Sen. Paul Keeps Pledge to Support Trump Despite Controversies

If I were Rand and wanted to run for POTUS again, this is exactly what I'd do.... When everybody is asked about why they backed out of their pledge, Rand will be looking pretty.

He knows Hillary will win and that sets him up quite nicely for 2020. With Trump out of the picture, who else is the outsider?
 
eleganz said:
If I were Rand and wanted to run for POTUS again, this is exactly what I'd do.... When everybody is asked about why they backed out of their pledge, Rand will be looking pretty.

He knows Hillary will win and that sets him up quite nicely for 2020. With Trump out of the picture, who else is the outsider?
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Exactly...in fact he should proactively try to target Trump leaning groups and maybe consider getting out the reputation that he is Trump's main backer of all the former primary opponents. This group might be around in 4 years and will remember his support ---in particular contrast to Ted Cruz. Of course he should be careful about what the Democrats can use against him later though. Just a huge shame that Rand wasn't nominated...any Republican would have had a chance let alone one with Rand's favorable personal background and national security policies vs Clinton.

Just look at what Nixon did in 1964 when Goldwater was bound to lose. Admittedly Goldwater was a good man unlike Trump so again Rand should be careful:

It’s true that Nixon flirted here and there with a run for the nomination in 1964, but he ultimately resigned himself to the inevitability of Goldwater. And this is where Richard Nixon demonstrated the kind of political savvy and skill that should be remembered by all Republicans in advance of 2012.

It was clear that the other big Republican guns in 1964 — Nelson Rockefeller of New York, Bill Scranton of Pennsylvania, and George Romney of Michigan (all moderate governors) — had little interest in supporting Barry Goldwater. Nixon, however, knew that anyone who really wanted to have a serious future shot at a presidential nomination could not afford to be a bystander, no matter how bad the results in November might turn out to be.

Richard Nixon was not as conservative as Goldwater, but as a more moderate Republican, he knew that faithfulness and diligence in such moments was crucial. Arriving in San Francisco that year for the Republican National Convention, Mr. Nixon made his position perfectly clear: “I, for one Republican, don’t intend to sit out, or take a walk” — an obvious signal to Goldwater supporters and detractors. And while Rockefeller was shouted down as he addressed the crowd that week, Nixon was received warmly. In fact, historian Stephen Ambrose has suggested that Richard Nixon’s speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention was the opening speech of his 1968 candidacy. The future president told his party:

Before this convention we were Goldwater Republicans, Rockefeller Republicans, Scranton Republicans, Lodge Republicans, but now that this convention has met and made its decision, we are Republicans, period, working for Barry Goldwater…And to those few, if there are some, who say that they are going to sit it out or take a walk, or even go on a boat ride, I have an answer in the words of Barry Goldwater in 1960 — ‘Let’s grow up, Republicans, let’s go to work — and we shall win in November!’

Of course, not all Republicans went to work that year, most notably Rockefeller and Romney — a fact not forgotten by conservatives four years later — but Nixon did.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/12/t...-take-a-cue-from-richard-nixon/#ixzz4NFjeG1yF
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He's taking the most neutral position possible without giving his enemies the soundbite. Compare that to Cruz who went from slobbering all over Trump before the primaries to flip-flopping back and forth on his support.
 
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Have to disagree with you guys....

It was a HUGE strategic blunder for Rand to endorse Trump.

Trump's people aren't going to get behind another candidate just because of an endorsement, considering that most of the party endorsed him.

Whereas, anti-Trump people would have gotten behind somebody like Rand if he stood out as one of a handful of prominent non-endorsers.

Ted played it correctly, and I'm afraid he's going to have an edge on us in 2020 because of it.

But, anyway, it's too late now for Rand to go back. He's got to stick with his choose at this point and just try to lay low.
 
here's something for irony. I was looking at old threads and came across this comment:

r3volution 3.0 said:
If Rothbard (that would be "Mr. Libertarian," founder of modern anarcho-capitalism) were alive, he'd take the same position.

Over the years, Murray supported far worse candidates that Rand.

E.G. George H.W. Bush in '92, Lyndon Johnson in '64

Video of Rothbard discussing his LBJ endorsement

He supported these bastards because they were marginally less evil than the alternative, which is what a rational person does: choose between the best or least bad of the available options.
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why the rhetoric change? just curious
 
Rand is supporting the party- not necessarily endorsing the candidate. He pledged to support whomever the nominee was and is honoring that commitment.
 
Zippyjuan said:
Rand is supporting the party- not necessarily endorsing the candidate. He pledged to support whomever the nominee was and is honoring that commitment.
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As simple as this. He has a re-election to win. I've never heard him stump for Trump. It's a gambit so that he cannot be bit in the ass later on. One of his debating points was whether or not Trump would support the eventual nominee, knowing full well that Trump threatened to run third party against his father if he were to have one. He couldn't go back on that point.
 
eleganz said:
If I were Rand and wanted to run for POTUS again, this is exactly what I'd do.... When everybody is asked about why they backed out of their pledge, Rand will be looking pretty.

He knows Hillary will win and that sets him up quite nicely for 2020. With Trump out of the picture, who else is the outsider?
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I don't see Rand running in 2020. But he seems to be going about this pretty quietly, avoiding too close of an association with Trump that could haunt him in future elections, which is smart. He's keeping his pledge, so he can't get accused of breaking it or flip-flopping. But he's not going out on any more of a limb than that.
 
Rand already swore that he'd support the Republican nominee and he's keeping his word. Breaking his word would make him just as untrustworthy as everyone else in Washington. If Hillary does beat Trump, then Rand will be a much stronger opponent in 2020 since Hillary's hacked emails stated that out of all the Republican candidates, she most feared Rand in the General election.
 
mello said:
If Hillary does beat Trump, then Rand will be a much stronger opponent in 2020 since Hillary's hacked emails stated that out of all the Republican candidates, she most feared Rand in the General election.
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Yup, I can see the campaign ads already: "We made a mistake last time, not nominating our strongest candidate, let's not do it again..."
 
I don't think this is a good move on his part, it is true that he took the pledge and is technically honoring it but with various establishment republicans expressing distrust and distaste for Trump Rand Paul could have easily have refused that without much consequence as well as being able to appeal to some anti Trump voters. Rand would have been better served remaining neutral.
 
r3volution 3.0 said:
Well, it'll never happen obviously, since Trump isn't going to be POTUS.
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Why not? He's up 2% nationally in the polls (that don't have huge artificial Dem margins - remember that Dem attendance was down about 20% in the primary, which means the Trump lead could be pretty huge)
 
I think it is admirable that Rand is keeping his word. He understands what will happen if Hillary Clinton becomes president.
 
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