Rand Paul breaks with Trump on two key administration promises

President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear he’s looking for yes men for his next term, but Republican Sen. Rand Paul didn’t seem to get the memo.

The Kentucky lawmaker spoke on CBS’ Meet the nation Sunday, firmly stating his stance against both tariffs and the military’s potential to become involved in mass deportations.

Paul went so far as to call Trump’s proposal to involve the military “illegal” and a “terrible picture” while speaking to the show’s host, Margaret Brennan.

“I’m 100 percent in favor of going after the 15,000 murders, the 13,000 sexual assaults, rapists. All these people. Let’s send them on their way to prison or home to another prison. So I’d say, all points bulletin, all in ,” Paul said.

However, he quickly clarified that he and Trump completely disagreed on how these plans could be implemented.

“But you don’t do it with the army because it’s illegal. We have had a distrust of putting the army on our streets because the police have a difficult job, but the police understand the Fourth Amendment. They have to go to judges, they have to have warrants, it has to be specific,” he said.

“So I’m in favor of removing these people, but I would do it through the normal process of home policing.”

Later in the conversation, Paul again went against the party line.

Paul, an occasional maverick in his party, spoke very passionately about his dislike of tariffs, directly opposing Trump’s idea of ​​a more isolated economy.

“I don’t like tariffs, but then I also don’t like the president promoting tariffs. I think tariffs are a tax on the consumer,” he said.

He later added, “I will say that I think tariffs are bad and that international trade actually saves each consumer about $7,000 a year. So everyone in our country is $7,000 richer because of international trade.”

In an almost shocking departure from Trump’s messages on tariffs and international trade, Paul suggested that globalism was the way forward.

“It’s part of one of the post-war booms and the post-industrial revolution. This fantastic international trade has made us richer, and we need to talk about the statistics and the facts about the benefits of trade,” he concluded.