Copyright The Daily Beast
GOP Sen. Rand Paul has revealed that President Donald Trump did not invite him to his Rose Garden Club lunch for Republican senators. Paul made the declaration in a social media post on Tuesday after the president highlighted the 62-year-old’s absence in a speech given at the event. “Everybody showed up... we’re just missing one person, you’ll never guess who that is,” Trump said, hinting at Paul. “He automatically votes no on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, it’s really not good politics. He’s an automatic no.” Trump continued, “Look, if he wanted to come, I’d probably let him come, right? I’d let him come. Begrudgingly, but we’d let him come.” Paul’s fellow GOP senators could be heard laughing uproariously. Responding to the president’s remarks, Paul posted a photo of himself with Rep. Thomas Massie, who has drawn the president’s ire for being one of the few Republicans to publicly break from the Trump administration’s agenda, particularly on the issue of the Epstein files. “I actually wasn’t invited to the White House lunch today, but that’s ok I had a previously scheduled Liberty Caucus Lunch with @MassieforKY,” Paul wrote. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. Like Massie, Paul has infuriated Trump, in his case by being the only Republican to vote against his party’s attempts to end the government shutdown, doing so 11 times. Paul’s refusal to vote to end the shutdown prompted the president to complain about him in a Truth Social post over the weekend, writing, “Whatever happened to ‘Senator’ Rand Paul? He was never great, but he went really BAD!” “I got him elected, TWICE, but he just never votes positively for the Republican Party. He’s a nasty liddle’ guy,” the president wrote, before comparing Paul to Massie while labeling Massie “Rand Paul Jr.” The post prompted Paul’s father, former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, to defend his son, calling the president’s rant “hysterical” and expressing concern about Trump’s governance, telling his Liberty Report podcast co-host Daniel McAdams, “We’re not supposed to run a government like criminals on the street.” Rand, meanwhile, responded to the post by expressing his support for Trump, telling Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, “I don’t take it too seriously. Look, I’ve known the president for over a decade. I’ve played golf with him many, many times, I enjoy his company.” “I was one of his biggest defenders on impeachment and would do so again. I think he’s one of the best presidents if not the best president of my lifetime. But it doesn’t mean I’ll sit quietly and say, ‘Oh well, whatever you want to do.’”
