Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is warning President Donald Trump that there’s one surefire way his MAGA movement will “dissolve,” and it doesn’t regard any potential new revelations about his ties to late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but the escalating conflict with Venezuela.
Paul argued on the “Reason” podcast Thursday that this could become Trump’s undoing.
“I actually think Trump is the one who is least likely to want to do these things, but he is surrounded by people who believe in regime change and are goading him on,” he said. “I do think, though, that if he invades Venezuela … his movement will dissolve.”
The Trump administration has engaged in a series of U.S. military strikes against suspected drug smugglers and their boats in Pacific and Caribbean waters in recent months, killing more than 70 people without due process or congressional authorization.
Paul argued that Trump’s rift with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an otherwise devoted ally who broke with the president over his stance on the Epstein files, “will pale in comparison to what happens to his movement” if the U.S. invades Venezuela.
Trump has certainly weathered countless scandals while in office, but his dismissal of the Epstein case as a Democratic “hoax” this year began to fracture his own base. Trump ultimately signed a bill earlier this week to release classified documents on Epstein.
Paul himself confirmed Thursday that he’s “on the side of transparency” in the matter.
“I think that it’s important,” he explained. “And if the government’s going to mete out justice, that the justice be impartial based on the color of your skin, impartial based on who you are individually, but also impartial based on your financial circumstance.”
Paul also criticized Trump’s penchant for invoking emergency powers to impose his tariffs.
Left: Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press; Right: Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
The subject of financial privilege for suspected criminals led Paul to discuss the economy.
He took umbrage at Trump’s narrative that countries such as China are “ripping us off” economically, as Trump does often to defend his international tariffs, and said blaming foreigners for America’s financial concerns is a “false nationalism or patriotism.”
Trump has routinely invoked his presidential emergency powers to impose his tariffs.
Paul went on to decry that the “two dozen Republicans” or so who seemed eager to help him pass legislation to limit such wanton use of emergency powers, at least when former President Joe Biden was in office, are simply “gone” now that Trump is back in power.
“And it really shocks me that people who were for emergency reform are voting to continue emergencies,” Paul said Thursday. “Trump’s declared emergencies with 130 countries. I mean, these are literally like the things you would do if you were at war.”
Paul capitulated, “But that’s what we’ve allowed to happen.”