Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., likes to present himself as a foreign policy realist. But his newly announced effort to block U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia is misguided liberal-idealism, not realism.

Paul says he is motivated by Saudi Arabia’s possible assassination of a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey, last week. Speaking to Kentucky radio station WHAL on Tuesday, Paul stated, “Believe you me, I will be forcing votes on [arms sales]. It is a point of difference with [President Trump], but who knows, the president may come around on this if there is any evidence they killed this journalist.”