Why Rand Paul is Right About Trump Being a 'Pro-Peace Administration'

The senator believes the president's America First foreign policy offers an alternative to the pro-war neocons that have had their way in both parties. #27

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Rand Paul declared the still new second Trump administration as the “pro-peace administration” on Monday.

The Republican senator even said there was “no mistake” about it.

Sen. Mike Lee agreed.

Why Rand is Right

For most the 21st century, the neoconservatives have had the most influence on American foreign policy. This forever pro-war political elite exists in both parties and will migrate to either if it creates the best chance of them getting their next war.

George W. Bush

Over 20 years ago it was the neocons who dominated the Republican George W. Bush administration who lied about Saddam Hussein’s imaginary connections to 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden, and lied even more about mythical weapons of mass destruction that Iraq didn’t have.

The neocons led Americans into to not only one of the worst U.S. foreign policy decisions in history in Iraq, but needlessly perpetuated her longest war in Afghanistan.

Barack Obama

The Bush-Cheney era became so unpopular that Democrat Barack Obama ran against it, denouncing nation-building and endless war, only to drag his feet on Iraq, not end the war in Afghanistan and fulfilling neocon goals like regime change wars in Libya and Syria, aiding al-Qaeda rebels along the way and also creating vacuums for the rise of ISIS. Obama’s neoconservative Secretary of State Hillary Clinton certainly did not help America’s national security or interests during this time.

Obama ran on being for peace, but failed and even admitted after his presidency that Libya was his “worst mistake.” Clinton is still proud of it, as neoconservatives would be.

Donald Trump I

When he was elected in 2016, Donald Trump became the first president in decades who did not start any new wars. This is not to say his foreign policy was flawless from a non-interventionist perspective, but not engaging militarily with any new countries was something new for modern Americans.

Joe Biden

Though Biden rightfully got the U.S. out of Afghanistan, he did it in the sloppiest way imaginable just to spite former President Trump and the deal he had mapped out with the Taliban. The Biden administration would then promote and encourage sending billions of American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, fueling a futile proxy war with Russia.

After Israel retaliated for the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas on innocent bystanders, it soon became clear that the force used in Gaza was overreach, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocents, many women and children.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris both would use the word “ceasefire,” something many in their own Democratic base would like to have seen. But there was never any real pressure put on Benjamin Netanyahu to do so.

Candidate Kamala Harris

Remember when Kamala Harris was touring the country with the daughter of Dick Cheney towards the end of the 2024 presidential election? That wasn’t to attract Republican voters. Few to no Republicans even liked Liz Cheney by that point. She lost her Wyoming House seat by a whopping 30 percent margin in the 2022 GOP primary, as an incumbent.

No, Harris was likely signaling to the neocons that she had their back. She not only vowed to keep American dollars going to Ukraine and showed no signs that U.S.-Israel policy would be any different than it had been under Biden, she constantly criticized Trump’s willingness to talk to America’s enemies, as Ronald Reagan had.

Harris checked off every neocon box and so many of them supported her for good reason.

Thankfully, she lost.

Donald Trump 2

Donald Trump was the candidate that the neocons absolutely did not want. America was not only less likely to start any new wars, but Trump vowed to end the ones the U.S. was involved in.

One of his first acts in his second term was to force a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. It did not last, but it happened for a time and could happen again, unlike his White House predecessors, he actually thought it was something worth doing.

The Trump administration is on a Middle East tour right now on which the president not only blasted the neocons in front of a Saudi audience, but reportedly isn’t allowing members of the administration to visit Israel at the moment as to not show support for their continued actions in Gaza.

Simply put, Trump is telling the neocons NO.

Or as Sen. Paul recently explained in an interview with Glenn Beck:

“The neocons built nothing but chaos,” Paul noted last week. “It’s time we reject nation-building and bring our foreign policy back to America First principles.”

Trump is that path toward more peace and less wars.

There are even some principled pro-peace Democrats like Rep. Ro Khanna who are openly saying they would like to help President Trump in these efforts.

Trump Presents Peace Opportunities No Other President Has

There are OPPORTUNITIES for peace with Trump that were never available with Biden and were likely to be less possible under a President Kamala Harris.

This is not to say Trump is perfect. But from the get-go, THIS president is at least saying America needs the exact opposite of what the neocons want.

He really does want to put America First.

George W. Bush didn’t do it.

Barack Obama failed to do it.

Joe Biden didn’t do it.

Kamala Harris campaigned on NOT doing it, winking at the neocons as much as she could on her way out.

Donald Trump campaigned as a president for peace and no new wars.

When Rand Paul calls the Trump White House the “pro-peace administration” he is both cheering for this president to succeed, but also reminding everyone of those important promises.

Good.