Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. John McCain are from different ends of the Republican ideological spectrum, but they are alike in many ways – including their willingness to part with their GOP colleagues when there’s a chasm between the party line and their own beliefs. They are also alike in that neither of them are afraid to criticize Donald Trump when the occasion calls for it.
But while Paul is willing to tell the president when he’s wrong, McCain seems to have made it his main job. In Munich last week, McCain gave a speech tearing apart Trump’s “America First” theme, warning that it would be a mistake for the U.S. to abandon its long-standing ties with Western European allies.
“Make no mistake, my friends, these are dangerous times,” McCain said. “But you should not count America out, and we should not count each other out.”
While in Germany, the Arizona senator also took exception to Trump’s characterization of his White House as a “fine-tuned machine.”
“In many respects,” McCain said, “this administration is in disarray, and they’ve got a lot of work to do.”
In an interview with Meet the Press, McCain seized on the opportunity to continue the Trump-bashing. Citing the president’s comments on the news media, McCain warned that it was the stuff of authoritarian regimes.
“The first thing that dictators do is shut down the press,” he said.
With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
While McCain’s interview was airing on NBC, Sen. Paul was on ABC’s This Week lashing out at his colleague.
“Everything that he says about the president is colored by his own personal dispute he’s got running with President Trump, and it should be taken with a grain of salt, because John McCain’s the guy who’s advocated for war everywhere,” Paul said. “He would bankrupt the nation. We’re very lucky John McCain’s not in charge, because I think we’d be in perpetual war.”
Paul said you only had to look at McCain’s foreign policy record to see the folly of his critiques.
“I would say John McCain’s been wrong on just about everything over the last four decades,” he said. “He advocated for the Iraq War, which I think destabilized the Middle East. If you look at the map, there’s probably at least six different countries where John McCain has advocated for us having boots on the ground.”
Well said. The days of McCain’s neoconservative approach to foreign policy are coming to an end, and the American people have moved on. That doesn’t mean that Paul’s allergy to military intervention of any kind is the right path, and it doesn’t mean that Trump’s pullback from NATO is any better, but it’s time for the country to try something new. That’s what we voted for, and that’s what Trump has promised to deliver.
McCain has a right to his opinion, but there’s no call for his nonstop attacks. Get on board, or keep your trap shut.
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