KY Politics Insider: Rand Paul lets loose on Congress, Trump & ‘farmageddon’
Kentucky Politics Insider provides an analytical view of Kentucky politics and the conversations that drive decisions. Email me at ahorn@herald-leader.com or ping me on any one of the various social media sites with tips or comments.
Sen. Rand Paul has never been shy about his disagreements with President Donald Trump.
But in a recent wide-ranging interview with POLITICO, Paul gave perhaps his most stinging assessment of some Trump administration policies, foreign and domestic, and what he sees as a culture of kowtowing in Congress.
Paul told POLITICO’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns that U.S. senators from the several states reliant on farming are more critical of the Trump administration’s tariffs in private than they’ve been in public. Some tariffs levied against China ignited a trade war that hit farming states, reliant on China’s purchase of soybeans, particularly hard.
In recent days, Trump has worked to hammer out a deal with China for the world’s second-most populous country to resume buying American soybeans.
“I think if there’s a significant downturn in the economy, more will stand up,” Paul said in the interview posted Oct. 24. “The farm economy hangs on by a thread, and now they’re talking about ‘Well, tariffs, maybe they’re not so good for farmers. We’ll give farmers some taxpayer money.’
“I don’t know if you can put up enough for the farmers because I think you’re going to have farm disasters. I think you’ve got a ‘farmageddon’ on our doorstep because of this.”
Paul was also asked about his ideological compatriot and fellow Kentucky member of Congress, Thomas Massie.
Trump has set his sights on ousting Massie, with a political group tied to the president spending money against him and Trump recently endorsing GOP primary challenger Ed Gallrein of Shelby County.
“I think what Thomas Massie represents is something bigger than him, bigger than me, bigger than just one Congressional seat,” Paul said. “What he represents is an independent voice within the Republican Party, a voice that believes in the constitution and a strict interpretation of the enumerated powers, who believes in a balanced budget, low taxes and less foreign war,” Paul said.
Paul added that there’s an irony present, since he believes he and Massie reflect the president’s platform more than “some people who have gotten close” to Trump who are more interventionist.
He also predicted that Massie is going to win.
“People think they can waltz into Kentucky with a bunch of New York money and buy a seat — they’ve got another thing coming.”
Massie, long a fan of Paul dating back to his first run for U.S. House in 2012, recently married a former staffer of Paul’s.
Ballroom Committee
Trump may not be all that mad with Paul if the membership of his National Capital Planning Commission is any indication.
The little-known commission has gained relevancy with Trump’s ongoing plan to build a $300 million ballroom at the White House. The 37 people funding the ballroom build-out include some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.
Paul joins fellow Kentucky member of Congress Rep. James Comer on the commission. The board is chaired by White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf.
The board’s next meeting is slated for Thursday, Nov. 6, though that could change given the ongoing government shutdown, according to the Washington Post.
McConnell speaking out
Sen. Mitch McConnell has shown a comfort in speaking out against Trump’s tariff policy and elements of the Republican Party that he deems too far right.
Over the past week, he’s done both in a big way.
On Oct. 28, McConnell laid into Trump’s tariff policy when he joined in a Democratic-led resolution that would block the tariffs on goods imported into the United States.
“Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise,” McConnell said in a press release.
The senior senator from Kentucky, who is not running for reelection in 2026, also emphasized that the tariffs will hurt his state, which he has argued is uniquely reliant on international trade.
“New trade barriers imposed this year have made it harder to sustain the supply chains that let thousands of Kentuckians build cars and appliances in the Commonwealth. Retaliatory tariffs on American products have turned agricultural income upside down for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms. Bourbon has been caught in the crossfire from Day One. And consumers are paying higher prices across the board as the true costs of trade barriers fall inevitably on them,” McConnell wrote.
The senator also weighed in on the latest controversy on the American right: white supremacist streamer and influencer Nick Fuentes.
Former FOX News host Tucker Carlson interviewed Fuentes, an open antisemite who has praised Adolf Hitler, for his independent show. The appearance elicited responses of varying degrees; Ted Cruz spoke out strongly against it while one prominent conservative think tank president offered a lengthy defense of Carlson.
McConnell called out the think tank president, Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, directly on X, using Roberts’ own words against him.
“The ‘intellectual backbone of the conservative movement’ is only as strong as the values it defends. Last I checked, ‘conservatives should feel no obligation’ to carry water for antisemites and apologists for America-hating autocrats. But maybe I just don’t know what time it is,” McConnell wrote.
