Rand Paul ramps up his alliance with Trump

[corbe]

Rand Paul ramps up his alliance with Trump

By Alexander Bolton - 09/13/18 06:00 AM EDT

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has defended President Trump on some of his most controversial moves, going against the prevailing sentiment of the libertarian movement with which he and his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), have long been identified.

Some of the most libertarian-leaning members of Congress, such as Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), have served as forceful critics of Trump within the GOP. But Rand Paul, who prefers the mantle of constitutional conservative to libertarian, has repeatedly offered Trump a stirring defense.

Paul last week called for the use of lie detector tests to find the identity of a senior administration official who criticized Trump harshly in an anonymous New York Times op-ed, giving support to senior White House aides who have discussed the possibility.

Earlier this summer, Paul was the first prominent voice in Congress to call for Trump to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, giving the president political cover to do just that. Other Republican senators, such as Susan Collins (Maine) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), criticized Trump’s decision to pull Brennan’s clearance.

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http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/406410-rand-paul-ramps-up-his-alliance-with-trump

[Emjay]

My respect for Rand Paul has increased in the past year.  I always liked him.  Being a Libertarian is appealing to a lot of people but it doesn't work in the real world.

I think Rand still has traces of that philosophy but unlike Flake and Sasse, he is willing to look past whatever rancor he might still feel about Trump and support policies that are good for the country.