Rand Paul says conservatives need to 'stand up' to Trump's big beautiful bill
US President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” cleared the House of Representatives by just one vote (215-214) on Thursday, and as it heads to the Senate, one senator’s surprise criticism of the proposals has stunned Twitter/X users.
Republican Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, has previously made headlines for personal attacks on former chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci and ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Christine.
He also once called for Tesla and Doge boss Elon Musk to become the speaker of the House and claimed “misinformation works”, so needless to say many people were surprised when Paul started criticising the Trump administration.
Speaking to Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday, the politician said: “Somebody has to stand up and yell, ‘the emperor has no clothes.’ Everybody is falling in lockstep on this – ‘pass the Big Beautiful Bill, don’t question anything’.
“Well, conservatives do need to stand up and have their voice heard. This is a problem we’ve been facing for decades now, and if we don’t stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going.”
The fact that people ended up agreeing with Paul led to them thinking they have ended up in The Twilight Zone:
“If agreeing with Rand Paul ain’t a sign of the end times, I don’t know what is,” wrote another:
A third said it “feels weird” agreeing with him:
And a fourth was stunned to write that Paul “is… right”:
Paul wasn’t the only one to criticise the bill on Sunday, with Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson telling CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union that Republicans would be responsible for “mortgaging our children’s future” by backing the bill and adding to the federal debt.
Trump's "big, beautiful" bill, which includes Medicaid cuts, is set to increase the federal budget deficit by $3.8trn over a decade.
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