Is Rand Paul the Neocons’ Next Target?
Now that Thomas Massie has been dislodged from Congress, an emerging question is whether the Establishment will turn its crosshairs on Rand Paul, his U.S. Senate counterpart, next.
Neoconservative influencer Laura Loomer has already begun planting the seeds for a campaign against Senator Paul, another Kentucky Republican with a solid constitutional voting record. “Rand Paul, You’re next,” Loomer wrote on her X account just minutes after Massie’s race was called on Tuesday evening.
Loomer has bragged about having influence over President Trump. She took credit for his firing six National Security Council officials a year ago. And she admits to sending Trump’s team video clips of people on the Right whom she feels are betraying him, with the intent to goad him into attacking these people.
Common characteristics among those who incur Loomer’s ire are opposition to foreign aid, specifically to Israel, and opposition to unconstitutional wars, especially those that involve helping Israel. Paul, like Massie, fits in both categories.
Likely Target
According to Newsweek, “Paul stands out as one of the most likely next targets.” Newsweek rattles off a list of violations that would trigger a campaign against him:
A libertarian-leaning Republican, Paul has repeatedly opposed Trump-backed policies on foreign policy and spending, including voting with Democrats to restrict U.S. military action in Iran and criticizing presidential war powers. He has also pushed back on Trump’s use of executive power, including on tariffs and emergency authorities, arguing they exceed constitutional limits.
Louisville Courier Journal columnist Joseph Gerth recently posed the question, “He knocked off Massie, could Trump target Paul next?” Paul, writes Gerth, “has not always been all that well liked by establishment Republicans in Kentucky.”
Paul’s close policy alignment with Massie makes him vulnerable, Gerth and Newsweek argue. And with Trump’s momentum strong after Massie’s defeat, Paul could face similar pressure in the next election cycle. Paul isn’t up for reelection until 2028.
Paul stumped for Massie. He did numerous events with him before the election, he endorsed Massie on social media, and he spoke at the rally that Massie held three days before Tuesday’s race, where he ignited spirited cheering from the crowd. The event emcee labeled Paul the “conscience of the Senate” and Massie “the conscience of the House.”
But given that Trump has developed a clear pattern of endorsing Republican neocons with low regard for the Constitution — Andy Barr and Lindsey Graham among them — while focusing his most intense attacks on principled constitutionalists, it would be completely in character for him to go after Paul.
Already on the List
The president has already attacked Paul numerous times. He equates Paul with Massie. “He is the worst person,” Trump said during a rally for the man who defeated Massie. Trump told the crowd that he had christened Massie “Rand Paul, Jr.” because “he votes against everything.”
Trump has already issued calls for Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to be primaried for supporting Massie. It would make sense if he goes after Paul as well.
Boebert and Paul, like Massie, happen to have solid constitutional voting records of above 90 percent in The New American’s Freedom Index. They rank high in other conservative indexes as well. They are the type of lawmakers necessary for an American comeback.
Restore Constitutionalism
A key to national restoration is corralling the federal government back within its constitutional pen. And to do that, Americans must send brave and principled lawmakers to Congress, men and women who know the U.S. Constitution and respect it enough to obey it. But before doing that, Americans must prioritize Constitutional fidelity when filling out their ballots. Data suggest that’s not what happened in the Massie race (assuming that election result is legitimate).
Instead, voters were persuaded by tens of millions of dollars from out-of-state neocons to believe that loyalty to the president was more important than loyalty to the Constitution. They were persuaded into believing that Massie — one of the few legislators who actually takes fidelity to individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, and the U.S. Constitution seriously — was a Republican in name only. So they voted him out. They ousted one of the few legislators who’s more of a Republican than many of the others, one of the few who knows and obeys the Constitution.
That’s not the way things are supposed to work.
The Founders’ System
The Founders instituted a system of checks and balances, a system of governance that allocates few powers to the federal government while giving citizens the freedom to tailor their state governments according to their wishes (as long as that doesn’t violate the Constitution or the Bill of Rights). But after 250 years, the U.S. government has metastasized into a behemoth with powers and responsibilities that it was never intended to have, a monster whose tentacles stretch into every aspect of the individual’s life. The federal government was never supposed to meddle in education, healthcare, babysitting services, the environment, banking, or even policing.
Before the 20th century, the courts designated central banking unconstitutional. The meddlesome, interventionist foreign policy of today was the epitome of what the Framers abhorred. It was only after the turn of the 20th century that America’s foreign policy became imperialistic.
Also, until 1913, there was no federal income tax to fund the laundry list of federal agencies and the even longer list of subagencies.
The bloat of the federal government is causing an enormous number of problems. This will lead to the collapse of the country if they are not addressed. The nation has racked up more than $39 trillion in debt — and that debt is rising by the second. It has led to higher costs of everything, which erodes the standard of living for the average American. And if it isn’t addressed, the debt will trigger a financial collapse.
Fighting Ignorance
Ignorance to constitutional principles is also a major reason why Trump has any support for the war in Iran. As we’ve outlined in multiple articles, the war against Iran is an unconstitutional war of choice launched without congressional permission. It has tacked on tens of billions of dollars to an already-unsustainable national debt. It has killed a number of Americans and injured hundreds more. What’s more, it has depleted munitions that may be necessary to fight an opponent that actually poses a threat, and nearly doubled the price of gasoline.
Unconstitutional governance has created a slew of social problems as well. It has built the welfare state, which has in turn contributed to the epidemic of single-parent homes — a root cause of crime, poverty, drug abuse, depression, and other problems.
Unconstitutional governance allowed the federal government to gain control over the nation’s K-12 schools. This has dumbed down generations of Americans. It has quashed brilliance and potential. And it has brainwashed generation after generation into a mindset that positions the government as the answer to societal ills.
Thomas Jefferson once said:
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information.
Until there is sufficient understanding among the citizenry about how the American Republic is designed to work and why that benefits all citizens, the United States will continue to suffer. It is not just Jefferson who understood this. John Birch Society Founder Robert Welch knew it as well. “Education is our total strategy, truth our only weapon,” he used to say. He started the JBS precisely to address the problem of mass ignorance.
It is a civic responsibility of all who understand to help others understand as well.
