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Thread: WaPo: Rand's influence on Trump is growing through their phone calls

  1. #1

    WaPo: Rand's influence on Trump is growing through their phone calls

    Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul

    By Josh Rogin
    December 27

    President’s Trump’s foreign policy follows no firm ideology but is often a combination of his long-held personal views and the influence of whoever currently has his ear. These days, Trump is listening more than ever to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is quietly steering U.S. foreign policy in a new direction.

    After Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria — against the advice of his entire national security team — a stunned Washington establishment rushed to blame Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who reportedly asked Trump to leave Syria during a Dec. 14 phone call. But Erdogan has made that request for years. What’s changed recently is whom Trump is listening to back home.

    Several U.S. officials and people who have spoken directly to Trump since his Syria decision tell me they believe that Paul’s frequent phone conversations with Trump, wholly outside the policy process, are having an outsize influence on the president’s recent foreign policy decisions. The two golf buddies certainly are sounding a lot alike recently.

    ...

    Officials told me that, throughout the national security bureaucracy, everyone is aware that Paul’s voice is one to which the president is paying increasing attention. The existing concern over Paul’s influence on Russia policy has now boiled over with respect to Syria.

    ...
    read more:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...b8f_story.html



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  3. #2
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  4. #3
    Rand's charm is irresistible!

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    It is clear what they are trying to do here. they are trying to get Trump to reverse his positions by making it sound like Randal is using him as a puppet. don't buy their lies Trump!

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    It is clear what they are trying to do here. they are trying to get Trump to reverse his positions by making it sound like Randal is using him as a puppet. don't buy their lies Trump!
    Why would they think his ego is so easily manipulated?
    "The Patriarch"

  7. #6
    Rand Paul VP 2020!!
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    It is clear what they are trying to do here. they are trying to get Trump to reverse his positions by making it sound like Randal is using him as a puppet. don't buy their lies Trump!
    They will ramp up their attempts to drive a wedge. This article is part of that plan.
    "Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
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  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    It is clear what they are trying to do here. they are trying to get Trump to reverse his positions by making it sound like Randal is using him as a puppet. don't buy their lies Trump!
    I don't think he listens to WaPo.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    I don't think he listens to WaPo.
    Perhaps not, but a lot of other mouthpieces follow their lead. just watch, this is just starting.

  12. #10
    Neo con's gonna neo con....

    Ideally, Trump will soon realize that adopting Paul’s vision for the future of U.S. foreign policy is not only dangerous for our national security but bad politics as well.
    "The Patriarch"

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    Perhaps not, but a lot of other mouthpieces follow their lead. just watch, this is just starting.
    Maybe Trump likes the good energy he is getting from listening to Rand. I know people have been thanking him for ending the war in Syria and withdrawing troops out of Afghanistan. I am very glad that Trump listens to Rand. If you feel so inclined write Trump a letter thanking him for listening to Rand and the will of the people. I am sure you will get a nice relevant reply back.

  14. #12
    Rand is probably one of the few people Trump trusts in DC. This is good for liberty. My New years wish is that 2019 is a real bad one for neo- con warmongers.
    USE THIS SITE TO LINK ARTICLES FROM OLIGARCH MEDIA:http://archive.is/ STARVE THE BEAST.
    More Government = Less Freedom
    Communism never disappeared it only changed its name to Social Democrat
    Emotion and Logic mix like oil and water

  15. #13
    Rand showed great wisdom in seeing that Trump does well on the phone. It’s where most of his work gets done.
    #NashvilleStrong

    “I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi

  16. #14
    Great job Rand! Pray that it keeps up.
    “When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, I will rout you out!”
    ― Andrew Jackson

  17. #15
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    McMaster, Mattis and Kelly's influence wanes and then Rand's grows. An inverse equation.

  18. #16
    Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul..

    Reality Check:
    Rand Paul is getting closely associated (in some circles) with a corrupt authoritarian whose existence is going down in flames of scandal.
    Most of "us" are cheering?
    Happy New Year Foolish Ones?
    No one here wanted to be the Billionaire.



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Indy Vidual View Post
    Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul..

    Reality Check:
    Rand Paul is getting closely associated (in some circles) with a corrupt authoritarian whose existence is going down in flames of scandal.
    Most of "us" are cheering?
    Happy New Year Foolish Ones?
    LOL
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Indy Vidual View Post
    Welcome to the world of President Rand Paul..

    Reality Check:
    Rand Paul is getting closely associated (in some circles) with a corrupt authoritarian whose existence is going down in flames of scandal.
    Most of "us" are cheering?
    Happy New Year Foolish Ones?
    You're not wrong but someone has to pick up the pieces since the GOP hasn't made itself totally irrelevant yet. Take it fwiw but I think there are bigger things brewing in the background than what it presented for public consumption and this is part of it. Big changes going on behind the scenes...
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by devil21 View Post
    You're not wrong but someone has to pick up the pieces since the GOP hasn't made itself totally irrelevant yet. Take it fwiw but I think there are bigger things brewing in the background than what it presented for public consumption and this is part of it. Big changes going on behind the scenes...
    You're not wrong but...
    Big changes going on...


