Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and President Donald Trump tend to disagree on a lot. Paul, known to be a staunch non-interventionist on foreign policy, recently declared that he will do "everything" he can -- including the use of filibuster on the Senate floor -- to block the appointment of President Trump's nominee and ex-CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, as well as his nomination of George W. Bush-era official Gina Haspel as Pompeo's replacement as the new director of central intelligence.

Paul's opposition to Pompeo, Haspel

In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Senator Paul explained why he opposes the appointment of both Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel, respectively.

Senator Paul's view is that Pompeo, formerly the Representative of Kansas' 4th Congressional district in the House, is "too much of an advocate for regime change," in North Korea, Iran, Russia, and the rest of the world. "I think Pompeo really isn't a good fit to be a diplomat," said Paul. Pompeo, indeed, is openly an advocate of regime change. In a speech during October of 2017, he likened Iran to ISIS and called for the demise of the "thuggish police state." He also has called Edward Snowden a "traitor," and declared that he is deserving of the death penalty.

On Gina Haspel, Paul said "I don't think the person running that agency (the CIA) should be someone who ran a secret prison in Thailand," and added that in America, "people want to be free from torture, not free to torture." Senator Paul is hinting at Mrs.

Haspel's role in running a CIA black site in Thailand central to the Bush-era torture program. Much of Mrs. Haspel's role in the program is currently classified information and therefore unknown, but we do know for sure that she participated in the destruction of video evidence of torture conducted by the CIA in Thailand.

Rand Paul v President Trump on foreign policy

Paul, who recently returned to the Senate after being attacked at his own home in Kentucky, said at the beginning of his interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that he admired President Trump's espousal of unorthodox, anti-establishment rhetoric on foreign policy during the 2016 election cycle.

In particular, Paul is impressed by the fact that "he (Trump) continues to say that the Iraq war was a mistake." President Trump, in the past, did advocate for a foreign policy starkly different from that of his predecessor's, yes, but his actions as President have not lived up to his rhetoric.

"He keeps appointing people around him who love the Iraq war so much that they're ready for a war with Iran next," said Senator Paul, possibly hinting at the rumor that John Bolton, former Ambassador to the UN under George W. Bush, known for his hawkishness, might soon serve as National Security Advisor to President Trump. The recent departure of Gary Cohn and the firing of Rex Tillerson suggest that the Trump White House might be positioning itself to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy. For a non-interventionist, Libertarian-leaning Republican like Rand Paul, this is not a good development.
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