites celebrating these victories, I would advise you to keep that same energy through the general election. These primary election wins aren't a culmination but rather the very beginning. 

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