Bulwark Takes - Trump Insults Rand Paul—And He Begs for More

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

Jack Cocchiarella takes on Rand Paul’s pathetic display of loyalty to Donald Trump—even after being publicly insulted.

Hey, y'all. It's Jack Cottarella with the bulwark, and Republicans are cucks. At least Rand Paul is. Rand Paul is a cuck. He is submissive to Donald Trump. He likes to debase himself at his pleasure. And I know I always talk about the fact that the Sunday shows are an opportunity for Republicans to put on their favorite humiliation ritual for the dear leader. But what Rand Paul did today was one of the saddest things I've ever seen out of a United States senator. Like truly, truly embarrassing, especially because then he went on. to criticize Donald Trump after saying, oh, dear leader, won't you give me some more? But this is some truly bad stuff that I want to get into. Donald Trump made a wild outlandish, as he always does, ridiculous, true social post

about Rand Paul earlier this week that he had to respond to. And his response, again, you will get secondhand embarrassment. This was a post on Friday night. Let me read you. Get your reaction on the other side. He said, quote, whatever happened to Senator Rand Paul? He was never green. but he went really bad.

I got him elected twice in the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, but he just never votes positively for the Republican Party. He's a nasty little guy. Why do you think President Trump is targeting you, Senator? I think the problem is this, is that in Washington, what I represent some people describe as unusual, and the president describes it as weird

that I'm for less debt and balanced budget, and balanced budgets. But you know, when I come home to Kentucky or when I travel the United States, people come up to me and say, stick to your guns. You're the only voice up there, Republican or Democrat, who's still talking about the debt and still talking about balanced budgets. But I don't take it too seriously. Look, I've known the president for over a decade. I've played golf with him many, many times. I enjoy his company. I was one of his biggest defenders on impeachment and would do so again. I think he's one of the best presidents, if not the best presence of my lifetime. So he gets mad at me sometimes, but I'm still one of his best supporters if he's willing to have it.

You're still one of his best supporters. You love him. You're going to do whatever it takes his company is so great to be around. What is wrong with these people? Like, do they not feel embarrassment? Oh, you know, like dear leader Trump, he said that I was a shitbag in an idiot. I mean, he's just joking around. You know how President Trump is. He loves me. We're great guys. Oh, he said that my wife was ugly. I don't know, Becca, she's working on it. She's getting the makeups done. it's fine. We love what President Trump says. Have you no shame? Do you not care? Like, how far are you willing to sell yourself out, Rand Paul? Like, but again, this is the humiliation ritual of the Sunday shows, but you are usually defending something that Trump said

about Democrats or people of color, or I don't know, he was attacking some marginalized group or enacting some illegal action. It's usually not about them, but for Rand Paul to not just like excuse it, but fully embrace it. And then be like, do you know what it is? It's because I wasn't with him. I love being in his company. Saying I love being in his company, that is crazy. He is doing tricks on it. What are you talking about? Well, when Mr. Trump is tweeting about me, that's different. But when we get together, I just see that look in his eye. He loves me. He says that I'm a good boy. Like, I truly don't understand how the party that claims that it's all about the masculinity and the machoness and we're so fucking tough is also just a bunch of cucks.

Like, these guys aren't cool. There is nothing that exists in their life outside of not even politics, because if it was politics, it'd be one thing. Like, that's all I spend my time doing, but it's because I actually give a fuck about people. But their dedication is to Trump. Like, their worldview is of Trump. It is of nothing else.

We need to get some larger lockers in the U.S. Senate and, like, just start. stuffing. Like, these people are embarrassing to us. What is tough about constantly and always capitulating to Trump and, oh, the dear leader, he is so great, he is so fantastic and praising him nonstop. But what's so insane to me about this, and I just can't believe Rand Paul, I guess I should, but is what he said right after he got done, you know, wiping his mouth and saying thank you to Trump, when asked about his extrajudicial, indiscriminate killings of innocent people off the coast of Venezuela, Rand Paul actually gave some pushback.

In the Caribbean, as you know, so far more than 20 people, Senator, have been killed in six different strikes. Do you believe that these strikes against these suspected drug boats are legal? No, they go against all of our tradition. You know, when you kill someone, you should know if you're not in war,

not in a declared war, you really need to know someone's name, at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime. And for decades, if not centuries, when you stop people at sea in international waters or in your own waters, you announce that you're going to board the ship and you're looking for contraband, smuggling, or drugs. This happens every day off of Miami.

But we know from Coast Guard statistics that about 25% of the time the Coast Guard boards the ship, there are no drugs. So if our policy now is to blow up every ship we suspect or accuse of drug running, that would be a bizarre world in which 25% of the people might be innocent. The other thing about these speedboats is they're 2,000 miles away from us. If they have drugs, they're probably peddling drugs to one of the islands of Trinidad or Tobago off of Venezuela. The idea that they're coming here is like it's a huge assumption and really shouldn't you have to present some proof. It is the difference between war and peace. In war, though, you don't ask people's name.

