Donald Trump’s attempt to re-enter the Republican presidential nomination contest — not as a candidate but this time as a kingmaker — seems to be wearing on the pundit class, and has also rankled Ron Paul. The GOP Texas congressman told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday’s “State of the Union” that a Trump-moderated debate would hurt the brand of the Republican Party.
“One of the concerns that I had was really how he was treating the Republican Party of Iowa,” Paul said. “And he didn’t treat them well because he had agreed to come to their biggest fundraiser of the year because he was talking about running. When he changed his mind about not running he canceled on them. They had to cancel the event. And that was a bit of an insult to them.”
Paul also claims he has picked up the support of many of Trump’s early supporters in the Hawkeye State.
“I’ve gotten a lot of good favorable responses from the people of Iowa, even the people in the party that appreciated the fact that I mentioned, that because they were very unhappy with the way he treated them by just stiffing them and walking away from it — and they were left holding the bag,” he added.
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Predictably, Paul took issue with Trump’s position on the Federal Reserve, suggesting that its abolition would hurt Trump’s financial empire. And he questioned the “Apprentice” star’s assumed kingmaker role.
“I don’t quite understand it,” he said. “I don’t understand the marching to his office. I mean I didn’t know that he had an ability to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people. … He probably doesn’t like my position on the Federal Reserve. You know, easy credit for developers and investors. You know, they like easy credit and they like the Federal Reserve and they like that for bailing out.”
