Thursday on CNN’s “Wolf,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he worries more about his rival Donald Trump getting the Republican nomination because “he wants more power to come to him and he’ll take care of us all if we just give him power.”
Partial transcript as follows:
BLITZER: “The governor of Iowa Terry Bransted says it would be a disaster if Cruz were the nominee. He said don’t vote for Cruz. He didn’t endorse you or anyone else but he said don’t vote for Ted Cruz. Who would be worst from your perspective as the Republican nominee, Cruz or Trump?”
PAUL: “I think Ted Cruz’s problem is one of authenticity right now, you know, for example the liberty voters, the people who we like and like us, they don’t want the NSA collecting all the phone records but Ted Cruz says, oh, I voted for reform, but I voted for the reform so the government can collect 100 percent of your phone records. My goodness, is he trying to have it both ways? He says he’s for reforming the NSA and he says he wants the NSA to collect 100 percent of cell phone records. That kind of leap back and forth or trying to have it both ways really, we think, is probably Cruz’s biggest problem now.”
BLITZER: “From your libertarian perspective, who is worse, Trump or Cruz?”
PAUL: “I can tell you who’s best. That would be my –”
BLITZER: “I know you think you’re best but who would be worse for the Republicans? You’re an honest guy, be blunt.”
PAUL: “I don’t think it’s probably instructive. I do worry a little more about Trump and the main reason I do is I believe he wants more power to come to him and he’ll take care of us all if we just give him power. I’m part of a limited government tradition that says, you know, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I want to devolve power back to the states and the people. There’s a long-standing conservative/libertarian tradition of that, and I’m more than willing to hold that up against what Trump wants because I think what Trump wants is bad for America.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.