Senator Rand Paul slammed Donald Trump’s pathetic military birthday parade as un-American.
During an appearance on NBC News’s Meet the Press Sunday, the Kentucky Republican revealed that he was “not a big fan” of Trump’s outrageous military parade.
“I’ve just never liked the idea of the parade, because I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, and the only parades I can remember are Soviet parades for the most part, or North Korean parades.”
Rand explained that, historically, American parades haven’t been about demonstrating military might, but about celebrating peace, safety, and victory.
“We were rejoicing the end of war, we were rejoicing our soldiers coming home, and that absolutely ought to be commemorated, discussed every year—Memorial Day, Veterans Day—but just, we never glorified weapons so much,” he said.
“I know [Trump] means well, I don’t think he means for any of this to be depicted in another fashion, but I’m just not a big fan,” Paul continued.
Paul also noted the cost seemed especially inappropriate while the country was “two trillion in the hole.” The festivities have reportedly run up a whopping $40 million price tag.
The Kentucky senator’s practically peacenik turn extended into comments on the Middle East, and he chastized Senator Lindsey Graham for his barbaric response to Israel’s strike on Iran.
“Well, his initial response was, ‘Game on,’ and I don’t consider war to be a game,” Paul said. He added that he hoped Trump’s “instincts” to not get involved in war would prevail despite pressure from Graham and other Republicans.
Last week, Paul took a shot at Trump over the annual White House picnic, from which the Republican claimed his family had been disinvited over his opposition to raising the debt ceiling to fund Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which will add $2.4 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade. Trump stepped in, assuring the senator he was invited and calling him the “toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate.”
Paul told NBC News that while speaking to Trump at the parade, he’d told the president that he was “not an absolute no.”
“I don’t have as much trouble with the tax cuts. I think there should be more spending cuts, but if they want my vote, they’ll have to negotiate,” Paul said, but doubled down on his concerns about raising the debt ceiling.
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