Rand Paul has ratcheted up his attacks on Donald Trump, part of a deliberate strategy to energize a campaign mired in a summer swoon.
The Kentucky senator first targeted the New York businessman/entertainer last week before a nationally televised debate audience of 24 million Americans. Paul continued the assault on Monday during a conference call with reporters held solely to discredit Trump, the GOP 2016 frontrunner who has threatened to bolt and run as an independent, and until recently was a liberal Democrat. On Wednesday, Paul tore into Trump again, labeling him a “fake conservative” during a radio interview.
“The reason … more of my ire is directed at Trump at this point is because an enormous amount of people are being hoodwinked and made to believe that he might represent some Tea Party conservative values,” Paul told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham. “And in reality, he’s been on the other side of every major issue that we’ve fought for over the years.”
Paul isn’t the only Republican to criticize Trump since the debate, but his drumbeat has been the loudest. But can he succeed where Rick Perry appears to have failed?
The former Texas governor spent most of July haranguing Trump, contending that he was an egomaniacal cancer afflicting the GOP whose thin agenda is far from conservative. The approach didn’t boost Perry’s poll numbers high enough to qualify him for Thursday’s prime time Fox News debate, and this week his campaign confirmed that its fundraising is so weak it has stopped paying staff. Perry is currently running twelfth with 1.6 percent nationally, according to the latest RealClearPolitics.com average.
Paul is banking on achieving better results — and he might.
Paul’s presidential campaign is in a stronger position than Perry’s, and has been since the beginning. The senator has consistently polled in the top 10, and is a unique figure in the field. He was part of the Tea Party wave of senators elected in 2010. A libertarian-leaning constitutionalist, Paul’s message revolves around his support for the full Bill of Rights, not just the First and Second Amendments that protect free speech and gun rights.
But the Kentuckian has been stuck in the middle of the pack for months, and was polling eighth, at 4.4 percent, in RealClearPolitics.com’s average. Trump remains in first with 22.8 percent. Some Republican insiders who are not affiliated with any of the presidential campaigns question the viability of the senator’s beat-up-Trump strategy, and are doubtful that it will help him achieve a breakout moment.
“I honestly think it’s all he’s got right now. I’m not sure the current trajectory of his campaign even gets him through the fall. So using that as a starting point, I don’t necessarily consider it misguided, but I think it’s unlikely to work,” said one free-agent GOP consultant who is based in Washington.
Another GOP strategist, this one based in New Hampshire, said Paul’s focus on Trump could damage his prospects there by obscuring his libertarian message, which Live Free or Die Republicans find so appealing and are inclined to support much more so than other states. Trump is currently running first in New Hampshire with an average of 23.8 percent; Paul is running sixth with 5.6 percent.
“This is the second time in a week that he’s gone out of his way to pick a fight with a fellow Republican in the attempt to gain headlines, which will likely be viewed as a sign of a candidate in trouble here in New Hampshire,” the Granite State Republican said. “Paul will be better off if he sticks to his liberty messaging if he wants to grow his support in the Live Free or Die state.”
Paul adviser Doug Stafford explained the senator’s decision to take on Trump on Thursday, during an interview with the Washington Examiner in Cleveland immediately following the debate.
Stafford didn’t dispute that Paul was looking to shake things up and improve his position in the GOP race, although he sought to emphasize that the senator’s primary motivation was exposing what he views as Trump’s ideological inconsistency and disingenuousness.
“This is the guy who ran as a Tea Party conservative, who ran against Washington, it’s the overriding theme of why he’s here, why he got off of his couch and stopped throwing things at the television and come to Washington, and he wanted to show who he was,” said Stafford, explaining the senator’s reasoning for going after Trump.
Here’s how Paul put it during Monday’s conference call:
“If no one stands up to a bully, a bully is going to keep doing what they’re doing,” he said, according to a story posted by NBC News. “Unless someone points out that emperor has no clothes, they’ll continue to strut about and what we’ll end up with is a reality TV star as nominee, if we’re not careful.”
Paul’s Trump tirades haven’t been completely dismissed by GOP campaign gurus.
Some have credited the senator with being innovative and flexible, willing to adjust to the media landscape of the moment. Right now the cable news networks and political media left, right and center are consumed with Trump. Paul’s Trump strategy could rejuvenate his campaign, some say. In any event, the only way to supplant the frontrunner is to knock him down a peg, something Trump’s own rhetoric has threatened to do, but has so far not managed to.
Others Republican insiders say that, at the very least, Paul is doing the GOP a service by exposing the current presidential frontrunner’s ideological malleability.
“There are a bunch of smart, data-driven folks working for Paul. I assume they believe there are more voters for Paul as anti-Trump than trying to be Trump second choice. No reason to believe that’s not a good choice. With a crowded field, rather get an A in one category than a bunch of B’s,” said Stuart Stevens, the Republican consultant who advised 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
