Republican Senator Rand Paul says President Donald Trump’s military parade would be more at home in Soviet-era Russia.
Paul told NBC’s Meet the Press that the Saturday parade—meant to commemorate the Army’s 250th anniversary, which also fell on Trump’s birthday—reminded him of the 1970s and 1980s, when “the only parades I can remember are Soviet parades for the most part or North Korean parades.”
“The parades I remember from our history were different,” he said Sunday. “Everybody remembers that famous scene of the soldier dipping the girl and kissing the girl in New York in a ticker tape parade. But we were rejoicing the end of war, and we were rejoicing our soldiers coming home. ... But we never glorified weapons so much.”
Paul also said he took issue with the event’s high price tag, which experts projected would cost roughly $40 million.
“And then there is the cost,” Paul said. “I mean, we’re $2 trillion in the hole and just, an additional cost like this, I’m not for it.”
Paul’s Sunday comments, which came days after he said he feared the message the parade would send, fell in line with criticism from his GOP colleagues, including Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana.
“The United States of America is the most powerful country in all of human history. We’re a lion, and a lion doesn’t have to tell you it’s a lion. Everybody else in the jungle knows and we’re a lion,” Kennedy said.
Paul has also been critical of Trump’s fiscal policies, ripping the president’s “big, beautiful blll” for its projected cost and increase to the national debt.
Trump attacked Paul for his opposition, claiming on Truth Social that Paul’s “ideas are actually crazy (losers!)” and that “the people of Kentucky can’t stand him.” The president has since softened his tone, re-inviting Paul to a White House picnic after he was initially snubbed and calling him the “toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate.”
“He’s always been a friend of mine,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “But I don’t think he understands how great this bill is.”
Paul said on Sunday that he was “not an absolute no” on the bill after speaking with Trump on Saturday night.
“I don’t have as much trouble with the tax cuts,” Paul said. “I think there should be more spending cuts, but if they want my vote, they’ll have to negotiate.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on Paul’s remarks.
