Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) claimed he’s tired of being the Republican Party’s “whipping boy” and of colleagues expecting him “to do their job for them.”
On Politico’s The Conversation with Dasha Burns, Paul revealed that fellow Republicans have asked him to tell President Trump they won’t advance a presidential nominee — apparently referring to Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s former pick for the Office of Special Counsel.
“They say, ‘Oh, well, you’re not afraid of the president. You go tell him his nominee can’t make it,’” Paul told journalist Dasha Burns. “So, I’m just tired of always being the whipping boy. I’m tired of [being] the only one that has any guts to stand up and tell the president the truth. So these Republicans, they need to man up and they need to say, ‘We’re going to vote no because of this reason. And they need to tell the president. But so far, what I’m hearing is rumbling and griping and wanting me to do their job for them.”
Paul’s interview came soon after learning he wasn’t invited to a White House lunch President Trump held for Republican senators. He previously said he was also “uninvited” from a White House picnic in June.
“Everybody showed up … we’re just missing one person, you’ll never guess who that is,” Trump said at the Tuesday lunch, referring to Paul. “He automatically votes ‘no’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, it’s really not good politics. He’s an automatic ‘no.’”
While Paul affirmed his support for Trump, saying he would choose the president “over and over again” in past elections against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, he added that he wouldn’t “sit back and just say, ‘Oh, I’m leaving all my beliefs at the doorstep.’”
“I’m worried about the demise of the conservative voice within the Republican Party if we all become rubber stamps,” he said. “So I’m kind of happy to be the skunk at the party.”
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