Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul renewed his skepticism Tuesday of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, asserting that the Trump administration has not justified the $46 billion for construction included in the pending House budget reconciliation package. The Kentucky Republican, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, made the comments at the tail end of an oversight hearing intended to evaluate President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request on homeland security and immigration.“So I know that the wall has a great symbolic value, but I think we should reassess … what we want to do and how much it costs,” Paul...

President Trump has returned from the Middle East to mounting questions about whether it’s appropriate for him to accept a luxury Qatari jet to serve as the next Air Force One, including from Republicans increasingly dubious that the move is a smart and worthwhile idea. Republicans have given the president a wide berth on a multitude of issues throughout his first four months in office as they push to enact his agenda. However, very few are rushing to his defense after he made clear he plans to accept the $400 million gift. “It’s an unnecessary distraction,” one Senate Republican told...

@RandPaul I'm not afraid to make the tough decisions, even if it means I'm standing alone.

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued that imposing government price controls on prescription drugs will lead to shortages and this is what happens in Europe. Paul said, [relevant remarks begin around 5:25] “The thing is, is if you want prices to be low and you say the government should just make them fair or low, Venezuela’s got a great example of this, and there they’ve had price controls on everything. But you know what? They don’t have anything. Price controls lead to shortages. And so, in the European countries that...

President Donald Trump will veto a Senate resolution aimed at ending his global tariffs, even though the measure has bipartisan support. The White House warned several lawmakers in a letter sent to congressional offices. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., are supporting the resolution. Paul, who has been a fierce critic of Trump’s tariffs, recently told the Wall Street Journal that he is "not alone" in his skepticism of the administration’s tariff policies. He also noted that "millions of investors who are self-interested have misgivings about tariffs." The administration reportedly wrote in its warning to lawmakers that it...

"GOP Sen. Rand Paul says he expects to have enough votes in Senate to pass resolution to effectively block Trump’s tariffs. But Paul, who expects the vote Wednesday, attacked Speaker Johnson’s move to block such resolutions as “dishonesty.”" *** The background to this, via Politico: The White House warned that Trump will veto a bipartisan Senate resolution that would terminate his sweeping global “Liberation Day” tariffs. The statement of administration policy from the Office of Management and Budget, sent to congressional offices Monday, comes ahead of an expected vote this week forced by several Democrats led by Sen. Ron Wyden...

Vladimir Putin initially denied having anything to do with Russia's capture of Crimea in February 2014, when mysterious masked commandos in unidentified green uniforms seized the local parliament and fanned out across the peninsula. Those "little green men" marked the start of Russia's war on Ukraine, which culminated in the 2022 full-scale invasion. The future of Crimea is now at the centre of President Donald Trump's peace plan and has prompted Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky to rule out recognising Russian control of the peninsula. The exact terms of his plan have not been published, but reports suggest it would include the...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is continuing his push against President Donald Trump's tariffs, with legislation he is co-sponsoring against them to come before the Senate next week. Paul says lawmakers should be in control of tariffs, rather than Trump, through the use of a national-emergency law. The discussion will come less than a month after Paul was one of the only two chamber Republicans to vote against his party's budget, which is seen as a key part of the president's tax cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. "I don't have any bad feelings towards the president, but this is...

Republican lawmakers say there’s a good chance that President Trump’s trade war will boomerang on Republicans politically in 2026, as rising prices and shrinking growth could offset other accomplishments by the GOP. Republican senators are pointing to the 1932 and 1982 elections as historical examples of when trade wars and resulting price inflation hurt their party at the ballot box, and they are worried that history could repeat itself. Many Republican lawmakers view tariffs as a tax hike on American consumers, and some note that the last two times Congress enacted tax hikes on the scale of Trump’s recent tariffs,...

Catturd ™ @catturd2 Don Bacon and Rand Paul want these people deciding USA tariff policies instead of President Trump. 4:19 PM · Apr 7, 2025

A bipartisan pair of senators is warning the White House that recent US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen risk “emboldening” the Iranian-backed group and flouted the law regarding congressional oversight of military operations. The letter from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared first with Semafor, concerns the strikes that have made headlines recently.... “Neither the U.S. strikes since October 2023 ordered by President Joe Biden, nor the previous years-long campaign against the Houthis conducted by Saudi Arabia were successful in establishing deterrence against the Houthis,” Merkley and Paul wrote in the letter sent to President Donald...

Over the weekend President Trump ordered a massive military operation against the small country of Yemen. Was Yemen in the process of attacking the United States? No. Did the President in that case go to Congress and seek a declaration of war against the country? No. The fact is, Yemen hadn’t even threatened the United States before the bombs started falling. Last year, candidate Trump strongly criticized the Biden Administration’s obsession with foreign interventionism to the detriment of our problems at home. In an interview at the Libertarian National Convention, he criticized Biden’s warmongering to podcaster Tim Pool, saying, “You...

@RandPaul The stock market is comprised of millions of people who are simultaneously trading. The market indexes are a distillation of sentiment. When the markets tumble like this in response to tariffs, it pays to listen.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) signaled Thursday that President Trump’s threat to levy tariffs on key trading partners of the U.S. is hurting his constituents, saying “when we start losing, you back off.” “Almost every industry in Kentucky has come to me and said, ‘It will hurt our industry and push up prices of homes, cars,’ and so, I’m going to continue to argue against tariffs,” Paul said late Thursday in an interview with CNN. The Kentucky Republican argued the U.S. has “more leverage” than any other nation, but not “all the leverage.” He urged the Trump administration to be “smart”...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) signaled Thursday that President Trump’s threat to levy tariffs on key trading partners of the U.S. is hurting his constituents. “Almost every industry in Kentucky has come to me and said, ‘It will hurt our industry and push up prices of homes, cars,’ and so, I’m going to continue to argue against tariffs,” Paul said late Thursday in an interview with CNN. His concern echoes that of Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who urged the administration to be “smart” about levying additional taxes and reciprocal tariffs. Tillis argued the U.S. has “more leverage” than any other nation,...

Over the weekend, President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk made quite a stir with just two words posted on his social media platform, X. Responding to a post that, “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN,” Musk replied, “I agree.” The comment immediately made the rounds on social media and also on mainstream and alternative media. Was this the Elon Musk who owns X speaking, or was it the Elon Musk who has become one of President Trump’s closest advisors? Does it even matter? Having someone so close to the US president who advocates finally extracting...

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a brainchild of our newly inaugurated President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, stands as a beacon of hope for those of us who have long clamored for a government that not only adheres to the Constitution but also promotes the financial prudence that our nation desperately requires. Yet there’s a notable absence that needs remedy: that of Ron Paul. For decades, the former congressman has been the unwavering voice of fiscal conservatism, liberty, and government accountability. His influence in the liberty movement is undeniable, and his principles have resonated with millions, myself included. That...

If nothing else, Kamala Harris knows her base. Kamala Harris is set to make a guest appearance Friday on the Paramount+ series RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. The segment was taped before Joe Biden announced Sunday that he is quitting his re-election campaign.

Kamala Harris made a polarizing cameo on the season nine finale of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars as she urged viewers to make their voices heard at the polls. While making history as the first-ever sitting Vice President of the United States to appear on Paramount+ series' popular reality series, the politician, 59, reminded Americans of the big issues at stake in the 2024 election. In her first campaign ad, which featured Beyoncé’s hit song Freedom playing in the background, Harris showed her support for LGBTQ+ individuals by featuring footage of her among a crowd waving Pride flags. She, then,...

Kamala Harris becomes the first sitting Vice President to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race