President Trump went on a winning streak in May primaries that nobody in Washington expected — backing candidates against sitting Republican incumbents and winning all but two races, ousting lawmakers he considered disloyal and tightening his grip on the entire Republican Party in a single month.

Ken Paxton crushed four-term Texas Senator John Cornyn by 27 points — and in his victory speech thanked Trump directly, calling his endorsement the most powerful force in American politics. On top of that Trump secured passage of his sweeping megabill — delivering on core campaign promises in a legislative victory his critics spent months insisting would never happen. He said he would do it. They said he couldn’t. The scoreboard just answered that argument permanently.