Rand Paul is out of control

| 10:22 pm EST January 25, 2021
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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is not a voice of truth or reason. He knows, as do all his Republican colleagues in Congress, that President Biden won the election decisively and fairly, yet Paul continues to harangue us with the Big Lie. Perhaps he thinks he can somehow endear himself to the lowest elements of the Republican party’s base, despite having no charisma or political talents beyond playing a senatorial supervillain. Perhaps he relishes the negative attention his stubborn refusal to accept Biden’s victory garners him. Whatever his calculus, Senator Paul’s baseless claim is harmful to our democracy.

Rand Paul voted on January 6th to certify the Electoral College results, as he should have done. What he should not be doing now is cavalierly promoting the Big Lie while disregarding the damage this does. What Paul is doing undermines confidence in our elections and keeps a segment of our population riled up at a critical and volatile time. The U.S. Capitol was just stormed mere weeks ago by insurrectionists who fell for the Big Lie, and we’re all seeing the hideous aftermath of that deadly attack on our country.

The junior senator from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, just this Sunday, trotted out these tired GOP tropes: “Were there people who voted twice? Were there dead people who voted? Were there illegal aliens who voted? Yes, and we should get to the bottom of it.” Elections aren’t perfect, and we have much to do in the way of ensuring voting rights and ballot access, but widespread election fraud on the part of our electorate just does not exist. We’ll one day know what Senator Paul’s motives for promulgating the Big Lie are, but continuing to spread this falsehood can lead to no good.