Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American Republican politician and senator, Rand Paul (@RandPaul). He's best-known for being the son of Ron Paul, for supporting pro-Kremlin narratives, and for voting against both aid to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

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Through his father, Rand was introduced to the world of politics at a young age. In his teenage years, Paul studied the Austrian economists that his father much respected, as well as the writings of Objectivist and overrated philosopher Ayn Rand.

2/21

As a politician, Randy describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" and supporter of the Tea Party movement, which @GeorgeMonbiot described as an "astroturf movement" pretending to be spontaneous and grassroots, but what actually benefited the hidden elite interests.
3/21

In many ways, Rand is just a carbon copy of his father Ron, who has been described as the "ideological father" of the Tea Party Movement. Daddy Paul's "Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity" (RPI) has spread pro-Kremlin narratives for a good decade.

4/21

Already in 2014,RPI had long ties to pro-Kremlin channels, including one that tried to restore Putin's global image. One example of RPI figures is John Laughland,a long-time Kremlin puppet who now works closely with Putin's friends in the Netherlands:
5/21

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1628881820908412930

Throughout the years, RPI has been publishing absolutely unhinged articles and op-eds from pro-Kremlin think tanks, and they've also employed some colorful characters. Perhaps due to this, Randy has distanced himself from his father's organization.

6/21

Randy's had hard time coming up with his own material - In Oct 2013, it was revealed that he was basically copy-pasting stuff from Wikipedia without referencing to the original source. He even took three pages directly from an article by the former conservative...

7/21

..,now pro-Kremlin,think tank The Heritage Foundation.Even his op-eds were copied from others,after which The Washington Times refused to publish them anymore. He later stated that by asking him to write his own articles & speeches,he was being held to an "unfair standard".

8/21

In Feb 2014,in the midst of Euromaidan, Randy said that the US should seek "respectful" relations with Russia & avoid angering and provoking of Putin over the political situation in Ukraine. He changed his mind after the Duma authorized the use of military force in Ukraine.

9/21

When it comes to the upcoming presidential elections of 2024, Rand has supported some of the biggest Putin apologists in the US: the pump-and-dump scammer @VivekGRamaswamy and of course convicted sexual abuser and alleged insurrectionist, Donald Trump.

10/21

But it wasn't always like this - Randy had previously compared Trump to Gollum and denounced him as "a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag," and even cited his similarities to Goebbels.

However, after Trump won the primaries, Randy became his fanboy.

11/21

Remember Trump's capitulation of 2018 in front of Putin in Helsinki, where he stated that he trusts the Russian president more than his country's intelligence agencies? There was one man who came to his defense afterwards, and that man was of course Randy.

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In 2018, he also served as a messenger boy between Trump and Putin, when he personally flew to Moscow and delivered a handwritten letter from the US president to Putin. Allegedly, the letter called for further "engagement" between the two countries.

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In 2016, Jesse Benton, a former aide to both Ron and Rand Paul was found guilty of four federal crimes, but was later given a full pardon by Donald Trump. Then in 2023, Randy's old friend was sentenced again for attempting to funnel Russian money into Trump's campaign.

14/21

When it comes to Russia and Ukraine, Randy's voting patterns have been clear: In Jun 2017, he voted (along with Bernie Sanders) against imposing new sanctions against Russia and Iran. Shortly after 12 Russian agents were charged with hacking and leaking emails, ...

15/21

...Paul described the investigation into Russian interference a "witch hunt on the president". In August 2018 Paul traveled to Moscow and met with several Russian senators, including Sergey Kislyak and Leonid Slutsky - both extremely controversial figures.

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As is tradition,Randy constantly parrots the Kremlin narratives. According to him, Putin "took Crimea" after "Western Intelligence agencies worked with Ukrainian Maidan protestors" to overthrow Yanukovych in 2014. This, of course, is an outright lie:
17/21

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1635211581868085250

In May 2022, he stopped a vote on a 40 billion USD aid to Ukraine. He also suggested that it was actually Biden who provoked Russia to invade Ukraine by advocating their membership in NATO, and that "the countries they've [Russia] attacked were part of Russia".

18/21

Apparently, the eye surgeon also holds some aspirations to become a comedian. In addition to his extremely unfunny jokes at Comedy Central, he's harshly criticized Zelenskyy for his costume when he visited the US Congress.

19/21

He also blocked a bill to revoke Russia's trade status. In Jan 2024, the US Senate voted for the so-called REPO Act - an act that would provide aid to Ukraine using confiscated Russian assets in the US. The Act passed 20-1 & the only one who voted against it was Rand Paul.

20/21

To conclude, here's late Senator John McCain calling Randy, or the "Senator from Kentucky", someone who is "now working for Vladimir Putin." Now let's watch Randy either completely ignore this thread or comment it with some unfunny joke.

21/21

I have paused personal donations for now, please support @U24_gov_ua by donating to the #HopakChallenge and sending me the receipt:

https://twitter.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1727001859846730089