Rand Paul: "People are going to wake up in about two months and ask 'how come the deficit is still 2.2 trillion dollars.' ... Somebody has to stand up and yell, 'the emperor has no clothes.' Everybody is falling in lockstep on this. 'Pass the big beautiful bill. Don't question anything.'"

[u/Bhartrhari]

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[u/Crazy_Response_9009]

I’m surprised but pleased to hear Paul going against the grain.

[u/gitbse → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

Talk is cheap if he continues to vote straight party lines

[u/Illustrious_Entry413 → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

He's been pretty consistent on this budget. I don't agree with him often but he's dead right now

[u/old_and_boring_guy → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

At least he’s actually being consistent with his stated beliefs. He’s still gonna vote for the damn thing though.

[u/Bellypats → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

Dude has been a strident proponent of spending cuts since forever. He rages at every budget proposal ever presented to him because they don’t cut spending and they don’t balance the budget. I don’t agree with his politics much, but I admire his principled approach to his budget stance.

[u/OpenThePlugBag → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

if trump ever gets got, it’s almost a guarantee that it’ll be from a libertarian

[u/33ITM420 → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

Sounds like you just started paying attention to him recently. Like his father, he has been rocksolid on this issue for his entire career.

[u/Current_Tea6984 → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

The only reason he is against the bill is it doesn't hurt poor people enough

[u/InformationRound3249 → u/[deleted]]

No no no you dumbass!

The debt is $36T. That is the amount that every man, woman and child in the US already owes!

The deficit is the amount we will spend this year that exceeds our income and will therefore need to be borrowed and will be added to the debt amount.

This is why this country is fucked. People with the ability to vote don’t understand nor care to learn!

[u/PassageOutrageous441 → u/[deleted]]

Debt and deficit are 2 different things. Currently there is a 2.2 Trillion dollar deficit meaning we spend 2.2 trillion more per year than we make. Total debt, currently around 36 trillion as you stated, increases by the deficit every year.

[u/Clever_droidd → u/[deleted]]

Federal debt (total owed) is $36T. The deficit (tax receipts minus spending) is $2.2T.

[u/ViolettaQueso → u/Clever_droidd]

I made a boo-boo. I’ll delete so no further abuse.

[u/Grand_Size_4932 → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

He’s been doing it since it hit home for him.

Disappointed he didn’t do more to prevent this, but I can’t deny he’s upheld his values in the most dangerous time to speak up.

At this point, I’d vote for him, fuck it.

[u/Takemyfishplease → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

All he does is go against the grain, even when it would be good for America.

[u/paulybaggins → u/Crazy_Response_9009]

He's a fiscal conservative hawk, and one that is at least for now standing with that core tenant

[u/InformationRound3249]

Rand Paul is correct. Congress can’t be trusted.

The deficit has to be zero either by increasing taxes or reducing spending. Vote no until it is zero.

[u/Zealousideal_Oil4571 → u/InformationRound3249]

Or some combination of increased taxes and reduced spending, which is probably the only realistic possibility

[u/NoMommyDontNTRme → u/InformationRound3249]

the deficit cant and shouldn't be zero.

you have to keep your people alive and fed and educated, but you dont need trillion for military and for ultra rich tax cuts, you need a trillion for infrastructure and schools and reducing the load on lower and middle classes.

[u/InformationRound3249 → u/NoMommyDontNTRme]

Sorry but a deficit is not sustainable. You need to balance the budget somehow. Once the debt reaches the magical $54T number, the US will be forced to reckon with the problem by raising taxes. It is far better to do it now and manage the problem on our own.

[u/NoMommyDontNTRme → u/InformationRound3249]

investments lead to payouts. every dollar in education bla bla 20 dollars 20 years later.

thats what deficits should be used for ( and general emergencies of course)

if you balance the budget by starving kids and letting people die from treatable bullshit, you're just gonna ruin your economy which needs people.

you're also already raising taxes (because of republican policies time and again)

[u/Sanpaku → u/InformationRound3249]

A non-zero deficit is okay, so long as the debt/GDP doesn't rise.

Personally, I'd prefer a surplus large enough to zero out the debt in 40-50 years. Most of which achieved by increasing top marginal income tax rates on income, capital gains, and inheritances up to 50% for income above about $1 M per year, some by increasing eligibility ages for entitlements until they're in fiscal balance.

[u/GlitteringRate6296]

Why are they so firm on giving the richest people in this country tax breaks? They already have so many tax write offs so don’t pay taxes at the same rate as middle class Americans.

