Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has taken bolder and more consequential steps to oppose this White House on substantive issues in one day than Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has all year. Yet, Paul has both a better working relationship with the president and better favorability among his constituents than the junior senator from Arizona.
The answer to this enigma lies in the word “substantive.” Rand is actually working to drain the Swamp and to promote proactive principled ideas on the issues of our time, while Flake was either part of the problem or was too busy selling books to engage in substantive policy-making.
This is where the media narrative of the binary “for Trump or against Trump” approach falls apart.
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For many of us who have had long-standing principles with a proactive agenda to implement them, this false dichotomy of being either pro- or anti-Trump in a vacuum has been very frustrating. But while Jeff Flake has been the antecedent of this predicament, Rand Paul has shined as a blueprint for how to evacuate from this morass. Flake should take notes.
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Rand Paul has taken a sledgehammer to Trump in a principled way that makes Flake’s entire brand seem pathetic. But because it’s been rooted in principles, Sen. Paul actually has a better relationship now with Trump and is moving him to the Right on some issues, despite their acrimonious start (both on the campaign trail and in office).
Just consider the following examples:
- When the Senate was promoting phony Obamacare repeal bills, Rand boldly stood as the final vote blocking each and every one of the proposals, despite the president staking out all his capital on the issue. Trump called out Rand publicly numerous times, yet Rand didn’t budge. Meanwhile, Flake sat in the witness protection program as a door knob for the establishment, which has long ago given up on health care, calling Obamacare “the law of the land.”
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- Rand has publicly savaged every bloated budget, spending bill, and debt-ceiling bill — all backed and signed by the president. He is even butting heads with Trump on the tax plan, upon which Trump has staked out his legacy. Flake is nowhere to be seen on any of these fiscal fights because he’s too busy promoting amnesty and books.
- Rand lambasted Trump’s Saudi arms deal, something the president was very proud to promote, to the point that he forced a vote against it in the Senate. Flake was on the other side.
- Rand excoriated the president’s plan to get further entrenched in Afghanistan.
Thus, while some have spent the past year aimlessly kissing up to Trump with no regard for actual discernable policy outcomes, and others have spent their year promoting themselves as the anti-Trump with no regard for campaign promises, Rand Paul has shown a way out of this “binary” idolatry by focusing on principle and policy.
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More:
https://www.conservativereview.com/a...ree-with-trump
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