President-elect Donald Trump needs to pick a secretary of state who comes from the "realist point of view" when it comes to foreign policy, not people like former ambassador John Bolton or ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday.
"One of the things I liked about Donald Trump and one of the reasons I supported him was that he was emphatic that the Iraq War was a mistake and that regime change was a mistake," the Kentucky Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"The biggest lesson that came out of the last 20, 30 years in the Middle East is every time we've toppled regimes, we've gotten something worse and we haven't increased our national security," Paul continued.
"We've often made our national security more tenuous. I don't think Hillary Clinton ever got that message. . . . Donald Trump did. It's a big part of what he stood for."
But Bolton, Paul said, is the "antithesis" to Trump's stance, and is an "unrepentant supporter of the Iraq war. I think Giuliani is as well."
The former mayor has been a friend for Trump, continued the senator, and he will likely find a place in the administration, "but I think it would be less damaging if they found a place where he didn't completely disagree with President-elect Trump."
As far as Bolton is concerned, Paul said he is worried about appointing a secretary who is an advocate of war.
"John Bolton's been stopped once before because he's an outlier," Paul said. "He doesn't fit within the mainstream of either parties, and really, you want your chief diplomat to be a diplomat, not a bomb thrower. Someone who's advocating war probably would be if we had a secretary of war – would more likely be a secretary of war."
Paul said he also thinks Giuliani would face pointed questions about his foreign interests, and "I will ask those questions."
"I think also we [will] ask the same questions that we're bringing up with Bolton," Paul said. "Are you still in favor of bombing Iran? Do you understand the Iraq War was a mistake and that regime change has not made us safer?"
Instead, Paul said he would recommend someone like Sen. Bob Corker, R- Tenn., who would be more "thoughtful, reasonable, someone who I think comes from the realist point of view in the foreign policy spectrum and would be head and shoulders above both Giuliani and Bolton."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.