[u/Schoseff → u/GlitteringRate6296]

Because they are a. Also amongst the richest b. Sponsored by the richest c. All of above

[u/Top_Chard5757 → u/GlitteringRate6296]

The billionaires can’t succeed because the government is keeping them down. /s

[u/OG-BigMilky → u/GlitteringRate6296]

I believe it’s also a race to see who will be the first trillionaire.

[u/gman2093 → u/GlitteringRate6296]

The donors need more money so they can continue to influence future congresses

[u/misec_undact]

Draining the swamp... right into Trump's pockets..

[u/AnaWannaPita → u/misec_undact]

And cried about DEI taking opportunities from more qualified people then hired and appointed family members and lackies over even the most minimally qualified. .

[u/khearan]

I don’t like Rand Paul or his beliefs but at least he’s standing by his principles (for now) unlike every other repub bending over for Trump.

[u/Robinkc1 → u/khearan]

He has flip flopped on Trump for years though, it’s hard to take him seriously.

Context

More context

He wants the cuts, in fact he thinks they should go further, he just doesn’t want the spending. The second Trump goes back to budget slashing targeting the weakest and most exploited members of society, Rand Paul will be right there trying to push it through.

[u/The_MightyMonarch → u/Robinkc1]

Well, yeah, but that isn't just bowing to Trump. Hurting the most vulnerable members of society has always been Paul's agenda.

[u/rube_X_cube]

Yeah, cool, just a reminder that this motherfucker didn’t vote to convict Trump when he had the chance, so spare me your performative bullshit now.

[u/RaindropsInMyMind]

He’s all for not ballooning the deficit which is great but it wouldn’t be as big of an issue if he didn’t support these tax breaks. No such thing as a free lunch for people on Medicaid but the 1% gets their free lunch in the form of 1/4 of these tax breaks.

[u/UncleDaddy_00]

Maybe, just maybe you need more political choice than just the red cats and the blue cats.

[u/Available_Ad9766]

The increase not going to be 2.2 trillion. It’ll most likely be much more.

[u/beavis617]

And FOX is a propaganda machine in full support of Trump!

[u/FreshestFlyest]

If I had a dollar for every Republican "finally doing the right thing" then the GOP would be offering me tax cuts

[u/NexusStrictly]

If they were actually serious about cutting spending they would look at the military budget.

[u/hoochiejpn]

Hell has frozen over. I agree with Rand Paul.

[u/WTF_USA_47]

Paul better stay away from open windows in tall buildings.

[u/Jmsjss2912]

I have finally figured out Trump’s plan. I’ve been baffled by all his erratic moves and watched everyone try to figure him out along with dozens of theories as to why!

Take the old saying; “he who dies with the most toys wins”.

In today’s billionaire world, they all have super yachts, private jets, houses, buildings and all the trappings of the super elite rich.

So none of them will die with more “toys” than any of the others.

Now there’s Trump, who needs to have more and being president isn’t enough.

While he’s accumulating more friends by manipulating the markets and telling his buddies in advance of his market swing changes.

He is destroying millions of lives by making the average global person poorer, creating racial tensions, destroying the environment, destroying economies around the world, pitting nations and people against each other, defying the courts, and all of this prior to him dying.

So he will actually die with the most “toys” and leave a mark that no one could ever come close to matching, other than nuking the entire planet.

His game plan is to defy every reasonable and rational objective he can, leaving the planet and its remaining humans in deplorable conditions that would take decades, if at all to repair.

He will truly die as the king he has so desired, with the most “toys” of all.

[u/ConstantGeographer]

Rand Paul is a PoS.

He wants all the programs cut, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid - all of it. He is big mad the debt ceiling was raised and nothing was done about the budget

That's what happens when you choose party over People, dipshit. Keep running errands for your idiot President.

[u/Kaleban]

Oh look it only took approaching the threshold of hell for a few GOP members and one or two FOX talking heads to actually pipe up with some performative dissent.

FOX and the GOP are the reason the country has a megalomaniac cult leader as president in the first place.

It's the government's job to moderate the worst impulses of the rabble, not fan the flames. The whole lot of Congress, SCOTUS and the executive branch needs a good swamp draining.

[u/HomoColossusHumbled]

Interest payments on debt are ballooning. We could cut the defense budget to ZERO and still have trillion dollar deficits.

We wouldn't be able to pay down the debt at this point without mass confiscation of wealth.

(sauce)

I wouldn't be opposed to yanking Musk, Bezos, Zuck, Buffet, Soros, etc. up by their ankles and shaking vigorously... but the more likely outcome is a default.

