Showing political courage rarely seen in today’s politics, 54-year-old Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) stood up to Sen. John McCain’s bullying, blasting his recent comments about Trump regarding “how dictators get started.” Listening to McCain denounce the president of the United States at the 2017 Munich Security Conference, Paul finally had enough, telling ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl that McCain’s vendetta against 70-year-old Donald Trump colors all his high profile public remarks. “The thing is I don’t agree with his [McCain’s] analysis and applying that to the president,” referring to McCain’s hateful comments about Trump. Denouncing his commander-in-chief at in Munich yesterday shows that McCain thinks nothing of airing his dirty laundry in Europe. McCain can’t get over Trump’s 2015 unflattering remarks about McCain’s Vietnam War service.
McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, thinks he’s commander-in-chief, telling security chiefs in Munich that Trump’s national security team is in disarray. With Defense Secretary James Mattis telling the same security chiefs that Trump 100% backs NATO, McCain does his utmost to undermine trust in the new president. “Everything that [McCain] says about the president is colored by his own personal dispute he’s got running with President Trump and it should be taken with a grain of salt, because John McCain’s the guy that’s advocated for war everywhere. He would bankrupt the nation,” said Paul. Paul told Karl that if McCain were commander-in-chief the U.S. would be in perpetual war. When you consider the Afghan and Iraq Wars are still lingering on, the U.S. is already, under many of McCain’s policies, engaged in perpetual war.
Without saying it directly, Paul told Karl that the McCain backed the six-year-old Saudi-funded proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. McCain backed the same rebel groups that morphed in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] and what’s left of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria. As recently as Oct. 12, 2016, McCain urged in the strongest possible way former President Barack Obama to back his plan to set up dangerous no-fly zones in Syria. McCain’s plan was 100% backed by Democratic nominee Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “And actually, we’re very lucky John McCain’s not in charge because I think we would be in perpetual war,” Paul told Karl. McCain said he would shoot down Syrian and Russian warplanes if they violated the no-fly zone. Shooting down Russian jets would start WWIII, something that doesn’t phase McCain one bit.
McCain and Hillary’s policy on Syria was so disturbing it prompted former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steimeir to warn the world Oct. 18 about impending WWIII. Commenting about Trump’s possible replacement of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn who resigned Feb. 14, Rand openly opposed former Bush-43 U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. “I think John Bolton would be much closer to McCain than Trump and I think history of sort of acting on his own, my fear is that secret war would be developing around the globe. So no, I think he would be a bad choice,” said Paul, regarding Trump picking John Bolton. Paul sees Bolton as supporting regime change in Syria, showing great support for the Iraq War during former President George W. Bush’s presidency. Paul refused to denounce Trump’s attack on the media at a Feb. 16 press conference. McCain called it dictatorial.
Paul wants the media to stop quoting McCain to bolster its own anti-Trump narrative. If McCain backed Trump, he wouldn’t be quoted daily by the liberal press seeking to denounce Trump. Paul sees the same antipathy toward Trump as he did toward former President Barack Obama for the past eight years. Considering a replacement for Flynn, Paul opposed John Bolton. “John Bolton still believes the Iraq war a good idea, he still believes regime change is a good idea, he still believes that nation building is a good idea,” said Paul, equating Bolton’s views with McCain’s. More than anything, Paul said McCain can’t get beyond his vendetta toward Trump, offering nothing objective denouncing Trump. Paul didn’t say that McCain denouncing Trump overseas amounted to treason, something so out-of-line, so inappropriate it defies all logic for a military guy like McCain.
McCain’s one of the chief architects of the Russian conspiracy theory of Hillary’s Election Day loss to Trump. McCain wants no part of any attempt by Trump to reset U.S.-Russian relations. Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a KGB thug and criminal, McCain does everything possible to sabotage Trump’s attempt to mend fences with Moscow. “Their main purpose is to destabilize the United Sates and Western Democracies. And they’ve shown that in everything they’ve done . . . “ former CIA Director Leon Panetta told “Meet the Press.” McCain agrees 100% with Panetta, not considering the damage to U.S. national security by fueling an adversarial relationship with Russia. As Paul points out, McCain’s too busy supporting the Military Industrial Complex to consider what’s best for the country. Lashing out publicly at Trump hurts U.S. national security.
