Theres probably no easier layup in Republican politics, no bigger no-brainer to utter without fear of consequence, than criticizing Vladimir Putin for his actions in Ukraine. Yet Rand Paul couldnt quite pull it off without taking some friendly fire. The 52-year-old Kentucky senator, who will announce his outsider candidacy for the GOP nomination this week in Louisville, is a lifelong noninterventionist, but even he couldnt abide Putins invasion of Ukraines Crimean peninsula, and he joined the GOP chorus calling for retribution. Putin must be punished, Rand Paul wrote in a blistering March 2014 op-ed in Timemarking the start of his center-ward shuffle toward the GOP mainstream.
One problem: His 79-year-old father, Ron, didnt agree and didnt feel like silencing himself. The three-time presidential candidate, and original source of his sons credibility among libertarians, has been a frequent guest on Putin-controlled Russian state television, where he has railed against almost every U.S. plan to counter Putins aggressionfrom military aid to diplomatic censure to sanctions.
I dont think we have any business there, Ron Paul said of Ukraine in an interview with Moscow-run RT television at the timeand hes kept on saying similar things ever since. In February, he said, I am not pro-Putin, I am not pro-Russia, I am pro-facts, before going on to say the Ukraine coup was planned by NATO and EU, in an echo of the Kremlins line and despite the well-documented scenes of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians braving the freezing cold to demand their Russian-backed president step down.
Rand Paul is a singular figure in American politics, whose selection of the Galt House Hotel as his kickoff venue and possibly his choice of nickname (shortened from Randall) reflect his admiration of Ayn Rand, the literary godmother of the individualism movement. But his libertarian birthright, the political bedrock of his 2016 bid, owes a lot to his fathers willingness to speak his truthand sometimes his own version of the truthto Big Government power. Rands 2016 campaign is an expansion, not a hostile takeover, of the family business, a candidacy rooted in his fathers folksy, contrarian campaigns against Washington, Wall Street, the Fed, the military-industrial complex, the two-party establishment and an alphabet soup of internationalist bogeymen from the IMF to NATO to the U.N.
But Rand Paul wants to rebrand Ron Pauls libertarianism into a more potent political force and capitalize on its popularity among younger voters. And, unlike his father, hes willing to compromise to actually get elected president.
Meanwhile, it isnt clear that Ron Paul, while supportive of his sons candidacy, is entirely committed to this succession plan. As Rand maneuvers, Ron seems obliviousor disdainfulof the realpolitik considerations of his sons campaign and bent on expressing himself at his usual pennywhistle pitch.
Ron is so crazy, he says all this crazy shit, and he wont shut up, and its damaging his kid.
Its a terrible situation, says Michael Goldfarb, a veteran conservative operative and founder of the conservative Washington Free Beacon, which has been critical of the elder Paul. What is he supposed to do, throw his father under the bus?
In a 2016 field crowded with familial entanglementsthe Clintons, Bushes, Cruzesthe Pauls might be the most tangled of them all. Ana Navarro, a veteran GOP operative from Florida and a CNN contributor who supports Jeb Bush, says Rand Paul will eventually have to own up to his fathers legacyjust like everybody else in the race with a famous, lightning-rod relative.
Sure, hell have to answer for some of his dads rants, Navarro said. Scott Walker had to answer for what a staffer wrote on Twitter. Jeb Bush has to deal with questions about 41 and 43 [former presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush] everywhere he goes. Rands going to have to respond to some of the good, bad and ugly things said and done by the man who shares his DNA, last name and base of voters.
A top adviser to one of Pauls likely primary opponents put the father-son relationship in blunt operational terms. Hes got to distance himself from Ron if he wants to get out of his cul-de-sac, the aide told me. But hes already underperforming his dad, and he cant afford to lose a single libertarian vote his father got.
Hes in a box, this aide said. I feel kind of bad for him.
The dilemma, however, isnt merely what Ron Paul has said but also what he might say. In his world, hes every bit as powerful and ungovernable as Bill Clinton is in his. Theres no keeping him to a script, and nobodys really trying, not Rand and not the handful of top Rand aides who have also worked for his fatherand view the former Texas congressman as a living legend. Rands people were exasperated when Ron prematurely predicted his sons presidential candidacy last November (on Russian TV, of course), but there were no lectures, just Ron-being-Ron sighs of resignation.
Jesse Benton, who has worked as a top adviser for both men and married into the family a few years back, says its a mistake to view father and son as a twofer. Ron is in his lane, and Rand is in his lane, Benton, who is now working for Rands presidential campaign, told me. They rarely talk about policy. Their personal relationship is much more mundane than youd think. Mostly, they talk about their kids, and what they are going to do when they get together with their kids.
There is no estrangement. Father and son remain personally close, aides say, but there is a clearly discernible public distance between the two. It wasnt clear until the last minute, for example, that Ron Paul would even attend his sons Louisville campaign kickoff. Rands mother, Carol Wells, was always on the guest list, but Ron wouldnt cancel a paid speech at the University of Minnesota during the week, and the underfunded campaign scrambled to pay for an expensive charter flight to hustle him back in time for his sons debut.
For his part, Ron Paul has bristled at any suggestion hes undermining his sons candidacy. In January, when a Washington Post reporter asked him if his public statements (he had just spoken favorably about Texas seceding from the Union) were unhelpful, the elder Paul slammed the media. If we had decent reporters, there would never be any problems. You think you could ever meet one? he asked. Have a heart, buddy.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, Rands brother Robert said the rigors of the campaign would be a negative for my family but that Rand is a better politician than his father ever was. My daughter once said, If people would just listen to Granddad, they would vote for him. But they dont listen. Rand can get them to listen to the message.