Sen. Rand Paul says Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, is a "fake conservative" and someone must stand up to him.
"I think it's time someone does stand up and really calls nonsense nonsense," the Kentucky senator, who also is seeking the Republican nomination, said during a Monday afternoon conference call with reporters. "Are we going to fix the country simply through bombastics and empty blather? I think it is time someone challenges him. I'm happy to do it."
Paul noted that he first ran for Senate as a tea party conservative during the 2010 tea party wave.
The tea party was unhappy with the Washington machine where "politicians are bought and sold," Paul said. Many tea party members are still unhappy with the idea that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton seem to have sold access and profited from their public office he said.
"I think if most tea party Republicans knew that Donald Trump had said that he gives to politicians so they'll do whatever the hell he tells them to do, that sort of crass nature, I think, is not something that the vast majority of the tea party conservatives are for," Paul said.
Trump, a multibillionaire, has admitted he has given to Republicans and Democrats in the past, saying he wanted to get their help when needed. But he said donors and lobbyists won't be able to buy his influence because he doesn't need their money.
When asked in Thursday's debate what he asked Hillary Clinton for in exchange for his donation to her campaign, he quipped, "I said, 'Be at my wedding,' and she came to my wedding."
One of the early concerns of the tea party was "fake conservatives" who said they favored smaller government, but acted otherwise, Paul told reporters on Monday.
"So I think it's a valid question to ask whether we can believe the sincerity of Mr. Trump, who's been both for the bank bailouts, been for Democrats running government, thinks they run the economy better, been for gun control before he was against gun control, been for a single-payer system before he was against a single-payer system, for Obamacare before he was against Obamacare."
Monday's press teleconference and
an op-ed released the same day weren't Paul's first efforts to take on Trump, who has been gaining popularity even as he has made statements that both critics and neutral observers alike have predicted would torpedo his campaign.
Paul jumped in just seconds into Thursday's debate to say Trump "buys and sells politicians of all stripes."
On Monday, Paul was asked how he can successfully criticize the media sensation without raising Trump and bringing himself down.
Paul responded that Trump is a "bully" and that if no one stands up to him he won't change his ways.
"Unless someone points out that the emperor has no clothes, they'll continue to strut about and what we'll end up with is a reality TV star as the nominee if we're not careful," he said.
People have gravitated toward Trump because they feel he is delivering "truth-telling," Paul said. "But I think someone needs to point out that the truth-telling really is that the emperor has no clothes. The truth-telling is bluster, the truth-telling is non sequitur, self-aggrandizement."
Trump's personal insults against people who criticize him aren't substantive and are "not full of anything meaningful for the country," Paul said.