Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Republicans running in battleground states that dodging the party’s own policies on Iran and trade won’t cut it this election cycle. Appearing Tuesday on Newsmax TV’s “The Big Take,” Paul said candidates “need to tell the people that the trade war with Canada is a mistake and you’re opposed to it,” and “need to tell people the Iran War needs to stop as soon as possible.”
Paul’s message was blunt: running purely on “we’re less socialist than the other guy” isn’t a winning strategy. “If you just go out there and say, vote for me, the other people are worse, they’re socialist and we’re less socialist, I don’t know if it’s enough,” he said.
He framed the Republican pitch as inherently harder to sell than the Democrats’ promises. “They will offer you a free car, a free lunch, free college, free healthcare,” Paul said. “And what Republicans are offering is so much better, but it’s intangible. We’re offering opportunity and freedom, the idea to practice your own religion, the idea to own a gun, the idea to be free from a government search, the Bill of Rights.”
On the economy, Paul pushed back on the idea that slower inflation under the current administration is enough to satisfy voters. “Inflation is slower than it was under Biden,” he said. “But what people have to remember, and I think what many Republicans are forgetting, is inflation is cumulative. So, the 20% that your prices went up under Biden is still there. Now we’re adding to it at a slower rate. But even if we do 3% a year for the last two years, much better than under Biden, we’re still at 26% over 5 or 6 years.”
He put it in plain terms for working families: “If you make $50,000 a year now and you made $50,000 a year five years ago, you are poor.”
Paul traced the pressure back to government spending and layered conflicts. “That comes from deficit spending. That is the debt that causes inflation. But if you add the Iran War on top of that, which is diesel and gas and fertilizer, and then you add the tariff war on top of that, there are three — it’s sort of a triple whammy. Inflation, trade war, Iran War have caused a lot of people to really be squeezed. That’s this affordability crunch. And if Republicans don’t address it, I think they are going to have trouble in the election.”
He closed with a direct challenge to candidates in swing states watching the polls move against them. “If you’re in a battleground state and you’re running for office, you need to tell the people that the trade war with Canada is a mistake and you’re opposed to it, you need to tell people the Iran War needs to stop as soon as possible,” Paul said. “If you say that, and if you are sincere, I think you have a chance. But, in many of these states where I see the numbers going the opposite way, if you just go out there and say, vote for me, the other people are worse, they’re socialist and we’re less socialist, I don’t know if it’s enough.”
