Posted on 04/03/2016 5:55:31 PM PDT by Kaslin
You can add Rand Paul to the list of Republicans who say they’ll support Donald Trump if he ends up being the GOP nominee. Paul made his pledge on Friday during a stop in Northern Kentucky. Via Cincinnati Enquirer:
Paul, during a visit to Northern Kentucky Friday morning, said he will support whoever is the Republican nominee, even if it’s Donald Trump. He said it’s better than supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Paul criticized Clinton’s comments she made while campaigning in Ohio that she will “put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business.” Those words will likely reverberate around the state in the next few months and could hurt Clinton.
“I think we never get the candidate we exactly want unless you’re the candidate,” Paul said. “Think about it from this perspective. I’m from Kentucky, and Hillary Clinton recently said she would put coal miners out of business, and she would put coal companies out of business.”
Paul ended the press conference after that and didn’t take follow-up questions.
He isn’t the only libertarian-leaning politician to make the comments. Congressman Thomas Massie told Reason in January he’d vote for Trump, even though he doesn’t like him.
“Well, if it’s between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, I will most certainly vote for Donald Trump, I can tell you that. Or Bernie Sanders, or literally anybody on the Democrat side. So there you have it.”
Massie’s comrade-in-arms, Michigan Congressman Justin Amash, wasn’t as forthcoming only promising to Reason he won’t vote for Hillary Clinton because he thinks “she would be the worst president of my lifetime.” He was still pretty coy on whether he’d vote for Trump.
“But yeah, I’m not going to say who I would vote for on Election Day if Trump were the Republican nominee. I’ve always been a proud Republican and have voted for Republican nominees I didn’t always agree with on a whole bunch of issues, but I think we can do better.”
Paul’s decision to say he’d support Trump has gotten criticism. One libertarian I’m friends with took a shot at both Paul and Massie on her Facebook page writing “SOS” after I pointed out Massie’s comments (I’ll let you guess what “SOS” means). Eric Levitz wrote a piece at New York Magazine entitled “Principle Libertarian Pledges to Support Authoritarian Strongman in November.” I’m certainly not happy with Paul’s comments, and do not believe any conservative or libertarian should be supporting the authoritarian Trump.
So why aren’t Paul and Massie taking more of a Ben Sasse or Ron Paul approach and joining the #NeverTrump movement? The answer is simply politics. Both Paul and Massie are up for re-election this year in a state where Trump is enjoying a ton of support. Massie even told The Daily Independent how disturbing it was to see those who support him are also in favor of Trump.
“Donald Trump is a big middle finger to Washington, D.C.,” Massie said. “I understand. I have to be careful because the guy is polling at 30 plus percent and in the Fourth District, Donald Trump supporters are my supporters.”..
Massie is often described as Libertarian, but now he is unsure if the wave of support was actually for those ideas or it was, perhaps, something else that inspired voters.
“I’m thinking, ‘Wow, the American public really seems to like these Libertarian ideas,’ and then Donald Trump runs and he gets all of their (Rand Paul and Ron Paul) voters, he gets all of my voters. I’m thinking, ‘No, they’re just voting for the craziest guy in the race,’” he said and the audience laughed. “It was very sobering for me. I’m that guy.”
He said he understands Americans’ frustrations with government, which may lead some voters to rank Rand Paul as their first choice for president and Donald Trump as their second.
“I know a lot of people who are going to vote for Rand Paul for president who say Trump is their second choice. They couldn’t be more different in terms of substance. One (Rand) is all about substance and the other (Trump) is nothing about substance. It concerns me,” Massie said.
Massie understands the difference between people voting anti-establishment for the sake of being anti-establishment versus voting anti-establishment because they agree with the candidate’s principles. Paul understands this too, which is probably why he made the comment on Trump. Sasse and Ron Paul can make their #NeverTrump declarations because they’re not running for re-election. They’re allowed to stand on principle, while Massie and Rand Paul can’t exactly do that because they’ve got votes to think about. It’s an unfortunate case of having to play politics to stay in office. Massie is taking on Calvin Sidle and will hopefully win. Paul is taking on Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and will hopefully win. I don’t think either wants to see Trump ascend to the White House, but I can’t fault them for their comments. It also doesn’t mean they’ll actually vote for Trump come November, but it might depend on what the polls are saying IF Trump is the GOP nominee against Clinton or Bernie Sanders. I’m definitely disappointed in both of them for their comments, but I completely understand it. After all, it’s politics.
This news is definitely going to pi$$ off good old El Rushbo. After-all, how could Rand NOT throw his support behind the only “Principled Conservative”?
Rush is going to come unglued about this news! :-D
Is Rush still pushing Cruz? I turned him off a few weeks ago because of that.
Is Rush still pushing Cruz? I turned him off a few weeks ago because of that.
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Indeed he is ladyjane!
Just to give you an idea of how bad it’s been with him, you should check out the Rush Limbaugh thread from this past Friday. His blatant pimping of Cruz, and cheap shots at Trump (All in the name of being an “objective observer”) are costing him many long-time listeners...LIKE YOU and ME!
Friday’s thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3416424/posts
Can you tell me what about Trump's positions is libertarian? I would like to be convinced, but I don't see it.
Right now it does.
I don’t think I’ll have to settle for Kasich. And I couldn’t vote for Cruz believing him not to be a “natural born Citizen” as defined by the Constitution.
