Rand Paul: Donald Trump ‘Is a Fake Conservative’
KELLY: “Breaking tonight, Rand Paul coming out swinging with just 24 hours to go until tomorrow night's GOP debate. The senator has released a new ad in which he touts himself as quote, ‘A real conservative.’ A message, we are told, that is not only an effort to separate himself from the pack, but from one candidate in particular. Joining me now Senator Rand Paul. Great to see you tonight, senator. And so you said in an interview that, quote, ‘I'm not going to sit quietly by and let the disaster that is Donald Trump become the nominee. Do you want someone who appears to still be in grade school to be in charge of the nuclear arsenal? Someone has to bring him down.’ How do you plan to do that?”
PAUL: “Well, you know, I think electioneering, running for office is combat. It's an intellectual combat. And you have to differentiate yourself from others. I think he is running as a conservative. But the Tea Party movement, we were very wary of fake conservatives. Republicans who said they were conservative, but were actually for big government programs. Donald Trump was for President Obama's stimulus plan. Government stimulus plan. No conservative in America was for it. He was for President Obama's Obamacare. No conservative in America was for that either. But the biggest thing that I think really shows who Donald Trump is, is that when you look at private property rights, sort of the fundamental building blocks of our country, he is for taking property from individual small property owner and giving it to big corporations like his and there are no conservatives in America who are for that. So really I do think he is a fake conservative.”
KELLY: “He -- you know, these issues about, you know, his prior liberal positions have been raised repeatedly. They don't touch him in the polls. He continues to surge. Why?”
PAUL: “Well, not yet. They will eventually. Ultimately people are going to have to decide who they want to run the country. And I do mean this very seriously. That someone who is calling another candidate ugly, stupid, fat, all the things he has been saying about other people, is that really the kind of person that's going to have diplomacy with the Soviet Union or with China? Is that really the kind of person that you want to have in charge of your nuclear arsenal? So I think that sort of unrestrained, uncontrolled narcissism is the best way to put it, is the probably not someone you want to have in charge of your nuclear arsenal. So I think that ultimately, right now, two thirds of the voters are undecided. Ultimately when they become voters who are actually going to have to make a decision, I think they will think more seriously about whether or not this celebrity that makes them laugh or cringe is really what they want as commander-in-chief.”