But if they won all-out war where we kill anybody and everybody that is in the country of Venezuela are coming out, that has to have a declaration of war. It's something that is not pretty, very expensive, and I'm not in favor of declaring war on Venezuela. But the Congress should vote. The president shouldn't do this by himself. The man is quite literally committing war crimes that you are calling him out for. you know what he is doing is killing innocent people. Yet five minutes ago, you were like bouncing on it and like doing like going reverse and like looking back. Now I'm painting it disgusting. We're going to, we're going to fix this in post because Jesus, I don't want you to have that image of Rand Paul in your mind. But like seriously, this is what the guy is doing. We are talking about extrajudicial killings. Donald Trump is indiscriminately bombing people. The man who has spent the last month, him Carolyn Levitt, J.D. Vance, fucking whiniest guy in America.

We're going to do a side note on J.D. real quick. The man built his political career, waving the finger at you. Oh, the liberals, they lecture me so much as he is like yelling at you and like denunciate, like, oh, JD Vans, the denunciation. Oh, the liberals are so mean. And he's like got the gall to fucking lecture us all the time on a podcast with his fat face and his bad beard. And I'm not talking about Usha.

But seriously, these guys are just. sickening. Rand Paul is describing Donald Trump carrying out political violence. Again, the very political violence that Vance, Levitt, Trump, Hegseff have been talking about like they aren't the ones perpetrating it for the past month, trying to blame liberals and say that it's all lost, just this hypocritical nonsense as he is blowing people up. And Rand Paul is willing to address him. He's willing to call it out and then move on. And then we're going to keep it pushing. Like, why are we supposed to take these people seriously in any real conversation about political violence? I just don't really understand why anyone thinks that they get to be the authority

on this. Political violence is plaguing our country. It is an epidemic. It has destroyed our politics. It is corrosive in a way that we don't even see. There are members of the Supreme Court who have outwardly stated that there are decisions that they have made out of fear. for their families, members of Congress as well, elected officials across the country are voting or acting or serving differently because of that fear. And we're going to let Republicans the ones enacting it, encouraging it, excusing it with 1,500 pardons for cop-beating insurrectionist on January 20th, the beginning of Donald Trump's administration.

I just don't understand the hypocrisy that is allowed to be tolerated. these people, they are not the authority on anything. When ICE is ripping families apart, when the state is carrying out violence to intimidate because Stephen Miller wasn't liked in high school and Fred didn't give Donald Trump enough attaboys or hugs as a kid, I'm on a bit of a rant here, but I just can't understand the hypocrisy coming out of these people constantly. And Mike Johnson put on like an Olympic level display when talking about the commutation of George Santos's sentence today, it would was truly embarrassing stuff. The president has the right on the Constitution for pardon and computation, of course. We believe in redemption. This is a personal belief of mine, and I hope Mr. Santos makes the most of his second chance. How about the fact that the president, in issuing the pardon, or it's clemency, I'm sorry, the clemency, he said at least Santos had the courage, conviction, and intelligence to always vote Republican. I looked through this. Thereof now, I think we have

a list of them. Ten former Republicans. members of Congress who the president has either pardoned or issued clemency for. Ten. Okay, you want to talk about what Joe Biden did with that power? He pardoned his own family. The only thing he's signed, by the way, with his own pen, everything else is auto pen. But categories of hardened criminals that they just released from prison, at least President Trump is fully transparent.

He goes out and explains his rationale. Is it okay for him to say they essentially pardoning somebody because they always had the courage? That's not the reason he part. Conviction and intelligence. Okay, I've had enough of my chance to say. At least Donald Trump was transparent in his corruption. What type of excuses that?

I know we will always lean on the Biden, Biden, Biden, as the Republican Party. But Mike, are you serious? Well, at least when Donald Trump decided he was going to break the law, he told the American people, I am going to make your life inextricably worse, and I'm going to be committing crimes the entire time. I am taking a $400 million jet. It is illegal, but I am letting you know up front shore. I am going to steal health care away from tens of millions of people, but we're being upfront

about it, and that's what matters. Is this an excuse? I don't even know what Mike Johnson is trying to communicate right now. I know he is trying to run cover, but what cover is it that, yeah, of course Donald Trump is going to break the law, but he's going to be honest about his lies and his corruption. Great job, Mike. Really, really great performance. I don't know if you one cuck of the day because Ramp Hall was really was really competing hard for that. But good effort out there. Boy, this is just fucking tough to watch every single time. With the bulwark, I am still in shock and I'm also still Jack Hotcherella.