President Donald Trump launched an angry attack on Republican Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday in an attempt to bully him into supporting his legislative agenda.
The GOP lawmaker has been a thorn in Trump’s side as a vocal critic of the president’s “big, beautiful bill” as well as a harsh opponent of his tariffs.
“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!”
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In a separate post, Trump accused the GOP senator of having “very little understanding” of his massive bill now in the Senate.
“He loves voting “NO” on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!” the president wrote.
The president has set his ire on Paul as Republicans are working to move Trump’s bill focused on his domestic spending agenda through the Senate after it squeaked through the House just before Memorial Day.
Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate, but multiple GOP senators have raised issues with the bill and are looking to make changes. Paul has said that without major changes, he’s a “no,” giving the already slim Senate majority little wiggle room.
The timing of Trump’s attacks on Tuesday was likely no coincidence as Paul had just appeared on CNBC, where he continued his criticism of the president’s “big, beautiful bill.”
“The main thing I object to is raising the debt ceiling $4 or $5 trillion,” Paul said. “That’s an indication that we’ll borrow that much. It’s an indication that we’ll put the debt on the back burner.”
The Republican senator blasted the legislation as “not conservative.”
He argued that all it would take is four more fiscally conservative GOP members to force the Senate to reduce spending in their version of the bill.
“It’s who sticks together better, and who has more courage to stand up and say ‘no.’ I’ve said no for six months now. I’ve said I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion, but I’m pretty much open to compromise on everything else in the bill,” Paul said.
Asked where he would actually make cuts, Paul responded, “everywhere.”
While other GOP senators like Ron Johnson and Rick Scott have voiced concerns about the deficit and spending in the bill, there are also a number of Republican senators who have taken issue with the House bill’s cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune will have his hands full as senators work to draft their version of the legislation after Speaker Mike Johnson pressed for there to be as little changes as possible from the House bill.
Thune said the bill will “most likely” come to the Senate floor the last week ahead of the 4th of July recess.
