Nothing makes sense anymore — Rand Paul endorsed Donald Trump and P.J. O’Rourke has thrown his support beyond Hillary Clinton.
O’Rourke, the political humorist, appeared on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” and made his surprise announcement.
“I’m voting for Hillary. I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises,” O’Rourke said.
“It’s the second worst thing that could happen to this country. But she’s way behind in second place, you know? She’s wrong about absolutely everything. But she’s wrong within normal parameters!” O’Rourke said.
He dismissed Trump as incompetent.
“This man just can’t be president. They’ve got this button, you know? It’s in a briefcase. He’s gonna find it,” he said.
His declaration shows just how deep his dislike for Donald Trump goes. In the past, O’Rourke has declared that Hillary isn’t “representative of much of anything American,” that “plumbing the shallows of Hillary is no easy matter,” and called her “America’s ex-wife.”
In a way, he even saw the rise of Trump in 2008. “The Republicans will have a hard time coming up with someone who can’t beat Hillary Clinton. But I don’t put it past them,” he wrote.
Rand Paul, on the other hand, “will endorse Donald Trump, the least Libertarian GOP nominee in decades,” as Reason put it.
For the libertarian-friendly support base of Paul, it’s a disappointment, but one that isn’t a shock.
“I’ve always said I will endorse the nominee,” Paul said in a radio interview.
“To me, it’s most important that people know that, for Kentucky, the Clintons will be terrible … I think it’s almost the patriotic duty of anybody in Kentucky to oppose the Clinton because I think they’re rotten at the core,” he continued.
Rand, in other words, has capitulated on his libertarian understanding of politics to support the Republican Party at any cost to defeat Hillary Clinton. His early opposition to Trump in the Republican primaries has become secondary to supporting the Republican Party.
That could be an attempt to curry favor with Trump and swing his opinions on various political issues. Or it could be a way for Paul to show his Republican credentials as he plots another run in 2020. It’s surprising, however, that Paul would endorse Trump so early, even as many Republicans have openly questioned whether they should look to the Libertarian Party to support in November.
The rise of Donald Trump, and his skill of harnessing the power of populism, has torn asunder conservative support of the Republican Party for the first time in decades. In an even stranger case, it’s led to libertarians embracing Hillary Clinton, or falling behind the GOP, as the LP looks viable for the first time in its existence.