And it wouldn’t really matter what the USSC might say, as I do not and will never endorse same sex marriage, as I in no way support abortion, all adjudicated by the USSC.
I no longer believe in or support the GOPe, so unless a more attractive candidate can be produced from elsewhere, which is highly unlikely, I will vote for Trump even if I have to write him in.
As for a possible hiliary or sanders Presidency, the GOPe would have brought that on themselves. Thanks for the memories.
“So why aren’t Paul and Massie taking more of a Ben Sasse or Ron Paul approach and joining the #NeverTrump movement? The answer is simply politics. Both Paul and Massie are up for re-election this year in a state where Trump is enjoying a ton of support.”
this is why I don’t believe the “Convention steal” is going to happen. There are too many incumbent Repubs running for re-election who have figured out that Trump helps a lot more than he hurts. And they have figured out that a Trump walkout would be a down ballot disaster for all of them.
#neverTrump consists mostly of former politicians no longer in office, and DC talking heads that have never been elected to anything.
Easy. Libertarians oppose these 1000-page trade agreements. A real free trade agreement is one page. These are extremely hard to undo. Even if Ron Paul was elected, he might not be able to undo them. So if Trump gets rid of them, he achieves one very difficult libertarian goal.
Yes he would. I never understood why he wasn't near the very top in the debates. He's smart, articulate, and best of all, very focussed and reasoned. I'd back him for Prez if I thought he could accomplish what Trump wants to do.
Trump is almost maniacal in his drive to achieve his goals. Since I like Trump's goals I need to back Trump.
Trump likes to win, and I like winners.
Especially on foreign policy.
I did not know that. If he became an open borders / amnesty puke, that's inexcusable position, and I vote that he goes to jail.
Remind you of a certain Senator from Illinois back in 2008?
I do too. The old man was right on a lot of issues. Based on what’s happening to this country, I’ve become an avid isolationist. I drive BMWs and Mercedes, but will be more than happy to drive Chevies if it means that America keeps her sovereignty, is safe and everyone respects the Rule of Law, cherishes our Constitution and our Flag.
Me too.I think Rush’s implant short cicuited.
Very true. None of the others have clue about foreign trade. That’s why none of them read the TPP bill.. Trump deals in foreign trade every day and majored in finance and economics.
I agree with you on the Paul selection, but don’t see Trump eyeing Kasich since Kasich is an open borders guy.
Do you remember GWB saying more than once that his wars would NOT be fought Vietnam-style. Guess he changed his mind without telling anyone
His actions didn’t match the words or image his administration created.
Actions were limited including the limited actions against Pakistan, the nation who’s intelligence agency created the Taliban but a nation that has nukes.
In Vietnam, Haiphong Harbor should have been shut down from the start, but the bombs were wasted on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in futility.
Nixon did close down Haiphong in 1972 temporarily as a means of inducing the ‘peace agreement’.
No actions against the financial and trading “allies” of the Arab Gulf region led by Saudi Arabia, where the $$$$ and ideology of Bin Laden and others since comes from.
He is strongly opposed to globalism/ interventionism.
He is strongly in favor of individual freedom.
He is for reduced government spending
Lower taxes on working class.
Believes military is for security not social crap.
Believes that American should be free of illegal aliens.
He has the support of the leading libertarian in the United States- Dr. Rand Paul!!
I could go on. Now you know.
It’s true that the trade agreements are managed trade rather than genuine free trade.
But Trump sounds like he would be very quick to impose restrictions on trade (tariffs, quotas, etc.), which is the opposite of a libertarian position.
Trump should focus on our real problem, which is the excessive spending that has resulted in our huge budget deficit.
He does say that he will eliminate the national debt in 8 years, but his proposed “method” for doing this is to get rid the trade deficit, which has basically nothing to do with it.
On the hand, one issue with Trump is you can’t really tell what he’ll do once he’s in office. He seems to say whatever he thinks will play best at any given time. It’s possible that he plans on reducing the size of government because it needs to be done, but he doesn’t want to be pinned down right now on what he would actually cut, because it would lose him votes.
In general terms, however, Trump seems fine with big government. Big government is not a political philosophy that I can support, nor is it one that used to be popular on FreeRepublic.
But he's for government interference in the freedom of Americans to trade with the rest of the world. Although libertarians are typically against interventionism and government-managed globalism (and certainly against anything smacking of world government), they are generally opposed to government restrictions on economic activity.
He is strongly in favor of individual freedom.
What has he said that convinces you of this? He says that he's a recent convert to gun rights, but does he ever make individual freedom a focus in his speeches? I've never heard him do that. (He'd be better than Hillary on regulations, but that's a low bar.)
He is for reduced government spending
What would he cut? And how much?
Lower taxes on working class.
The tax policy he's running on has a lot to be said for it, but in the past he's supported massive confiscation (a "wealth tax").
Believes military is for security not social crap.
Agreed. This is definitely a point in his favor.
Believes that American should be free of illegal aliens.
Yes, although I wouldn't say this is a libertarian vs. non-libertarian position.
He has the support of the leading libertarian in the United States- Dr. Rand Paul!!
That's not what Rand Paul said -- he didn't endorse Trump over Cruz. All Rand did was to confirm that he would support Trump if Trump is the nominee, saying that Trump is better than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. I presume that Rand would support Cruz on the same grounds if Cruz turns out to be the nominee.
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