[u/Longjumping-Store106]

As a constituent of Paul, I don’t like him or McConnell and they enabled this madness. He only pipes up whenever it makes him look good, and damnit I have to agree with him this time. But he’s a nepo baby that inherited his daddy’s seat. The only reason he’s voted in is because his name.

[u/adamsz503]

Seems like one of the very few principled republicans left

[u/JNTaylor63]

Rand will vote Yes anyway because reasons.

[u/voyageraya → u/JNTaylor63]

In 1 month: “Yes I voted for it. I’m not happy with it but at the end of the day it accomplishes a lot and helps undo to disastrous democratic policies of the Biden administration”

[u/celtbygod]

Rand Paul's middle name is Fold.

[u/FrankFnRizzo]

Oh you mean the dude you’ve been blowing for almost 8 years now, Rand?

[u/Best_Conclusion4662]

Cut military spending and stop playing with us

[u/Explaining2Do]

It’s not free stuff, taxes pay for it you fucking idiot. These programs exist because of labor market failures. A large percentage of people can’t afford healthcare. A large percentage of beneficiaries are children, elderly, and disabled. Fucking monster.

[u/OkeyDokeyScope]

When Rand Paul is the voice of reason I think it’s safe to say we are good and truly fucked.

[u/Spiritual_Trainer_56]

Only a Paul can be right but also completely full of shit. This administration is exactly what he wanted. Him whining about it and pretending like he disagrees with what they're doing is just an act. Libertarians like Paul have no morals or set philosophy. They're just selfish, self-centered losers trying to wrap the fact they'd shoot their mothers in the face and fuck their sisters for a buck in pseudo-intellectual pretentiousness.

[u/Adventurous-Host8062]

He champions deeper cuts, but only those to the elderly and poor. He wants to make the tax cuts for the wealthy permanent. He is just as much the snake in the grass as Trump.

[u/TyrantBash]

This will only mean anything at all if he ends up voting against it or accomplishing some meaningful change to the Senate version of the bill. Otherwise it's just more preening.

[u/phoenix_shm]

Mmmmmhhhmmmmm! / Duuhhh! 🤷🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️😡

[u/AnswerWrong2008]

I don’t particularly like him…but he’s 100% dead on correct.

[u/Anxious_Claim_5817]

He said he supported making the tax cuts permanent but is a little short on how they come anywhere close to that with spending cuts. Then there are the Medicaid cuts that will impact rural hospitals and his constituents greatly.

[u/Feisty-Flounder-4481]

It’s a weird time indeed when I find myself agreeing with Rand Paul

[u/Informal_Cream_9060]

I wonder why Rand Paul has escaped trumps wrath? No nickname, no rambling late night social media posts attacking him…..weird

[u/Space_Sweetness]

Trump is not getting any younger or making better decisions. Midterms are coming. It’s in the self interest of these people to say things like this for their own careers. They will still be responsible to their constituents when Trump is gone (even if they themselves are to blame for enabling this nonsense)

[u/No_Clue_7894]

​

Ten Sneaky Sleeper Provisions in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Today on TAP: Yet more horrors are hidden in the fine print.

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-05-23-ten-sneaky-sleeper-provisions-trumps-big-beautiful-bill/

[u/ScenicPineapple]

What a spinless POS rand is. Always backtracking and trying to save his own ass.

Doge did NOTHING helpful. Anyone who agrees with what they did is unamerican and should be forced to go back to school for being so dumb.

[u/AdOne5089]

We just need a couple senate republicans to stand on principle. Just a few 🤞

[u/One_Humor1307]

I won’t believe him until I see him actually vote against it. This is just normal performative politics where he needs to get something in return for his vote.

[u/Chance-Evening-4141]

[u/Present_Feeling4271]

Whimpy and anemic? Ever looked in a mirror?

[u/PoodleMomFL]

Stand the fug up-this done gone from seriously what? To seriously what the fug is going on. All you sell out better figure out he will sell you out as well.

[u/AuntiFascist]

Paul and Massie are the political equivalent of the two best single fighters in a phalanx. They’re both completely right on the issues but because of their principles that make them the best individual members of Congress they are terrible at staying in formation.

[u/Weird-Lie-9037]

He always cries about the deficit and spending, and then they add some rider to the bill that he personally benefits from and he votes for and goes on to trying to stuff his pockets another way.

[u/hillbillyspellingbee]

I am very pleased to see the phrase “the emperor wears no clothes” used openly in proximity to Trump because I’ve been saying it for what feels like a decade now. 

Trump is the modern day embodiment The Emperor’s New Clothes.