The Texas Senate has finally acquitted Attorney General Ken Paxton on all articles of impeachment, ending a partisan witch hunt that threatened to destroy the very foundation of American politics. For months, we have had to listen to pearl-clutching liberals and establishment moderates whine about ethics and corruption. They claim Paxton abused his office to protect Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer and major campaign donor. They say he fired whistleblowers, weaponized the state's legal apparatus, and acted as a personal fixer for a billionaire under federal investigation.
To which I say: Since when did we stop rewarding good customer service?
We spend our entire lives demanding that politicians run the government more like a business. We beg them to cut red tape, to streamline services, and to be highly responsive to top stakeholders. Yet the second an elected official actually treats his highest-paying investor like a valued VIP client, we drag him in front of a tribunal. It is rank hypocrisy, and frankly, it is bad for the economy.
I was having a quiet ribeye in Austin last week with a source close to leadership. He made a point that I have not been able to shake. He asked me what the point of winning a statewide election was if you could not use the full weight of the justice system to shield your friends from a property foreclosure.
He is entirely right. We elect leaders to lead. Sometimes, leadership looks like drafting bespoke legal opinions specifically designed to stop a foreclosure sale on your buddy's downtown real estate portfolio. That is not an abuse of power. That is just delivering a solid return on investment.
The trial itself was a masterclass in proper governance. The Texas Senate, acting as a jury, looked at the undeniable evidence that Paxton had deployed state resources to harass the enemies of his wealthy benefactor. They also looked at the three million dollars in campaign contributions flowing from pro-Paxton political action committees to the very senators sitting in judgment. They weighed these two facts and rightly concluded that this is a perfectly functioning ecosystem.
The left wants to criminalize the simple, everyday act of firing your top deputies because they reported you to the FBI.
Think about the chilling effect this impeachment nearly had on our democracy. For a brief, terrifying moment this summer, elected officials across the state of Texas were genuinely afraid to answer their phones. State senators were letting calls from real estate magnates go to voicemail. Regulatory commissioners were breaking out in cold sweats at the thought of expediting a zoning permit for a donor.
We came dangerously close to a system where a billionaire would have to navigate the legal system just like a shift manager at an Arby's. Is that the America you want to live in? Because it certainly is not mine.
Say what you will, but Paxton understands his base. He did not retreat. He did not apologize. He leaned into the allegations, proving that the only real crime in politics is being embarrassed by your own patronage.
Now, he is rightfully taking this winning messaging to a campaign for the United States Senate. This is the logical next step in his career trajectory. If you have mastered the art of state-level cronyism, you do not just sit on your laurels in Austin. You take that talent to Washington.
The U.S. Senate is the major leagues of protecting donors. In Texas, Paxton could only shield a guy from a few local subpoenas and a bankruptcy proceeding. In D.C., he can hold up entire federal agency appointments until his friends get their tax loopholes codified into permanent law. That is the kind of upward mobility we should be celebrating in this country.
Yet the media remains entirely focused on the whistleblowers. They paint the former deputies who went to the FBI as martyrs. The truth is that these people were simply terrible employees.
In the private sector, if your boss tells you to re-assign an entire division of state investigators to look into the enemies of a guy who just paid for your home renovations, you do not run to the federal authorities. You ask if he needs you to work through the weekend to get it done.
We have a crisis of insubordination in government. A good deputy attorney general knows that justice is blind, but it should at least be able to recognize a platinum-tier donor when they walk to the front of the line.
The sense of entitlement among these civil servants is staggering. They genuinely believe they work for the people of Texas, rather than the three to five guys who actually fund the political apparatus.
I hear the complaints from ordinary taxpayers. I see the angry comments online from people asking why Ken Paxton would not intervene when their house was foreclosed on, or why he did not dispatch state investigators to help them beat a traffic ticket. They feel left out of the justice system.
The answer is incredibly simple. Have you tried being a billionaire?
Have you tried bundling a few hundred thousand dollars for his reelection campaign? Have you considered buying him a granite countertop, or hiring his alleged mistress for a consulting role? No. You have not. You just expect the Attorney General of Texas to provide you with premium, white-glove legal immunity for free, simply because you pay taxes.
Taxes just keep the lights on in the Capitol building. If you want the state's top law enforcement officer to personally draft a binding legal opinion declaring that pandemic restrictions do not apply to your specific real estate portfolio, you have to pay for the upgrade.
You pay for a premium subscription because you want to skip the ads and get straight to the content. Ken Paxton is simply offering an ad-free experience for the Texas penal code, and it is beautiful to watch.
This is capitalism. This is freedom. Paxton’s acquittal proves that the system works perfectly for the exact people it was designed to protect.
When he gets to the U.S. Senate, I fully expect him to take this bespoke concierge model nationwide. And if I ever need a federal indictment casually misplaced, I will rest easy knowing exactly how large a check I need to write.