Posted on 04/23/2025 4:48:10 AM PDT by RandFan
WASHINGTON — Many Republican lawmakers lie low when they have differences with President Trump. Sen. Rand Paul has taken the opposite approach.
“Congress needs to grow a spine, and Congress needs to stand up for its prerogatives,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters, complaining that Trump relied on a national-emergency law to impose tariffs that Paul believes should be controlled by lawmakers. His comments came just days after he was one of only two GOP senators to vote against the party’s budget framework that is key to Trump’s tax cuts, saying it didn’t do enough to reduce the deficit.
The libertarian known for sometimes quixotic battles at the fringes of Capitol Hill is now at the center of the biggest fights in Washington. Paul’s moves have irritated the president, whom Paul never endorsed in the 2024 election, and now major parts of Trump’s agenda could hinge on whether the senator sticks to his guns or folds.
The conflict over tariffs could come to a head soon. A measure Paul is co-sponsoring to end Trump’s tariffs is set to come to the floor when the Senate returns next week. The effort is seen as having no chance of passing, but it will put fellow Republicans on the record as financial markets continue to reel and could pressure the administration to change course.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
You slobber all over Rand like he's God, and not a fallible moron who clearly is out of his league.
And then you imply that those of us who think Trump is doing great work with his trade reset (and he has), as cultists who think he's should be a king.
Got it. Good job.
Great job of support Rand.
Sorry, Rand is simply wrong about too many things for me to say anything nice about him. He's gone to the dark side, and you just can't see it.
So, provide me with Rand Paul's accomplishments.
The Des Moines Iowa Register tried, and quite honestly they only tend to prove that he really hasn't accomplished anything of value. Here was their attempt:
Top 10 list of Rand Paul accomplishments
1. His 13-hour filibuster. Driven by unanswered questions about the legality of using drone strikes inside the United States, Paul filibustered the nomination of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on March 6.
2. Paul filed a lawsuit against President Barack Obama and the National Security Agency in February 2014, arguing that a program to collect metadata from vast swaths of Americans was an intrusion of privacy.
3. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he pressed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for details about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the death of four Americans.
4. He held a "listening session" with local leaders in Ferguson, Mo., in October 2014 in the wake of civil unrest there. Paul has said he thinks the underlying problem in Ferguson and elsewhere is a criminal justice system that unfairly targets minorities.
5. In Detroit in December 2013, Paul described his idea for the "Economic Freedom Zone Act of 2013," which would reduce taxes in any ZIP code with unemployment greater than 11/2 times the national average.
6. Paul traveled to Guatemala on a mission trip to do free eye surgeries.
7. He filed a resolution that declared a state of war exists between the Islamic State and the United States.
8. Paul has pushed for criminal justice reform. In February 2014, he appeared before a committee at the Kentucky Senate to argue for restoration of voting rights for nonviolent Kentucky felons, and in February this year filed a bill that would restore federal voting rights. He filed a criminal justice reform bill last month.
9. He spoke on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, about protecting Fourth Amendment rights.
10. In April 2014, he filed a bill that would halt U.S. aid to the Palestinian government until it agrees to a cease-fire and recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
Furthermore, he ran against Donald John Trump in 2016, and he really did not get any traction whatsoever, because most of what he talked about did not resonate. He ignored the topics Trump was espousing, because Rand is a Libertarian, and while his topics were of importance, they were not high on the list of what the people wanted or needed from a President. He still thinks he has a better plan than Trump, but I for one have not seen or heard about it, and I am sure most voters hold similar views regarding Rand's leadership qualities.
Re:21 - the usual from you.
Grow up and accept that not everyone see things as you do.
“Do old people owe anything to future genrations?”
I’m not certain who old people are in this context. But politicians, successful ones, are mostly narcists. People with empathy and a sense of connection are weeded out of the populist race quickly. Even without the narcissism people in general do what’s best for them as opposed to some great and unspecified mass of people. As an example, Hitler ordered the complete destruction of all infrastructure with no regard for the millions who would survive the war. That’s an extreme example. But several times I witnessed CEO’s and directors doing things that benefited them and caused damage or dissolution to the enterprise. That’s narcissism distilled into a tiny bottle.
Do old politicians owe anything to this abstract called the nation, as opposed to whatever it is they want? Look at the many octogenarians in Congress. Does anyone think they’re there to serve “the nation?” My guess is they’re there because they identify as a larger and more important thing. They’re not Nancy Pelosi. They’re Representative Nancy Pelosi, a demigod in her own mind. Take away the title and the sycophants and she shrivels down to her own size and dies quickly with no self-identity or value.
Does that answer your question?
Okay, I’m going to bed and try to reduce my cynicism.
You are correct but he is a self centered know it all and it's easier for me to see how his neighbor kicked his ass.
He wants to save money but sometimes you have to take yes for an answer, and he always wants it all his way.
Paul is from a bright red state and has no worries about re-election, but many of his counter parts have to walk a fine line and the means a compromise.
If Rand holds out and 2 or 3 other senators rebel, what do we win?
Rand Paul lost me when he took the time time to go on an anti President Trump tariff tirade with that idiot Tim Kline several weeks ago. What else are we to do to combat how unfairly our nation has been treated regarding trade?????
Rand Paul never had me because actions speak louder than words.
OK - he is not a Rino, but he is an idiot on this issue.
Indeed.
Do nothing attention whore.
No, not really.
The quality of posters has gone done in the 25 years I have been posting here. To wit: you.
“There can be room for some opposition ?”
Not here I reckon.
“The quality of posters has gone done…”
Says the FReeper who tells other posters to shut up, etc when they can’t argue the point.
As I saud - grow up.
Re: 75 - because I call out posters like you that make disagreements personal? Unlikely.
Get back to me when you can argue the point.
Order of members possessing the quality of being annoying:
1) joesbucks (full-on leftist, deceased)
2) Fuzz (angry and sneering, very ‘moderate republican)
3) Fury
Fury’s not so bad. Personally, I wouldn’t petition for his removal. Sure, maybe he disagrees with you... but isn’t arguing for your position the entire purpose of this forum? So long as your opponent is not a full-on leftist?
You are entitled to your own opinion, so long as it EXACTLY tracks with mine, PRECISELY. 😊
Yes I agree. But he is an annoying twit. So I will take your advice. Keep an eye on him. He is closet troll.
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