    The biggest changes will be a complete Socialist takeover of America as millennials want massive amounts of free stuff and the Dems in 2020 will promise it to them.


    <back on topic?>
    Rand + Trump = Yeah!
    No one here wanted to be the Billionaire.

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Indy Vidual View Post
    You're not wrong but...
    Big changes going on...


    The biggest changes will be a complete Socialist takeover of America as millennials want massive amounts of free stuff and the Dems in 2020 will promise it to them.


    <back on topic?>
    Rand + Trump = Yeah!
    Actually, what is presented for public consumption is what you have detailed. I'm as pessimistic as any one but I'm not entirely convinced yet that it is what the future holds in the longer term. The shorter term perhaps but not the longer term. That's just my opinion but I think keeping libertarian ideals alive in the meantime is very important. Mother Nature laughs at the notion of "free stuff forever". ymmv
    Last edited by devil21; 01-01-2019 at 11:22 PM.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book

  24. #21
    Rand has no influence with Trump.

    The narrative that he does is promoted by:

    (a) naively optimistic libertarians,

    and, (b) refuse attempting to fool the above into supporting Trump (and the anti-libertarian movement which he represents)

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Rand has no influence with Trump.

    The narrative that he does is promoted by:

    (a) naively optimistic libertarians,

    and, (b) refuse attempting to fool the above into supporting Trump (and the anti-libertarian movement which he represents)
    LOL

    Rand and Trump don't seem to agree with you, Mr. Bolton.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    LOL

    Rand and Trump don't seem to agree with you, Mr. Bolton.

    Shot fired!
    Brawndo's got what plants crave. Its got electrolytes.



    H. L. Mencken said it best:


    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”


    "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

  27. #24
    some more insight:

    Earlier this month, Trump and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul were having one of their frequent conversations about the American military presence in both Syria and Afghanistan. Paul, a persistent, longtime critic of the continued deployment of troops in the Middle East, has found the strongest ally of his political career on the issue with Trump.

    After their discussion, Paul sent the president some news articles supporting his view that the time was right to withdraw from Syria, says top Paul aide Doug Stafford, who says Trump sent back a note alerting him that he would “see some movement on this soon.” On December 19, Trump announced the forthcoming withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops fighting ISIS in Syria. The move was resisted by just about everyone around Trump, inside and outside the administration, including John Bolton, Jim Mattis and Lindsey Graham. All, except Paul.

    “I think people mistake it like Rand is trying to get him to do what Rand wants. But this is what Donald Trump ran on,” says Stafford. “Rand sees his role more as keeping the president where he wants to be and where he said he would be against some people who are inside of the White House and other senators who are trying to push him off of his beliefs and his position.”

    Paul’s strategy was partially to ingratiate himself with the man he once, in the primary season, called an “orange-faced windbag.” Trump and Paul have played golf together, a favorite pastime for the president and a way other former antagonists have overcome bad blood. In recent months, Paul has ramped up his public praise for Trump and joined the chorus of Republican criticism for the president’s treatment in the press. Trump has returned the favor with praiseworthy tweets. Paul had raised concerns about two of Trump’s high profile nominations in 2018, for their defenses of the government’s data surveillance apparatus. But he dropped his public skepticism of Brett Kavanaugh and, earlier in the year, did an about-face on his opposition to Mike Pompeo.

    Stafford gives credit for Paul’s success to the senator’s constant prodding of the president to be true to himself and his base. “It’s not just Rand’s voice. People who voted for Donald Trump don’t want to still be there either,” Stafford says. “He ran on it, he was loud and clear on it, and he believes it.”
    https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...p-guide-223614



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  29. #25
    Rand is being played just like Putin, after a while he would realize that Trump listens to the people he appointed to his cabinet i.e. neocons. I am waiting to see how his Syrian withdrawal will play out.

  30. #26
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    Rand is respected by Trump because he's never tried to burn the President for self-gain like the Neos routinely do. Plus, he never tries to manipulate Trump in a Machiavellian fashion for favors.

  31. #27
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  32. #28
    Worse... it seems now that when DJT now has a coherent thought or sentence said,
    it came from Dr.Rand's brain... are they both joined at the hip, politically speaking?
    Last edited by Aratus; 01-04-2019 at 03:53 PM. Reason: just ONE bill i could pass thru Congress?

  33. #29
    I hadn't looked at AJ/IW in quite some time. It's basically just another MSM outlet now, running the same headline "news" as the rest.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing."-Ron Paul

    "We have set them on the hobby-horse of an idea about the absorption of individuality by the symbolic unit of COLLECTIVISM. They have never yet and they never will have the sense to reflect that this hobby-horse is a manifest violation of the most important law of nature, which has established from the very creation of the world one unit unlike another and precisely for the purpose of instituting individuality."- A Quote From Some Old Book



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