🧩 BND Motif Index · M1194
Crooked
A politician is known first as a crook: the indictments, the ethics cases and the bribes are his reputation, and voters and pundits sum him up by it ('Paxton's a crook', Crooked Hillary, 'I am not a crook').
🎭 Archetypes🗂️ Moral Scandals🗂️ Corruption
- 13claims filed under it
- 5left shows it came up on
- 4center shows it came up on
- 2right shows it came up on
- 6claims retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 5
🎙️ Hacks on Tap 🎙️ The Adam Mockler Show 🎙️ The Kyle Kulinski Show 🎙️ The Majority Report (podcast) 🎙️ The Young Turks (podcast)
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
📰 In the news
the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)
- 📰 Ken Paxton accuses John Cornyn of hoping he loses Texas Senate race in leaked audio 2026-10-09 to 2026-10-10
- 📰 Maine Senate candidates debate corruption allegations 2026-10-07 to 2026-10-10
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-27 “Ken Paxton is corrupt.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-23 “Ken Paxton is a corrupt politician who has been impeached for his scheming.”
🎙️ The Majority Report (podcast) 🎙️ NPR Politics Podcast 🎙️ The Kyle Kulinski Show - 2026-10-21 “Susan Collins is a corrupt, dishonest, and unqualified politician who has defrauded Maine.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-21 “Ken Paxton is a criminal who committed bribery and fraud.”
🎙️ The Kyle Kulinski Show 🎙️ The Adam Mockler Show 🎙️ Breaking Points 🎙️ Forum (KQED) - 2026-10-16 “Susan Collins is a criminal who takes bribes and uses her position to benefit donors.”
🎙️ The Young Turks (podcast) 🎙️ The Majority Report (podcast) - 2026-10-14 “Ken Paxton is a corrupt leader who lacks a moral compass and should be replaced by James Talarico.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-10 “Ken Paxton is corrupt and should be voted out of office.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-09 “Susan Collins is corrupt and should be voted out of office.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-08 “Susan Collins is corrupt, a liar, and a traitor who supports Trump and has a history of unethical behavior.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-06 “Ken Paxton is a historically terrible candidate because he is corrupt.”
🎙️ The Dispatch Podcast 🎙️ The Adam Mockler Show 🎙️ Breaking Points 🎙️ The Michael Berry Show 🎙️ Hacks on Tap 🎙️ NPR Politics Podcast 🎙️ The Intelligence (Economist) - 2026-09-12 “Ken Paxton is corrupt and has ethical issues” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
- 2026-09-12 “Ken Paxton is corrupt and has been involved in securities fraud.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
- 2026-09-12 “Paxton is a crook” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
M1194 · first seen 2026-10-24 · last 2026-10-27 · what this is · how the index works