Rand Paul defends top Trump aide Steve Bannon
Jon Ward
November 15, 2016
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., jumped back into the national news cycle Tuesday — after several quiet months — by condemning some of President-elect Donald Trump’s potential picks for top jobs.
But Paul also defended Trump’s most controversial hire so far: Steve Bannon.
Paul told Yahoo News that criticism of Trump’s decision to make the former Breitbart News CEO his chief counselor was “sour grapes by people who lost.”
“When people lose, they look for a scapegoat or they try to caricature people, and I think [Bannon is] a human being,” he said. “I think they’re making him a scapegoat and a caricature of something they want to be their enemy, and I don’t think any of it’s true.”
“I’ve met him. I don’t believe him to be a racist. I don’t believe him to be someone who characterizes people on race, gender, religion, you name it,” Paul said. “I think he ought to be judged by how well he performs.”
...
And in fact, the more nuanced criticisms of Bannon have been that he is so animated by a driving desire to destroy the left that he is willing to resort to any measures to do so. In other words, he wants to use radical Jacobin means for conservative ends. That’s why he has reportedly called House Speaker Paul Ryan “the enemy” and has used Breitbart to assault the Republican establishment.
Paul, however, said he was unbothered by that, and voiced some criticisms of Ryan himself.
“Politics is a rough and tumble sport, and people who think, ‘Oh, it’s so uncivil,’ need to go back and read about the fights between Jefferson and Adams. Really, it’s always been rough and tumble,” Paul said. “And to tell you the truth, I’ve often said that I think Paul Ryan’s not part of the solution, in as far as the budget. The last two times we broke the sequester, they were at the behest of Paul Ryan. He’s voted for every debt ceiling increase in the last 20 years he’s been up here.”
...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by phill4paul
Connect With Us