Ryan Lizza’s lengthy New Yorker profile of Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) included one surprising comment from Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), who infamously once called Paul a “wacko bird”: McCain thinks he would wield a great deal of influence over a potential President Paul, “particularly on the military side of things.”
“I know that if he were President or a nominee I could influence him, particularly some of his views and positions on national security,” McCain told Lizza in August. “He trusts me particularly on the military side of things, so I could easily work with him. It wouldn’t be a problem.”
McCain noted that Paul has been “evolving” his views on foreign policy, gradually supporting more U.S. intervention against ISIS.
But, since that quote, McCain and Paul’s relationship appears to have regressed to their wacko-bird-era enmity.
After Paul repeated an already-debunked report that McCain had met with ISIS terrorists in Syria, McCain lashed out at Paul, telling Lizza, “It is disappointing that he would pick up and legitimatize what was clearly information that was being pushed by people who are enemies of the United States.”
And, apparently, McCain has not yet had as much influence on Paul as he might have hoped: “He said we have to destroy ISIS, and yet he has not described a strategy in order to achieve that goal,” McCain said in his more recent interview.
