Donald Trump blasted another too-real-for-liberals tweet today; flat out calling the United States (a la Obama) foolish for giving the country more than $33 billion in aid.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump tweeted.
And as it turns out, Senator Rand Paul couldn’t agree more!
The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018
“I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years and will again lead the charge in the Senate. Let’s make this happen @realDonaldTrump,” Paul tweeted.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years and will again lead the charge in the Senate. Let’s make this happen @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/v4KrOrWOyS https://t.co/JNNChCfVqP
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 1, 2018
“We should not be giving foreign aid to any country that is not clearly our ally. This must end, and this week I will renew my push for a vote on this issue, including holding up Senate business to accomplish this goal,” Paul wrote in 2012.
Pakistan’s defense minister didn’t take too kindly to President Trump’s tweet. He accused the United States of “giving” his country “nothing but invective and mistrust” over the last fifteen years.
“[Pakistan] as anti-terror ally has given free to US: land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16yrs, but they have given us nothing but invective & mistrust,” Khurram Dastgir-Khan said on Twitter.
“They overlook cross-border safe havens of terrorists who murder Pakistanis,” he added.
It all goes along quite well with a piece the Senator wrote for The Hill this year where he suggests we provide aid to Hurricane Harvey victims by cutting foreign aid spending.
“One of the things I and many other Americans liked about candidate Donald Trump was his America First policy,” Paul wrote. “He talked often about building here instead of in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We send tens of billions overseas every year in aid, and we have spent trillions fighting and nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq.”