Republican John Cornyn calls GOP presidential race a circus ahead of failed anti-refugee vote

Senate Democrats successfully filibustered an anti-refugee bill Wednesday afternoon, with the Senate voting 55-43 after Republican leadership refused to allow any amendments to the legislation. That means once again Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke his promise to allow an open amendment process under his leadership. The reason they wouldn't allow those amendments? They were politically difficult because they would require Republicans to either endorse or reject Donald Trump's policies—and put on the record whether they were with their party's presidential frontrunner.

All that led to a slip of the tongue that Republican second-in-command Sen. John Cornyn might end up regretting.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) earlier on Wednesday offered to allow a motion to proceed to the House-passed Syrian refugee bill if Republicans promised votes on several politically charged proposals.

Reid wants a vote on language denouncing the GOP presidential frontrunner's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims who aren’t American citizens from entering the country. […]

"That'’s ridiculous," Cornyn said. "Let's have a serious discussion about national security and the refugee vetting program. To try to trivialize it by bringing the circus to town on the floor of the Senate strikes me as counterproductive."

Yes, Sen. Cornyn, the Republican presidential primary is a circus, and Trump is its ringleader. And as of today's vote (and the process behind it), Republicans basically agreed to follow him.