Rand Paul walks Trump tightrope as conservative contrarian

Paul was the lone GOP senator to vote against a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown, has opposed two Trump nominees — United States Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — has bashed Trump’s tariffs, questioned the legality of using the military for deportations, and only last month offered the president an endorsement three months after the election.

He’s also likely to present hurdles as congressional Republicans turn their attention toward a special budget tool known as reconciliation to pass Trump’s policy priorities.

Still, Paul manages to remain in the good graces of Trump and the MAGA base. His stature in the party starkly contrasts McConnell, the former longtime Senate GOP leader who’s been further ostracized after opposing a string of Trump nominees. He also avoided the same ouster threat as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), as Trump vowed to back his primary challenge after Massie was the lone House Republican to vote against the same government funding bill as Paul.

“All I do is take my positions,” Paul told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t really have a reaction to how it’s covered.”

Paul’s ability to maintain his standing in the party despite being among his conference’s rabble-rousers, such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), is in part thanks to his public willingness to air his grievances. He’s unwavering in his positions, forces doomed amendment votes that are bemoaned by colleagues, and engages in long floor speeches on fiscal responsibility and limited government.

His latest instance of irking senators came last week when he forced an amendment vote to codify the administration’s spending cuts into law. Republicans wanted to support it but were forced to vote it down because the Senate was racing to pass a stopgap funding bill just hours before a shutdown deadline. Altering the House-passed legislation would have resulted in a lapse of funding early Saturday morning.

Paul is the chairman of the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee but is not in party leadership, a notable distinction that further bolsters his anti-establishment persona.

“Our state has this real contrarian streak in it. We are contrarians. I don’t know if anybody embodies that word more than Rand Paul in the U.S. Senate,” said Scott Jennings, a GOP strategist and former McConnell campaign aide from Kentucky. “It does show political skill to be able to effectively get away with it, especially when you’re going against the president of your own party.”

Paul, when asked whether he gave Senate leadership or the White House forewarning before he casts “nay” votes on Trump nominees or the government funding, suggested it was unnecessary.

“I’m very public and very consistent with my positions since I came here,” Paul said. “I don’t think there’s any shock or surprise to the positions that I take.”

McConnell, by comparison, sent shockwaves through Washington this year with an 11th-hour rebellion against the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that caught many Republicans flat-footed.

“With Rand, you always know where you stand,” said Hawley, who’s among the conservative contrarians known for bucking McConnell as leader.

However, Paul operates in a chamber in which Republicans control 53-47, allowing his “nay” votes to have no impact on Trump’s agenda or nominees so far. Massie seemed to foreshadow that Rand would have received similar scrutiny as himself if the math in the Senate was harder.

“I think the attack on me was to keep other House Republicans in line, not to change my vote,” Massie said of the saga over the government funding bill in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “They were always going to have enough Democrats in the Senate, so there was really nothing to be gained by attacking Sen. Paul.”

Paul’s fiscal discipline could present a battle royale on reconciliation

For Paul, being the anti-establishment antagonist runs in the family and is a lane he operates from most comfortably. He’s the son of Ron Paul, the former libertarian congressman and presidential candidate who helped kickstart the Tea Party movement. A trained eye surgeon, the younger Paul is known for his annual “Festivus Report,” which highlights government waste. He was one of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s fiercest critics in Congress over pandemic-era health mandates.

Paul managed to irk his Kentucky neighbor over a yard dispute in 2017, so much so that he suffered broken ribs after the man tackled him in a brutal physical attack that resulted in a nine-month prison sentence.

The stopgap measure to avert a shutdown largely extended current funding levels through fiscal 2025, allowing Paul to argue that opposing it was actually the more conservative stance because the bill essentially greenlighted Biden-era spending levels.

“In December, most fiscal conservatives voted against this package, and now they’re presented with the exact same package that will lead to a $2 trillion deficit this year,” Paul said.

Paul will likely create headaches for the White House in the coming months as congressional Republicans craft a so-called reconciliation package to pass pillars of Trump’s agenda, including 2017 tax credits that are set to expire. As a leading fiscal policy hawk, Paul regularly bucks the GOP on any spending he deems irresponsible in the face of the ever-rising national debt.

Reconciliation will only require a simple majority to clear both chambers, giving Senate Republicans some breathing room that could allow Paul and two other GOP senators to defect yet still pass the legislation.

“One of the strongest parts of his brand is that strong adherence to the idea that the Republican Party is supposed to be the fiscally conservative party, and that’s been his calling card for most of his career,” Jennings said. “There’s a real appreciation for that among the grassroots.”

Paul opposed Greer’s appointment as the top trade representative over the administration’s trade policies, which include new tariffs, and Chavez-DeRemer’s appointment to run the Labor Department because of her past “pro-labor” views.

Still, Paul determined it was time to offer Trump an endorsement last month, albeit a little late.

“I’m amazed by the Trump cabinet (many of whom I would have picked). I love his message to the Ukrainian warmongers, and along with his DOGE initiative shows I was wrong to withhold my endorsement,” Paul said in a post to X in February. “So today, admittedly a little tardy, I give Donald Trump my enthusiastic endorsement! (Too little too late some will say, but, you know, it is sincere, there is that.) Don’t expect this endorsement to be fawning. I still think tariffs are a terrible idea, but Dios Mio, what courage, what tenacity.”

Like anyone who’s shared a debate stage with the president, Paul has been the subject of Trump’s attacks but has largely escaped his wrath in the near-decade since the two traded personal barbs during a 2016 GOP presidential primary debate.

The two frequently sparred during that campaign. In one of the debates, Trump came out of the gate with an unprovoked attack asserting Paul “shouldn’t even be on this stage” because of low poll numbers. Later, the two exchanged personal attacks.

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“His visceral response to attack people on their personal appearance — short, tall, fat, ugly — my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not all worried,” Paul said.

Trump responded: “I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter there. That I can tell you.”