What's the Matter with Texas?

In 2004 Thomas Frank wrote a book entitled “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”  His thesis was that people in Kansas were voting against their own self-interests by voting Republican.  Frank missed the point that for many people, their ideological beliefs take precedence over their economic or social interests.  I, for example, might find it in my self-interest to vote Republican.  I’m old, not an immigrant, no kids in school, fairly set financially–would it be in my self-interest, very narrowly defined–to vote Republican?  Well, don’t hold your breath.  Ain’t gonna happen.  My self-interest is connected to a different set of values.  

What I do not understand is the Republican voters of Texas who elected Ken Paxton as their candidate for the U.S. Senate in a landslide.  On what grounds–ideological, economic self-interest, love of country–would a Texas Republican prefer a crooked and dipshit politician over a reasonably decent conservative, and yet they did.  Are they blindly following Trump, and if so, why?

Something not quite right down there in Texas.