Matt Araiza: “Excited To Be Part Of This Team”

Pro-MAGA Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) complained about facing a "purity test" from angry Republican voters, including his own parents, who he says were indoctrinated by watching Fox News.

Marshall, a top backer of President Donald Trump, is a Kansas senator who voted to reject the 2020 election results and is seeking re-election this fall.

The senator made the confession about tension in his family during a recent interview on 13th & Park, a podcast produced by Ballard Partners, a pro-Trump lobbying firm with a history of alleged ethical breaches.

"Well, I think the number one I hear is the cost of gas, the cost of groceries," Marshall said, describing what Kansans tell him when he travels the state. "Homes are unaffordable."

"The anger runs deeper than economics," he added. "I've never seen people so mad."

"And if you think about it, the job of the national media — what they try to do is make my parents mad," Marshall told the podcast, blaming right-wing media. "They sit home, and they watch Fox News and Newsmax, and guess what? They're mad at me. They're mad at John Thune. They're mad at Mitch McConnell. They're mad at Donald."

"There's this purity test. I feel this anger," he lamented. "More than ever before... It's so easy to create hate."

Marshall's parents join a growing group of voters who are enraged at the senator.

In March 2025, Marshall walked out of a town hall in Oakley, Kansas — a rural community in a county where Trump won 85% of the vote — after constituents booed him and shouted "You're not done," according to local reporting.

"We don't have time for everyone to stand up. I do got two more commitments today. I appreciate everybody making the drive out and God bless America," Marshall told the crowd before walking out to boos and shouts.

"That is a damn shame," said Chuck Nunn, a local resident who raised concerns about Trump administration cuts to veterans' services, as the crowd applauded.

On his own Senate website, Marshall has declared, "We all want to make America great again."

State election records show he faces a Republican primary on Aug. 4 and a general election on Nov. 3.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) fired back at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying opposition to his IRS tax settlement runs far deeper than just two senators.

At 11:15 AM, Trump wrote on Truth Social that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was "a STAR" with the potential to be "one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."

He blamed Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — "both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action" — for blocking the confirmation.

Just seven minutes after Trump backed down, Cornyn rubbed salt in the wound by responding to Trump on X.

"POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis," Cornyn wrote on X.

The standoff forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrap a scheduled Thursday vote on Blanche's nomination, a setback for one of Trump's top Cabinet picks, MS NOW reported.

"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote on Truth Social, threatening to pull the nomination entirely and resubmit it once both senators leave office.

Earlier Wednesday, before Trump's post, Cornyn and Tillis had told Politico that someone inside the White House — not Trump himself — was blocking a deal.

"I don't know who it is — I'm just trying to get them out of the way so we can get the president his AG," Tillis said.

"If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but, apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House," Cornyn said, adding that he did not know who was responsible. "I don't know who, but it doesn't need to be this hard."

"Why don't you call over the DOJ and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for," Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon, as negotiations with the Department of Justice dragged on, MS NOW reported.

"What I've advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we're not prepared to vote yes yet," Tillis said Wednesday night, confirming neither senator had moved.