After Sen. Rand Paul’s speech at the Republican national convention Tuesday night, which relied heavily on “America First” antiwar themes, he told Fox News that Republicans were now more open to his father Ron Paul’s foreign policy views thanks to the influence of President Trump.
Paul Discusses His Father’s Presidential Campaign
While discussing the 2008 presidential campaign of his father, antiwar Republican Congressman Ron Paul, Sen. Paul said of the GOP a the time, “It was a novel idea to think that we shouldn’t always be at war.”
Rand Paul highlighting Donald Trump's opposition to endless wars. "President Trump is the first president in a generation to seek to end wars rather than start one." Says of Biden "I fear he will support war again," listing some of the latest wars Biden supported.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 26, 2020
Paul told Fox News’ Sandra Smith, “People still after 9/11 thought we should be everywhere all the time.”
“But now that they see that it’s not so much about war,” Paul said. “In Afghanistan, we’re spending $50 billion a year. We’re building roads for them and bridges and they get blown up again.”
“People see the futility in this, and I think the party that wasn’t ready for my dad in 2008, actually is much more accepting of the positions of less war and military intervention, but, largely because of President Trump expressing similar views,” Paul said Wednesday.
The libertarian-leaning senator spent a good portion of his convention speech contrasting the difference between Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and Joe Biden’s return to the hawkish pro-war policies of old.
Paul Contrasts Trump And Biden
“I think it’s a clear distinction between President Trump and Joe Biden,” Paul said. “Joe Biden for decades voted for war up here — the Iraq war. I don’t think he has ever fully explained why the Iraq war was a mistake.”
“But if you listen to President Trump in rally after rally in year after year, President Trump says by destabilizing Iraq, by destabilizing the Middle East, you allowed Iran to grow stronger,” Paul noted. “So, we shifted the balance of power by getting rid of Saddam Hussein.”
The senator continued, “I’ve heard the president say many times as I have that Saddam Hussein was no great person, but he was a counterbalance to the Ayatollah and a counterbalance to Iran. But also with regards to Libya, Joe Biden was there with President Obama and decided to get rid of another not so great person, Qaddafi.”
I fear Biden will choose war again. He supported wars in Serbia, Syria, and Libya. Joe Biden will continue to spill our blood and treasure. President Trump will bring our heroes home.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 26, 2020
“But when they did, they got chaos,” Paul noted. “And out of chaos springs more terrorism.”
“I think ISIS, I think the terrorism, the breeding grounds in Libya came from getting rid of a government with nothing to replace it,” Paul said, adding, “So, I think President Trump really gets this.”
“I’ve been with him at Dover to see the young men come home to be received by their families after their deaths in war, and it moves him,” Paul continued. “And I think he truly does want to end the Afghan war, and that’s why I’m supporting him.”