Justin Amash: Donald Trump should pick Rand Paul for Secretary of State

[jct74]

Justin Amash: Donald Trump should pick Rand Paul for Secretary of State

by Jack Hunter
November 29, 2016

In an op-ed at Rare Monday, Sen. Rand Paul wrote, “Donald Trump should pick someone to be his secretary of state who will advocate for Donald Trump’s views on foreign policy.” He continued, “That sounds simple, but the mix of candidates bandied about by the media includes several who don’t share the president-elect’s worldview.”

“Trump has been clear and consistent about his opposition to the Iraq War and to regime change,” Paul said. “The media never really understood and still largely doesn’t understand the significance of Trump’s grasping our failures in the Middle East.”

Some of the top names mentioned for that post include former UN Ambassador John Bolton and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both uber-hawks who disagree with Trump on key foreign policy issues including whether or not the Iraq War was a mistake.

Tweeting Paul’s op-ed on Monday, Rep. Justin Amash had a suggestion for the President-elect: Nominate Rand Paul for secretary of state.

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read more:
http://rare.us/story/justin-amash-donald-trump-should-pick-rand-paul-for-secretary-of-state/

[jct74]

SECRETARY OF STATE RAND PAUL? HERE’S WHY TRUMP SHOULD SAY ‘YES’

By: Brian Darling
November 26, 2016

Senator Rand Paul would make an excellent secretary of state.

With all the talk of people who are being vetted for different positions in President-elect Donald J. Trump’s administration, Sen. Paul would be an excellent choice to join. I am a former Rand Paul staffer (so I am biased) and believe that there are three reasons why Senator Paul would be the best choice to be the next secretary of state.

Sen. Paul agrees with Trump’s foreign policy

Many names have been vetted to be Trump’s sec. of state including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, President George W. Bush’s United Nation ambassador John Bolton, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. (F, 45%). All of those have stellar resumes, yet they don’t have the level of agreement on foreign policy with Trump as does Sen. Paul.

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read more:
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/11/secretary-of-state-rand-paul-heres-why-trump-should-say-yes

[helmuth_hubener]

Look, I know SoS is a supposedly "Important" Cabinet position, but really: what difference would he be able to make as SoS?

It's all about diplomacy, right?

You could try to prevent war and promote peace, but really, the SoS doesn't decide when to go to war anyway.

So who cares about the SoS?

When it comes to negotiating trade agreements and stuff Trump's basically going to be his own SoS anyway, probably.

[EBounding]

He would at least be 4th in line for the Presidency. :P

There's no way it's going to happen though. It doesn't help Trump at all. But if it did happen, it would be a very good thing. He would be much more influential than by himself in the Senate. It would also be one of the best ways to bring legitimacy to a sensible non-interventionist foreign policy.

[Origanalist]

Look, I know SoS is a supposedly "Important" Cabinet position, but really: what difference would he be able to make as SoS?

It's all about diplomacy, right?

You could try to prevent war and promote peace, but really, the SoS doesn't decide when to go to war anyway.

So who cares about the SoS?

When it comes to negotiating trade agreements and stuff Trump's basically going to be his own SoS anyway, probably.

You don't think Hillary influenced the Nobel Peace Prize winner? I do.

[Origanalist]

He would at least be 4th in line for the Presidency. :P

There's no way it's going to happen though. It doesn't help Trump at all. But if it did happen, it would be a very good thing. He would be much more influential than by himself in the Senate. It would also be one of the best ways to bring legitimacy to a sensible non-interventionist foreign policy.

Nope, not going to happen.

[Sola_Fide]

Never going to happen. Trump is against the Pauls.

[helmuth_hubener]

You don't think Hillary influenced the Nobel Peace Prize winner? I do. Maybe -- I never thought of that. But honestly, who gets or does not get the Nobel Peace Prize affects my life approximately zero. Yours too? At this point, they could give it posthumously to Jeffrey Dahmer or Malcolm X for all I care.

They should give it to Mr. T!

[Crashland]

Actually it would be a good deal for Trump to get Rand flying all over the world focused on international diplomacy instead of continually getting in his way in the Senate. No way it would ever happen though, and I don't think going around talking to foreign leaders as chief diplomat would even be a position that Rand would enjoy in the first place. Now, NSA chief, THAT would be fun.

[osan]

read more:
http://rare.us/story/justin-amash-donald-trump-should-pick-rand-paul-for-secretary-of-state/


I see Justin's living on Fantasy Island these days.

This seems less likely than my hitting a Power Ball jackpot, which is very unlikely given I don't buy lottery tickets.

Time will tell.

[RandallFan]

Hillary didn't affect Obama. Obama thought he had to test the waters & be a tough guy to win some crossover votes.

The difference is Trump doesn't listen to CW from the Media or Neocons or anyone screaming about what is moderate FP.

[Seraphim]

With how tightly divided the Senate is, Rand is much more valuable there.

I'm guessing that on more than 1 occasion his vote will be the one that gets the good passed through and will be an ardent challenger of the stuff that is not good.

[Foreigner]

To be honest, Rand would not be a great pick for the state department.

While you get to make critical policies - and would have influence to for instance prevent a war with Iran. This stuff he is good at. But the rest of the job is smalltalk and being charming. Building strong personal relations with incredibly boring people, icing cakes, and making subtle threats in a non hostile matter. Negotiations that go on and on seemingly forever. And when you are done, the president, (who doesn't have to do smalltalk or invest as heavily in these fake personal relations) walks in the door, shakes the hand, signs it, smiles and has a short press conference.

In addition, he would have to put out fires everywhere from misunderstandings that Trump would create constantly. Especially Asian countries weigh every word uttered from the US president relating to their region extremely carefully and has whole sections of the government dedicated to this stuff. You use one term instead of the other (that trump and 95% of americans think mean exactly the same thing) And suddenly they are on crisis mode over there figuring out ways to counter this new foreign policy direction that never was. Basically - the US president farts - and then there is an resulting earthquake in Pakistan which the secretary of state has try to clean up the damage from.

[notsure]

Why would Trump listen to Amash when Amash has been publicly slamming Trump at every opportunity he gets. I don't know if it helps Rand or not for Justin to tie him to his trainwreck.