Rand Paul Continues Crusade Against Neo-Cons in Trump Administration

by Elias Atienza

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has been on the attack lately, appearing on talk shows and interviews discussing his opposition to Trump possibly picking former UN Ambassador John Bolton or former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani for Secretary of State.

The Nation documented his opposition to them, which Senator Paul tweeted out today.

The main reason why Paul has emerged as such a strong critic of Bolton and Giuliani is because they are “unrepentant” supporters of the Iraq War and regime change in Iran. In regards to Bolton, Paul has been much harsher on him, possibly due to the bad history between them, as Marc Thiessen wrote.

“Bolton might be better as a secretary of war, but he is certainly not a diplomat or someone who acts in a diplomatic way or thinks that diplomacy might be an alternative to war,” Paul said on CBS’s Face the Nation. 

“I’ll do whatever it takes to stop someone like John Bolton being secretary of state,” Paul told Politico last week. “He’s opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on: that the Iraq war was a mistake, regime change made us less safe in the Middle East, including in Iraq…I don’t know how a President Trump could appoint someone who’s diametrically opposed to everything Donald Trump ran on.”

Paul has not let up the criticism on Giuliani either. He told Politico:

If you look at Giuliani’s statements, you will find he has advocated bombing Iran, he has advocated for intervention, to my knowledge he’s never admitted the Iraq war was a mistake. To me, a big part of what Donald Trump said, in hundreds of speeches, was that the Iraq war was a mistake. I don’t know how you could appoint someone to be in charge of the Department of State who believes the Iraq war was a benefit.

In addition, he drew parallels between Giuliani and Clinton with his foreign ties, calling Giuliani’s ties “worrisome.”

Paul has also raised concerns about Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and Trump picking him for CIA director. His concerns were on NSA spying and waterboarding, which Pompeo supports.