During President Donald Trump’s first term, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was often seen as a close ally of the White House. Now, he may not even get close to the White House picnic.
“I think I’m the first senator in the history of the United States to be uninvited to the White House picnic,” Paul told reporters on Wednesday. “I just find this incredibly petty. I mean — I have been, I think, nothing but polite to the president.”
“Polite” is a noticeably different adjective than “friendly,” however.
Paul has always been an independent-minded, libertarian-leaning lawmaker. His father, the three-time presidential candidate and 10-term congressman Ron Paul, was often a lonely “no” vote on legislation.
The son is more of a political operator than his father, picking his battles and carefully messaging his arguments to the Republican base. That’s why the younger Paul has been elected statewide in Kentucky three times, winning his first Republican primary there over the opposition of the state’s senior senator, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Paul has kept that independent streak, nevertheless. But in Trump’s first term, it didn’t seem to affect his relationship with the president. Paul was often seen as a counterweight to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on foreign policy among Trump’s friends on Capitol Hill.
“I will say this about Rand Paul: He’s never let me down,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago in 2018. “Rand Paul is a very special guy as far as I’m concerned. He’s never let me down.”
At the time, Paul was opposing Trump’s nomination of Mike Pompeo, then the CIA director, for secretary of state. Pompeo was ultimately confirmed by the Senate, though Trump said publicly in November that he would not get an administration job the second time around. The same applied to Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump in the 2024 primaries, as Pompeo had considered doing.
Politico reported later that year that Paul had won the argument inside Trumpworld on military strikes against Iran. “He infuriates West Wing aides who have had to scramble to win his support for key votes, but Rand Paul has the ear, and the affection, of the most important person in the White House: President Donald Trump,” Eliana Johnson wrote at the time, quoting a White House aide as saying of Trump, “He actually at gut level has the same instincts as Rand Paul.”
When the 2020 killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani did not spiral into a wider conflict with Iran, Paul and commentator Tucker Carlson were named as the two top outside advisers counseling Trump against it.
But Paul was slow to endorse Trump in 2024, even as the once and future president built a commanding lead in the Republican primaries, declaring himself “Never Nikki Haley” three days before the Iowa caucuses.
“I’ve had a long relationship with Donald Trump and there is a lot to like there,” Paul said in a video posted on X. “I am also a big fan of a lot of the fiscal conservatism of Ron DeSantis. I think Vivek Ramaswamy has been an important voice. Also, I’ve listened to and met with the independent Bobby Kennedy.”
“I’m not yet ready to make a decision, but I am ready to make a decision on someone who I cannot support, so I’m announcing this morning that I am never Nikki,” he added.
Paul didn’t really throw his support behind Trump until after he had already won the 2024 presidential election. “A few people may have noticed that I resisted an enthusiastic endorsement of Donald Trump during the election. But now, I’m amazed by the Trump cabinet (many of whom I would have picked). I love his message to the Ukrainian warmongers, and along with his DOGE initiative shows I was wrong to withhold my endorsement,” Paul posted on X on Feb. 19, nearly a month after Trump was sworn in for a second, nonconsecutive term.
“So today, admittedly a little tardy, I give Donald Trump my enthusiastic endorsement! (Too little too late some will say, but, you know, it is sincere, there is that.),” he added. “Don’t expect this endorsement to be fawning. I still think tariffs are a terrible idea, but Dios Mio, what courage, what tenacity.”
Paul did tell journalist Bari Weiss in an interview during the campaign that he was voting for Trump over then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump hasn’t lashed out at Paul publicly to the same extent as he has done with past intraparty critics, such as Paul’s fellow Kentuckian McConnell. Hawks have had less influence in Trump’s second term, as he has pursued Russia-Ukraine peace talks and nuclear negotiations with Iran. Other voices for foreign-policy restraint, most notably Vice President JD Vance, have a place at the table.
But Paul has been an opponent of the so-called big, beautiful bill Trump is using to extend his tax cuts and fund immigration enforcement. A similar disagreement blew up Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk.
“Well, anyone who votes against the one big, beautiful bill including Sen. Rand Paul, will be voting for a tax hike of more than $4 trillion on the American people and their voters will know about it,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on Fox News earlier this month.
Paul has not been on board with the tariffs or Trump’s upcoming June 14 military parade in Washington, D.C.
The Trump-Paul relationship has gone through peaks and valleys before. The two were friends and golfing partners in 2014, but clashed bitterly during the fight for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The two patched things up after Trump was elected president and Politico reported Paul had “quietly emerged as an influential sounding board and useful ally for the president, who frequently clashes with his top advisers on foreign policy.”
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Steve Bannon and others have had on-and-off relationships with Trump, in some cases without losing influence in MAGA circles. Trump has not yet threatened Paul with a primary challenge, as he has fellow libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
But for now, the relationship between Trump and Paul is no picnic.