Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky took aim at Vice President JD Vance over the weekend for defending the administration's drone strike of alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers. Since then, a source close to Vance told Blaze News that "hypocrites" like Paul are simply suffering from a "debilitating case of Trump derangement syndrome."
President Donald Trump's administration greenlit a drone strike in Venezuela last week, claiming to have killed 11 drug traffickers identified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Vance defended the strike, calling it the "highest and best use of our military."
'That pisses off hypocrites like Rand Paul.'
Paul quickly sounded off online, calling Vance's remarks "despicable and thoughtless."
"JD 'I don’t give a s**t' Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the 'highest and best use of the military,'" Paul said in a post on X. "Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial."
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In response to Paul's pushback, a source close to Vance told Blaze News that the Republican senator was "sticking up for foreign terrorists" killed in the strike. At the same time, Paul defended a drone strike executed by Obama in 2015 that killed three Americans in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
"I do think there is a valuable use for drones," Paul said in 2015. "And as much as I'm seen as an opponent of drones, I think in military and warfare, they do have some value."
"The world is so partisan, I tend not to want to blame the president for the loss of life here," Paul said of the Obama strike in 2015. "I think he was trying to do the right thing."
"The vice president believes in the Trump doctrine and using overwhelming force to protect core American interests and save American lives," the source told Blaze News on Monday. "That pisses off hypocrites like Rand Paul, who during his failed run for president defended Obama droning American citizens without due process, but now is sticking up for foreign terrorists thanks to his debilitating case of Trump derangement syndrome."
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Paul has since stood by his remarks, noting that he was one of Obama's staunchest critics for using drones against American citizens overseas.
"During my time in the Senate, I have been the foremost critic of drones being used on civilians, especially Americans," Paul told Blaze News. "In 2013, I spoke for nearly 13 hours filibustering Obama's use of drones on American citizens overseas. I have not, however, opposed the concept of using drones in war. That position remains unaltered today."
Paul argued that the recent strike against the Venezuelans was not part of any declared war, which he says "defies our longstanding Coast Guard rules of engagement."
"The recent drone attack on a small speedboat over 2,000 miles from our shore without identification of the occupants or the content of the boat is in no way part of a declared war and defies our long-standing Coast Guard rules of engagement which include: warnings to halt, nonlethal force to capture, and ultimately lethal force in self-defense or in cases of resistance," Paul told Blaze News.
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President Donald Trump torched Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia over his recent remarks undermining the importance of faith in our country's founding.
Kaine recently argued that our natural rights come from the government and not from God, directly contradicting the Declaration of Independence. Kaine went on to say that the simple notion that our inalienable rights come from God is "extremely troubling," comparing this core founding principle to Iran's theocratic regime.
'It is the tyrants who are denying our rights.'
"The notion that rights don't come from laws and don't come from the government, but come from the Creator — that's what the Iranian government believes," Kaine said in a committee hearing Wednesday. "It's a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia [sic] law, ... and they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator."
"The statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling," he continued.
Trump takes a shot at Democrat Senator Tim Kaine: "The ineffectual senator from Virginia stated that the notion that our rights come from our Creator is extremely troubling. This is advocated by a totalitarian regime. It is tyrants who are denying that our rights come from God." pic.twitter.com/3h3uVy0RvG
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 8, 2025
Kaine's comments were promptly met with outrage on the right, most recently with Trump calling him "ineffectual" and saying he "should be ashamed of himself."
"As everyone in this room understands, it is the tyrants who are denying our rights and the rights that come from God," Trump said during a speech at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
"It's this Declaration of Independence that proclaims we're endowed by our Creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," Trump added. "The senator from Virginia should be ashamed of himself."
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Trump went on to defend the notion of God-given rights in spite of Kaine's comments, saying we will "never apologize for our faith."
"We will never surrender our God-given rights. We will defend our liberties, our values, our sovereignty, and we will defend our freedom," Trump said.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is set to leverage a Democratic precedent to override their obstruction and clear through the lengthy backlog of nominees.
