President Donald Trump has been an emphatic supporter of Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, though lately that enthusiasm has appeared to waver. Paxton, the former Texas attorney general who was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on corruption allegations and acquitted by the state Senate, is challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a contentious Republican primary that has split the party's wings.

Speaking on a Friday episode of The Bulwark's podcast, Joe Perticone and Sonny Bunch discussed Trump's insults aimed at the Texas Republican — a candidate whom Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has labeled a terrible candidate.

Perticone explained that one minute Trump is "saying we need to make this guy the next senator. He was great defender of all things Trump." Then he pivots to attacking him, saying Paxton "looks pretty bad. Like he dresses horribly. And then he just kept bringing it up repeatedly on separate occasions."

The campaign and politics reporter noted one of Trump's frequently deployed phrases, "some people say," which Perticone argued is actually code for "I am saying."

The analysts played several clips of Trump remarking that Paxton dresses like a schlub, looks and talks funny, or is terrible in interviews.

"You might not like the way he looks," Trump said at one point. "You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps."

Perticone noted that this fixation on appearance is not unusual for Trump. One of his frequent compliments is that someone he hired for a given position looks like they're "out of central casting."

"This is perfect Trump, in a nutshell. It's him just being like — this guy is one of my top allies. I really want him in the Senate. But I hate the way he looks. I hate his clothes. And he can't contain himself from bringing it up every time he mentions Ken Paxton because he's, like, 'I got to advocate for this guy, but I can't stand his look,' because he likes everyone to look a certain way," Perticone continued.

The pair also recalled the bizarre story of Trump buying all of the male Cabinet members' shoes from his favorite vendor and pretending he knew their exact shoe sizes — while getting them wrong. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for example, received shoes from the president so large that they are noticeable in photos.

The most recent example they discussed was Paxton appearing in an Orlando Four Seasons dry-fit golf polo, massive shoes that looked too big for him, tight-fitting khakis, and a noticeable bulge in his pocket. Perticone offered a tongue-in-cheek conspiracy theory about why Paxton may have dressed that way for a political event.

As Cornyn told the Texas Tribune recently, "Paxton's a poor campaigner. He's lazy and doesn't raise money. And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election."

Given that, Perticone theorized that Paxton had actually been playing golf before the event — and that the shoes may not even belong to him.

"They're clearly not his shoes. It reminded me of when you're a little kid and your dad says, 'Take out the garbage.' And so you grab the garbage and you go to the door and there's only one pair of shoes and it's your dad's. So you stick your little feet into these giant shoes as you walk out to the garbage cans. That's what it looks like," said Perticone.

"This has happened to me. I've gone and played golf, you leave home in your spikes and you don't bring a pair of shoes to change into," he recalled.

Under the theory, Paxton could not show up in golf spikes, so he borrowed someone else's shoes.

"And so, that's why he's wearing size 14's," Perticone's conspiracy theory continued.

The bulge in Paxton's pocket, he suggested, was most likely a golf ball.

Another issue the analysts raised was that Paxton was clearly not wearing an undershirt to cover his noticeable chest protrusions — something Trump has criticized other men for in the past.

The pre-event golf round, they suggested, might also explain why Paxton appeared so lethargic and unenthusiastic. "'Cause he just played 18 holes!"