“I think I was a little too easy on Donald Trump last time,” [Rand] Paul said in the interview. “That’s given in jest. And I think that it’s hard to say in advance exactly what will happen because you are somewhat bound to the questions that you’re going to answer them. And I plan on answering them.”
But throughout his phone interview, Paul repeatedly took jabs at Trump. The Kentucky senator contrasted former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to drop out of the Republican primary Friday with Trump’s prominence in the race.
“You have a long-term governor from a large conservative state leaving the field, and meanwhile, the media continues to reinforce a celebrity that really doesn’t have qualifications for office and in fact would alarm me if he were in charge of our nuclear weapons,” Paul said. “So, really, I think it’s a serious versus the unserious. And there is a danger that if we continue to laud so much attention on basically someone whose level of discourse is that of junior high, I think there’s a problem, there’s a great risk for the country.”
Trump responds on Twitter:
“Lightweight Senator @RandPaul should focus on trying to get elected in Kentucky – a great state which is embarrassed by him,” Trump tweeted.
A minute later, Trump tweeted: “I truly understood the appeal of Ron Paul, but his son, @RandPaul, didn’t get the right gene.”
Then five minutes later: “Too many people on stage for debate. @RandPaul at 11th, with 2% in @RealClearNews, shouldn’t be allowed to participate.”