Democrats have held up President Donald Trump's Senate nominees for months, making it the first administration ever not to have a single nominee confirmed via voice vote or unanimous consent. Instead, Democrats are digging their heels in and forcing "time-consuming" votes on uncontroversial nominees who later get confirmed along bipartisan lines. Now, the "nuclear option" is on the table.
'It's Trump derangement syndrome on steroids.'
"It’s delay for delay’s sake, and it’s a pettiness that leaves desks sitting empty in agencies across the federal government and robs our duly elected president of a team to enact the agenda that the American people voted for in November," Thune said in an op-ed for Breitbart.
"Republicans aren’t going to tolerate this obstruction any longer," Thune added. "We have tried to work with Democrats in good faith to batch bipartisan, noncontroversial nominees and clear them expeditiously, according to past precedent. Democrats have stood in the way at every turn."
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Over the last month, Republican senators have developed a rule change based on a proposal initially introduced by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Angus King of Maine in 2023, one Republican aide told Blaze News.
Starting Monday, Thune will begin reforming the Senate rules based on the Democratic proposal, allowing Republicans to confirm nominees in batches, the aide confirmed to Blaze News. Without this rule change, the Senate would need to hold over 600 roll call votes just to clear the backlog of nominees who are currently on the docket.
"No party should be able to weaponize the confirmation process the way that Senate Democrats are doing now, in a way that has never been done before," Thune said.
Since Trump took office in January, the Senate has taken more votes than any other Senate at this point in over three decades. Despite this, the current confirmation pace has plateaued due to Democrats' obstruction, which Thune said comes down to one thing.
"It's Trump derangement syndrome on steroids."
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Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky once again bucked his party, this time taking aim at Vice President JD Vance.
The Trump administration claimed to have successfully struck a Venezuelan drug boat on Tuesday, killing 11 traffickers identified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Vance and other high-profile Republicans championed the strike, calling it the "highest and best use of our military."
'Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird?'
Vance experienced pushback from the usual suspects like Brian Krassenstein, who called the strike a "war crime." Vance promptly responded by saying, "I don't give a s**t what you call it."
While the left raged on about Vance's comments, Paul joined the chorus.
Paul criticized the military action for not providing the Venezuelan alleged drug traffickers due process before being killed.
"JD 'I don’t give a s**t' Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the 'highest and best use of the military,'" Paul said in a post on X. "Did he ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation??
"What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial."
Paul's criticism was met with backlash from some of his Republican colleagues who accused Paul of "defending foreign terrorist drug traffickers."
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"What's really despicable is defending foreign terrorist drug traffickers who are *directly* responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in Kentucky and Ohio," Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said in a post on X. "JD understands that our first responsibility is to protect the life and liberty of American citizens."
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Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia failed to understand one of America's basic founding principles and instead likened it to the Iranian regime.
In a Wednesday committee hearing, Kaine insisted that our natural rights are derived from the government, not from God. Kaine went on to say that the notion that our natural rights come from the Creator is "extremely troubling" and compared it to Iran's theocracy.
Unfortunately for Kaine, the founding fathers disagree with him.
"The notion that rights don't come from laws and don't come from the government, but come from the Creator. That's what the Iranian government believes," Kaine said. "It's a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law [sic] ... and they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator."
"The statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling."
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— (@)
Unfortunately for Kaine, the founding fathers disagree with him.
The Declaration of Independence makes very clear that our natural rights come from God and not from the government, as Kaine suggested. In the second paragraph, the Declaration states that "all men are created equal" and that "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Prominent conservatives and politicians were quick to correct Kaine's misunderstanding of our nation's core values, even suggesting that he is "not fit to serve."
"This is a remarkable moment from Tim Kaine," the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh said in a post on X. "He just announced that the core foundational principle of our country, affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, is 'extremely troubling' and 'theocratic.' He should be immediately removed from office. Anyone who rejects our nation's foundational principles is obviously not fit to serve."
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"Our rights don’t come from government or the DNC. They come from God," Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in a post on X. "[Tim Kaine], I suggest the Dems go back and read the words of our Founding Fathers."
Kaine's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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Thune and the Senate GOP have shown little to no appetite for doing what's necessary to get the president's nominees across the finish line.
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