Simi Valley, Calif. - Speaking to reporters early Wednesday morning at a gun range close to the Ronald Reagan Library, Senator Rand Paul made it clear he'll be bringing up Donald Trump's record of supporting liberal policies at tonight's second GOP primary debate.
"I think debating is intellectual combat and we should try to figure out the difference between the candidates. I also think if someone is presenting themselves as something they're not that it's important that be exposed as well. And to me ultimately the question outta be which of the candidates is really for smaller government and which of the candidates is actually for more freedom and which of the candidates would actually do what they say," Paul said. "I'll e trying to represent as best as I can the position of small government of the constitution and I really don't think he's [Donald Trump] is from that small government constitutional movement. He's from a movement that is foreign to most conservatives. He's recently come out to join the Republican Party and he's trying to come join as a conservative but I think there's a great deal of evidence pointing the opposite direction that he's really not a conservative. I think we will have that debate."
"My hope is that it's [the debate] is all about presenting my message but I'm also a realist enough to know he's been dominating the polls and so I think you have to point out the faults of the leader if you want to be the leader. It is about presenting your message but sometimes it's also about pointing out what is wrong with the decision currently being made by folks," Paul continued. "[He] was for Obamacare, he was for the bank bailout. Those are the things that motivated the entire Tea Party movement. When 100,000 people were rallying on the Mall, they were rallying against Donald Trump and everything Donald Trump stands for so what my hope is that the Tea Party will wake up and say, 'This guy is not one of us," particularly on the idea of private property. Private property is sort of the building blocks of capitalism, the security of title and that we can borrow against the title for our land, is something that has developed great capital. This is a guy that believes that the government can use eminent domain to take your property particularly when it's a financial benefit to him."
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According to the Real Clear Politics average, Trump is still dominating the rest of the GOP primary field by wide margins.
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