Nostradamus Was Right: Chris LaCivita’s $95 Million RINO Rescue Just Collapsed
Paxton Crushes Cornyn 64-36 After Trump’s Late Endorsement, and Our 2024 Warnings Are Now 2026 History
How a Purple Heart-decorated veteran and longtime GOP consultant went from co-managing Trump’s 2024 victory straight back to protecting Senate incumbents Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn from America First challengers — only to watch nearly $100 million in donor money get torched in one of the most expensive and humiliating primary losses in modern Republican history.
We told you.
We told you on May 28, 2024, in a 13-point thread that racked up over a million views. We told you again on February 13, 2026, in the vindication update when the Cornyn-Paxton war was already underway. Everything we laid out — the Never Trump history, the self-dealing, the protection of RINOs, the McConnell-orbit ties, the trashing of Ken Paxton — has now been confirmed in the most expensive and embarrassing way possible.
Call us Nostradamus if you want. The receipts don’t lie.
The Viral Predictions That Just Came True
Here’s what we wrote in May 2024 (full thread here)
Then, on February 13, 2026 — as the Texas primary was heating up — we updated it (full thread here)
We were called alarmist. We were told LaCivita was a “winner” who delivered 2024. Now the same operative who protected Never Trump hires and attacked Paxton is the one who just torched nearly $100 million trying (and failing) to save John Cornyn.
The Career Arc That Reveals Everything (LegiStorm Receipts)
According to LegiStorm’s employment history for Christopher Joseph LaCivita (born July 15, 1966, McKeesport, Pa.; Virginia Commonwealth University, political science, 1989; Purple Heart recipient):
2014: Executive Campaign Manager, Pat Roberts for U.S. Senate (Kansas) — longtime establishment incumbent.
2015–2016: Senior Adviser, Rand Paul 2016.
2018–2019: National Republican Strategist, RPC Strategies Inc.
2019–2022: Partner, FP1 Strategies LLC (frequently tied to McConnell-aligned operations).
2024: Senior Adviser / Co-Manager, Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc.
2025 – January 2026: Of Counsel, PLUS Communications LLC (a major GOP public affairs and lobbying firm).
2025 onward: Senior Adviser, Texans for a Conservative Majority (pro-Cornyn super PAC); also joined Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign as senior adviser (announced June/July 2025), where he publicly attacked Project 2025 architect Paul Dans as trying to “torpedo” Trump’s campaign while defending Graham as Trump’s “longtime friend and ally.”
Notice the pattern. No senior White House job after co-managing the 2024 victory (unlike co-manager Susie Wiles, who became Chief of Staff). He went straight back to the private-sector revolving door — PLUS Communications, then immediately into super PAC and campaign roles protecting two of the Senate’s most frequent targets of MAGA frustration: Lindsey Graham in South Carolina and John Cornyn in Texas.
This is not an ideologue who had a change of heart. This is a professional operative whose business model has always thrived on access to whoever holds the checkbook.
The $95 Million Disaster in Texas
In 2025, Cornyn quietly brought LaCivita on as senior adviser to the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority. Establishment donors and leadership poured resources into the effort. Reports show at least $92 million spent to help Cornyn, with the super PAC alone raising $35.6 million and spending $32.8 million (AdImpact ad spending $32.9 million, including $9.5 million in the runoff period).
Total spending in the Republican primary race approached record levels — one of the most expensive Senate primaries in U.S. history.
Timeline of the collapse:
March 3, 2026 primary: No candidate reaches majority.
May 19, 2026: President Trump endorses Ken Paxton.
May 26, 2026 runoff: Paxton defeats Cornyn 63.5% – 36.5% (586,953 to 337,476 votes).
A four-term incumbent in a state Donald Trump won by double digits got routed after the base finally got the endorsement it wanted. LaCivita’s side spent like it was protecting the last lifeboat on the Titanic — and STILL lost decisively.
The Math That Should Terrify Every Republican Donor
Nearly $100 million (or $92+ million per detailed tracking) to “protect” one Senate incumbent in a +14 Trump state — against a sitting Attorney General who has sued the Biden administration dozens of times and been one of the most consistent America First fighters in the country.
Compare that to the roughly $20 million reportedly spent on Virginians for Fair Maps and related efforts to stop the Democratic gerrymander push in Virginia. That structural fight had real downstream implications for multiple House seats in a state with actual competitive opportunities.
The party (and its big donors) chose the “safer bet” — propping up a McConnell-aligned incumbent with a long record of occasional divergence from Trump — over investing in map fights that could deliver lasting House advantages. One “safe” Senate seat got five times the resources of a battle that could have protected or flipped multiple House seats.
This is the LaCivita worldview in action: protect the club, attack the insurgents, cash the checks. Even when the “safe” bet loses the primary anyway.
The Broader Pattern: Graham, Cornyn, and the Consultant Class
LaCivita didn’t just land with Cornyn. He also signed on as senior adviser to Lindsey Graham’s reelection effort in South Carolina — another longtime RINO target facing primary heat from figures like Paul Dans. In both cases, the same operative who helped manage Trump’s 2024 win became the hired muscle trying to keep these incumbents safe from America First challengers.
Now, if you ask LaCivita, he’ll tell you that this is “strategy for winning the long game”. Yeah right! This is self-preservation for the consultant class and the Uniparty remnants who still control donor networks and super PACs!
Mainstream outlets have been remarkably quiet about the scale of the embarrassment in Texas. A $95 million+ primary loss in a deep-red state, run with Trump’s own 2024 co-campaign manager on the incumbent side, should be front-page news in conservative media. Instead, crickets — because exposing it would require admitting the consultant class and RINO protection racket are still very much alive and well.
The Vindication Is Complete — Now What?
We said in 2024 that LaCivita was more interested in grift and protecting his old networks than in empowering the base. We said he trashed Paxton before and would do it again if the price was right. We said the operation under his influence was prioritizing the wrong people and the wrong fights.
Paxton’s 64-36 thrashing of Cornyn — after Trump finally stepped in — is the final receipt.
The GOP has a choice: keep outsourcing its toughest primaries to operatives whose track record includes Never Trump signaling in 2021, suspected roles in RINO impeachment efforts in 2023, self-dealing allegations in 2024, and now a nearly $100 million embarrassment in 2026... or start treating these consultants like the liabilities they are.
Primary every RINO.
Support fighters like Ken Paxton who actually deliver for the base.
Demand transparency on where donor money goes and who’s really running the ops.
Sideline the snakes who wear the red hat just long enough to get paid, then pivot back to protecting the old guard.
Our 2024 thread wasn’t a conspiracy, as many said. It was pattern recognition. The 2026 Texas disaster — and the parallel protection of Lindsey Graham — is the proof.
The truth doesn’t expire. It just keeps winning.
GEORGE NEWS is reader-supported investigative journalism. If this kind of accountability reporting matters to you — especially when mainstream outlets stay silent on embarrassing GOP spending disasters and consultant grift — consider becoming a paid subscriber at georgenews.org OR make a donation here: https://georgenews.support.
Share this everywhere. Tag your reps and donors. The next primary cycle is already forming.
We told you in 2024. We’re telling you again now.
Primary the problems. Back the proven fighters. Drain the actual swamp — even when it wears a red hat.
(Spending figures drawn from AdImpact, FEC reporting via Texas Tribune, NYT, and contemporaneous coverage. LaCivita employment history confirmed via LegiStorm PowerBrief. Election results certified via Texas officials and major outlets. All original X threads linked above. This is opinion and analysis based on public records and our own prior reporting.)
~GEORGE