Rand Paul defrosts his relationship with Trump

Semafor ^ | June 16 | Burgess Everett

[RandFan]

Rand Paul and President Donald Trump are looking far more aligned lately — almost like friends.

The Kentucky Republican senator spent much of Trump’s second term at odds with the president on major issues, from last year’s tax cuts to Trump’s sweeping tariffs to the war in Iran, even opposing Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation as Homeland Security secretary. That distance got Paul labeled a “sick wacko” by the loyalty-conscious Trump, who initially excluded him from last year’s White House picnic.

But in recent weeks, Paul spearheaded a $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill, drawing praise from Trump and an invitation to the White House signing ceremony. He’s giving the president backup on voter ID and ending birthright citizenship.

Paul is also providing an encouraging counterweight to more hawkish colleagues who warn Trump not to negotiate with Iran. And his picnic invitation caused no kerfuffle this year. The libertarian-minded senator’s pinned X post is praise from the president: “He knows what’s important.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill are taking notice of the mutual thaw. It’s not lost on them that Paul’s closest ally in Congress, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was just taken out by Trump in a primary. Senate Republicans see Paul as more keenly aware of his standing inside the party than Massie, and he is acting accordingly.

Paul said it’s been natural to support Trump in recent weeks: “I just keep supporting the things I’ve always supported. I’m always for peace versus war. On the border, I think you can’t have open borders,” he said in an interview.

“I just look at things one issue at a time, and I try to be consistently a defender of the Constitution,” he added. “I don’t think I’ll change from that.”

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy
KEYWORDS:

[RandFan]

Positive piece

[Skwor]

Rand Paul finally looked at his weathervane and saw which way the winds were blowing. Don’t expect any commitment other than to himself.

[DIRTYSECRET]

You mean Massie had an effect on him?

[brownsfan]

“You mean Massie had an effect on him?”

That’s my first thought.

[Skwor]

Watching bodies hit the ground around you tends to focus one’s attention.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Oh, now I get it! Rand’s up in ‘28 and Trump has a long memory. Ask Cassidy.

[ComputerGuy]

Otherwise, Rand is going down.

[captmar-vell]

The only thing Rand has done was to call out that vile wicked murderous Anthony Fauci and his Gain-Of-Function CV19 efforts and subsequent PSYOP foisted upon on the entire world to ‘great reset’ it for his WEF masters.

Massie was thrown overboard being a pretend wannabe ‘maverick’ McCain for his NWO masters

Narcissist Rand is a tool who doesn’t want the same done to him.

[fruser1]

As an isolationist, at a minimum, he’s happy we’re not bombing Iran.

[Dr. Sivana]

Rand Paul finally looked at his weathervane and saw which way the winds were blowing.

He's libertarian leaning. He likes that Trump worked something out to curtail the hostilities in the Middle East.

More a pragmatist than his father (he is a Senator, rather than a rep answering to one district), but that man was permanently injured because he is more principled that the John Cornyns and Lindsey Grahams of the world. They might not always be your principles or my principles, but he is not acting like someone bought by a major financial interest or special interest group, though his beliefs may align with either from time to time.

[mac_truck]

Watching bodies hit the ground around you tends to focus one’s attention.

Or its just common sense...ymmv

“I just keep supporting the things I’ve always supported. I’m always for peace versus war. On the border, I think you can’t have open borders,” he [Paul] said in an interview.

[Zathras]

Proof he is not totally stupid.
Just often stupid.

[Kudsman]

Massie + McConnell = Rand adjustment

[Vaduz]

Rand Paul finally got out of the middle of the road?.

[Lakeshark]

RP has not done much to forward the agenda that is attempting to renew America on a lot of fronts.

He seems to have become aware that crossing Trump, and his voting base, might not be the smart move. Massie, he gone. Rand likely does not want to follow.

In that he's being pragmatic.

I wish he was more consistent and actually had a set of principles he followed. He was pretty unhelpful during the first part of Trump's presidency. It would be nice after all this time to accomplish something good during his time as Senator. Step up Rand, start pitching in instead of being all talk.

[woodbutcher1963]

Rand wants to be the Senior Senator from Kentucky. When Mitch checks out. Which will be soon.
He might even have POTUS aspirations.
They all seem to.

[libertylover]

You mean Massie had an effect on him?

Living in Kentucky, I certainly will give consideration to a primary challenger to Rand Paul. (I don't live in Massie's district, but I would've voted against him.)

[Wallace T.]

I doubt that Rand Paul is the purist his father was. Ron Paul ran for the Republican Presidential nomination twice. While there was some cheating involved, he did not have enough support in the Republican base to win any primaries, even in states where libertarians are more numerous, like New Hampshire, Idaho, and Wyoming. It would be hard for Rand Paul to compete against J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio. Vance, if he runs in 2028, leans more libertarian than does Rubio and would pull from that pool of voters.

The younger Paul has a choice: make up with President Trump or go back to private life.

[bantam]

Rand Paul can go pound!

[bobbo666]

Perhaps DJT mentioned that Venezuela stated that RP was on Maduro’s payroll.