Taken together, the message was simple: This is Donald Trump’s party. Period. End of sentence.

Take the Cornyn and Crenshaw treatment.

So what did they do wrong?

As notable as what’s in the bill is what’s not: no ban on assault weapons, no universal background checks, and no increase in the age limit for buying a car. firearm.

The public’s reaction to all this? “No gun control!” they chanted over and over at Cornyn.

“There are two types of members of Congress: there are performance artists and there are legislators. Performance artists are the ones who get all the attention, the ones you think are more conservative because they know very say the slogans well, they know how to recite the lines that they know our constituents want to hear.”

Later, he added this: “We have crooks among us…in the conservative movement. Lie after lie after lie.”

What this weekend’s festivities in Texas make clear is that there is an active and ongoing effort to purge the Republican Party of anyone who a) criticizes Donald Trump or his allies in Congress in any way. or b) seeks to break with rigid party orthodoxy on issues like guns.

These criticisms are calling cards from Trump’s years as head of the Republican Party: there is no room for compromise or even conversation. It’s either his way or no way.