Post from Truth Social

Sixth in a same-day run of Texas endorsements

The post went out at 23:15 UTC on November 2, which is 6:15 p.m. Eastern. Daylight time ended on November 1. He spent the campaign's last days running tele-rallies from Mar-a-Lago, so Eastern is the likely local clock, and the post landed the evening before the November 3 midterm. It belongs to a burst of Texas endorsements posted the same day for Moran, Toth, Self, Buckingham and Huffines, and much of its wording is copied from those posts. "A place I love and WON BIG three times, including with 6.4 Million Votes in 2024" appears almost word for word in the Buckingham post, and "a career 'loaded up' with accolades and wins" is copied from it exactly. The closing list ("Support our Incredible Military/Veterans, Safeguard our Elections, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime") is the same block that ends the congressional endorsements. The biographical details ("7th Generation Texan," "President of Middleton Oil Company," "Martha Ann, and four beautiful children") read like lines taken from a campaign bio.

All of this points to staff assembling the post from his approved template. The early-evening timing and the standard "President DONALD J. TRUMP" sign-off fit that reading. Even the most Trump-like line, the Texas vote boast, shows up in two sibling posts the same day. It reflects a standing preference he has expressed before, so its grandiosity can't be read as something he felt while writing this post.

Where his register shows through

The attack paragraph is less polished than the biography. "Dumocrat" appears twice. The line "if he and the Dumocrats ever got in, all of these things will be terminated" mixes tenses. It closes on a three-part label, "Reckless, Radical, and Dangerous!" The phrase "Transgender Mutilization of your Children" uses "mutilization," which looks like a blend of "mutilation" and a word ending in "-ization." It is the only real lexical error in an otherwise clean, templated post. Without knowing who typed it, one token supports no inference about his cognition. The same goes for the absence of drift or self-interruption, because the text is structured by a template.

All-good candidate, all-bad opponent

The post splits along party lines. Middleton gets only idealized traits: "highly respected," "very successful," "HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Johnson gets only devaluation. The charges against him are a stock list ("massive Tax Increases, Open Borders, Men playing in Women's Sports, and Transgender Mutilization of your Children") that never mentions anything from Johnson's own record as a state senator. They are the same charges the post family uses against any Democrat.

The most substantive misstatement is about what the office can do. "NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, and NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY" are federal tax provisions, and a Texas attorney general has no power over them. Warning that "all of these things will be terminated" moves a national fight onto a state ballot line. This is ordinary campaign distortion: it misstates what voters are choosing, but it isn't a break from reality.

The trigger looks like routine election-eve upkeep with some supply-seeking added. "6.4 Million Votes in 2024 (The most Votes in History, BY FAR)!" puts his own record inside another candidate's endorsement, so his standing becomes the endorsement's credential. That week brought canceled Kansas and Iowa rallies and an NBC poll showing 60% disapproval, which offered plenty of possible injuries. The text shows none of them: there is no grievance about the press, the polls or his own treatment. The state is grandiose and calm.

Fear appeals, electoral mobilization

The persuasive force comes from fear appeals about children and the border, the "Dumocrat" coinage, and a long run of capitalized policy slogans. The final call, "GET OUT AND VOTE FOR MAYES," asks for votes and nothing more. Johnson is labeled "Dangerous," but the post doesn't call him an enemy to be dealt with. The children-and-mutilation line is the sharpest phrase. It sets up a threat to children with nothing behind it, which is a fear appeal rather than a call to act against anyone.

In archetypal terms, Trump plays the King granting his blessing ("my Complete and Total Endorsement"). Middleton is cast as the restorer of order ("Ensure LAW AND ORDER," "Uphold our Constitution"), and Johnson carries the projected disorder: open borders and men in women's sports. The ranking is plain. Status flows down from Trump's vote count to the person he endorses.

The claims

Trump did carry Texas in 2016, 2020 and 2024. His 2024 total of about 6.39 million is the state's record. "BY FAR" is hyperbole, since the previous record was his own 5.89 million in 2020. Middleton and Johnson are the actual nominees: Middleton beat Chip Roy in the May runoff, and Johnson beat Joe Jaworski. A late-July poll had them at 39–38, and Middleton put about $17 million of his own money into the race. That closeness may explain why this one got an election-eve endorsement. "NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY" overstates the 2025 law, which added a temporary deduction for seniors and did not end taxation of benefits. The charges about Johnson's positions on federal tax policy, borders and tax increases have no sourcing and are left unverifiable. The swampthevoteusa.com link is a get-out-the-vote landing page with nothing to fact-check, so it wasn't fetched.

Sources: Texas Standard, runoff results; KERA, September race coverage; Fox 7 Austin, July poll; Texas Tribune

Fact Verification

No tax on tips, overtime and Social Security: these are federal deductions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 2025). Under that law they expire after 2028, and the Social Security piece is a $6,000 deduction for people 65 and older, not an exemption. Johnson is a Dallas state senator. He never voted on the law and has no say over federal income tax. I searched news coverage, his campaign site (nathanfortexas.com), Branch, and profiles of the race from the Texas Tribune, TPR, CBS and KERA. None of them records him saying anything about these provisions. FactCheck.org (October 8, 2026) looked at the same attack aimed at other Democrats, including James Talarico in Texas, and called it misleading. Democrats voted against the overall bill, mostly over its Medicaid and SNAP cuts and its tax cuts for high earners, and many of them say they support the tips, overtime and senior provisions. Media Bias/Fact Check (September 12, 2026) rated Trump's version, that Democrats voted against these provisions, as misleading.

Massive tax increases: I found no tax-increase proposal from Johnson. His campaign site lists work on tightening the rules for business tax abatements, which is aimed at waste. Texas has no state income tax, and the attorney general cannot set taxes. The one real hook is a vote. Middleton has pointed out that Johnson, along with Talarico, opposed a bill limiting local property-tax revenue growth. The Senate Journal for the second special session (August 2025) confirms it: Johnson was one of 12 nays when SB 10 passed 18-12. That bill would have lowered the voter-approval rate for larger cities and counties from 3.5% to 2.5%. Voting against a tighter cap on local tax growth is not the same as wanting massive tax increases. Separately, the Senate passed SB 4 in February 2025 by 30-0, raising the school homestead exemption to $140,000. I didn't confirm Johnson's individual vote on it.

Open borders: this is contradicted by his stated platform. His campaign says Texas's southern border should be secure and safe, while rejecting border policy and tactics that violate the U.S. Constitution. He has criticized ICE practices and says he would sue the Trump administration over unconstitutional enforcement. But challenging how enforcement is done is not a call for open borders. In his 2024 primary, his challenger attacked him as too moderate, including on immigration. Political scientists quoted by the Texas Tribune describe his voting record as centrist. I found no use of the phrase open borders about Johnson in reporting on the race.

Bottom line: the post cites nothing from Johnson's record. Its wording matches the stock attack in Trump's endorsements against other Democrats. The only factual hook is the SB 10 vote, and it doesn't support massive tax increases. That vote is why this is mostly false rather than false. | | "Mayes Middleton is a state senator and president of Middleton Oil Company" | True | Middleton is a Republican Texas state senator, and coverage of the race describes him as an oil company executive who put about $17 million of his own money into the campaign. |

Overall Veracity: 60%