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Paul Presidential Campaign Crashes and Burns As Rand Melts Down On NBC’s Today

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Sen. Rand Paul lasted less than four minutes on NBC’s Today before he had a meltdown and crashed and burned his entire presidential campaign.

Video:

Paul made it roughly halfway through the interview, before he fell apart.

Today’s Savannah Guthrie said, “You’ve had views in the past on foreign policy that are somewhat unorthodox, but you seem to have changed over the years. You once said Iran was not a threat, but now you say it is. You once proposed ending foreign aid to Israel. You now support it, at least for the time being, and you once offered to drastically cut defense spending and now you want to increase it sixteen percent, so I just wonder if you’ve mellowed out?”

Sen. Paul went into meltdown mode by attacking Guthrie, “Why don’t you let me explain instead of talking over me, ok? Before we go through a litany of things you say I’ve changed on, why don’t you ask me a question. Have I changed my opinion on? That would be sort of a better way to approach an interview. No, no, no, no, no. You’ve editorialized. Let me answer a question. You ask a question and say have your views changed, instead of editorializing and saying my views have changed.”

Rand Paul lasted less than 24 hours as a presidential candidate before he threw his first Randtrum. (A Randtrum is defined as a Rand Paul temper tantrum brought by anyone who dares to point out Paul’s flip-flops and ideological inconsistencies.) Media editorializing in questions is something that deserves to be despised, but Guthrie wasn’t editorializing.

She pointed out specific examples of issues where Rand Paul has changed his position. Sen. Paul has been flip-flopping in every direction on every issue because he is trying to make himself an acceptable candidate to Republican primary voters. Guthrie asked Paul, in the most gentle morning show way possible, if his positions had changed. She wasn’t putting him on the defensive. She was giving him a chance to explain away inconsistencies.

Sen. Paul may have bigger problem than his inability to answer simple questions if he doesn’t understand that lecturing Guthrie, who is a former White House correspondent and accomplished journalist, reeked of sexism and begged one to wonder if Paul would have spoken to a male reporter in the same way.

Rand Paul confirmed his reputation as a political lightweight who can’t handle any heat on Today. Rand Paul can’t defend his flip-flops, and he can’t maintain the slightest appearance of being the kind of human being that voters should feel comfortable with sending to the White House.

Sen. Rand Paul has crashed and burned.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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