Rand Paul Hits Donald Trump and Republican Colleagues in Holiday Rant

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, had a message for former President Donald Trump and several of his GOP colleagues amid a lengthy "Festivus" rant on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.

Paul opened his lengthy X post by writing:

"It's that time of year again. Happy #Festivus! I've got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're gonna hear about it," he wrote. The post first delves into some things he's grateful for, including the booting of Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, from the House speakership that happened in early October.

Paul also took aim at the likes of Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Neoconservatives (Neocons), as well as Trump.

"So when was anyone going to tell me that there was another member of the Cheney family? People complain about the fact that Nikki Haley doesn't use the name given to her at birth, but I didn't know she was trying to hide her full neocon pedigree all these years. Speaking of birth certificates, who is going to tell President Trump that trying to kick people off the ballot for spurious reasons sometimes comes back to bite you in the rear...," Paul wrote about the former president.

Paul's comments were a reference to Trump's rise to prominence over his perpetuation of the false "birther" conspiracy theory that claimed former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. In 2016, Trump also claimed that rivals Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shouldn't be allowed to run for president.

Paul tussled with Trump during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, and eventually backed him after leaving the field. Last year, Paul called for a repeal of the Espionage Act after the FBI executed a search warrant to look for top secret and sensitive compartmentalized information at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida residence. Meanwhile, the senator has yet to announce his endorsement in the 2024 Republican presidential race.

Newsweek reached out to Paul via email for additional comment.

Last week, Colorado's Supreme Court issued a 4-3 decision that Trump, who is the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination, would be barred from the state's primary ballot.

The ruling cited the 14th Amendment, which bans U.S. officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution from holding office in the future if they engage in insurrection. The court believed that Trump could not hold office again because of his alleged involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Steven Cheung, spokesperson for Trump's campaign, vowed to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits," Cheung said in part in a statement.

Paul's X thread is a nod to a popular Seinfeld episode where the secular holiday of "Festivus," which occurs on December 23, includes a dinner, an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole and practices such as the "airing of grievances" and "feats of strength."

Paul also used the thread to continue his long-standing grievances against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief White House medical adviser.

"Everyone thinks I'll start with Dr. Fauci. Well, you're right. After almost 3 solid years of lying and deception, my one and only wish for Dr. Fauci this Christmas is that he can send this Christmas song to someone he loves very soon," the senator wrote, who added a Spotify link to the song "Christmas in Prison," by singer-songwriter John Prine.