Busted: Paxton Calls for “Reasonable” Spending Cuts and Tax Cuts in Newly Leaked Audio
Busted: Paxton Calls for “Reasonable” Spending Cuts and Tax Cuts in Newly Leaked Audio
In another nothingburger leaked audio from a September 24 event with donors and lobbyists, Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton called for… cuts to government spending.
In the latest leak, obtained by the Texas Tribune, Paxton said, “We have to suck it up” and cut spending so that the country doesn’t go bankrupt. Somehow, he’s the bad guy, though.
“Making some reasonable cuts to mandatory spending – you’re gonna have to do it, or there is no solution,” Paxton says. “That’s just the reality; we have to suck it up. From Republican presidents to Democrats, we’ve been spending like crazy, and no one seems to care. It’s gonna bankrupt us. It’s just a matter of time.”
One lobbyist, identified as Jeanne Haggerty, said to Paxton, “I would really like to pay my fair share of taxes, which is less than I’m paying right now… Just something to keep in mind.”
“I’m with you on that,” Paxton responds. “I think tax cuts will actually generate more revenue.”
LISTEN:
“There’s no doubt we have to cut some of the mandatory spending,” Paxton also reportedly said in the recording. “The numbers don’t add up. And then on the other side, we’ve got to create tax policy that incentivizes more spend, more production in our economy.”
The tape, which is not damning at all for Paxton and aligns with the GOP’s messaging, is portrayed by the left and their media allies as an attack on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which comprise the bulk of mandatory federal spending. However, Republicans contend that cutting the hundreds of billions of dollars in welfare abuse and fraud would lower spending on social programs.
“We have to solve the national debt while keeping the promises we made to everyone who paid into these programs,” Paxton told the Tribune in response to their story. “The fake news keeps spinning the same cherry-picked audio to mislead Texans and take my words out of context. I have never said I would take away entitlements from those who deserve or earned them.”
Paxton further slammed Talarico, saying, “Texans aren’t going to hand a Senate seat to a politician who treats their paychecks as a piggy bank for his radical agenda.”
This is the fourth such leak from last month’s meeting. First, the New York Times published audio from the anti-Paxton attendee at the meeting, where Paxton said that the RNC midterm convention might have hurt him in the polls.
“When we did that convention, it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now? Yeah, it’s not good. I wish there was something we could do to turn that around, but there’s obviously nothing,” Paxton said.
Then, this week, two more audio tapes emerged. In one, obtained by Politico, Paxton is heard telling donors that he has “little control” over his messaging and “it’s all coming from DC,” creating a challenge with getting his message out to regular Texas voters. The snippet appears to show Paxton expressing his frustrations with the national GOP and the current Senate Republican leadership trying to control him.
In another tape, obtained by Axios, Paxton simply admits that his biggest obstacles in the race are the war in Iran and high gas prices, and explains his plan to alleviate voters’ concerns on the campaign trail. “I’m just trying to figure out ways that I can help people,” including “proposing legislation,” he said, while acknowledging that he can’t stop the war.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump responded to the ongoing smears against Paxton on Wednesday as the audio tapes surfaced.
Trump doubled down on his endorsement, saying he has “no regrets.”
The post Busted: Paxton Calls for “Reasonable” Spending Cuts and Tax Cuts in Newly Leaked Audio appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Author: Jordan Conradson