Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party has never been stronger. What about the country?

The US president’s backing of Maga extremists turns off the very voters Republicans need to win over in the midterms

Donald Trump gave it a minute.

At 9.01pm it was confirmed that Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a hardliner backed by the US president – had triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the state’s Republican primary runoff for the US Senate. By 9.02pm, Trump had started celebrating on social media.