Rand Paul Throws Down With Fox Host Over JD Vance Criticism: ‘That’s Not Constitutional!’

Fox News host Will Cain and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) sparred on Tuesday over Paul’s recent criticism of JD Vance after the vice president said he didn’t “give a sh*t” that critics were angry the U.S. bombed a boat and killed alleged drug traffickers without any kind of due process.

Cain introduced the topic by noting, “President Trump and the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth set sights on the narco-terrorists. We saw a little over a week ago the bombing of a drug-running vessel in the Caribbean.”

“To that, Vice President JD Vance said the following, ‘Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.’ You responded very, very forcefully, ‘JD, I don’t give a sh*t, Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the highest and best use of the military. Did he ever read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird?’ Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without a trial or representation? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without trial,’” Cain added, quoting from Paul’s response to Vance.

“Now, Senator, I’d love to set aside your ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ analogy for a moment. I don’t think, truthfully, that it is applicable. That is an American citizen on American soil dealing with American laws. I think a better analogy might be Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates, which he launched that war without congressional authorization. I see your smile. I know you’re ready for your response, but he did launch those attacks without congressional authorization on what he saw as a threat to American interests and to Americans. Distinguish that from what the president is doing with the drug cartels,” Cain asked.

Paul replied, “Well, there’s one big difference. The Barbary Pirates were attacking us and taking our sailors and capturing our ships. They were committing acts of war against us, and fighting them is self-defense. And if this speedboat, 2,700 miles from our coast, was attacking one of our destroyers, they can blow it up.”

“Well, hold on,” Cain pressed as Paul added, “Nobody argues with that.”

“Hold on real quick. The narco-terrorists are attacking in a different fashion. It’s not as on-the-nose as what the Barbary Pirates did. They’re importing drugs that do kill Americans to the tune of 65,000 Americans a year,” Cain followed up.

Paul answered, “I realize that, but if this is a new policy, realize that off of Miami a dozen ships will be interdicted today. They will be stopped, boarded, and searched. Some of them will have drugs, some of them won’t. The reason we board them before we blow the crap out of them is some of them don’t have drugs. Think about it this way. This is how people don’t quite get this. Let’s say there’s a house in your neighborhood and they’re all selling fentanyl, and thousands of people are dying, and you’re just so mad. Do you go over there and just kill them or burn them? No, you go to a judge and you get a warrant and you do that. We have an interdiction program.”

Cain pushed back, “I feel like the difference there is you’re talking about an American citizen on American soil, and of course your analogy—”

“No, we’re talking about ships off of Miami. We’re talking people speeding along off of Miami. Are we going to just simply blow them up? No, we’re not. I mean, if we were, that would be extraordinary. That would be extraordinary to blow up ships,” Paul insisted.

Cain replied, “It’s not simply your neighbor and you’re mad at your neighbor. It is the United States government, the Department of War, and certain intelligence, which by the way, I don’t accept wholeheartedly or think they are flawless, but it is a certain level of intelligence where we hear this is what’s happening, and this is who we struck. We would rely on those very same institutions if we were told, for example, a foreign power or a terrorist were bringing in on a ship VX gas or sarin gas, which equally would kill Americans. This just happens to be fentanyl. Would you oppose the military striking a ship headed towards our shores with VX gas?”

“No, and the question is this, though: we have dozens of ships every day stopped for drugs. Is the new policy going to be blow them to smithereens with drones? I can’t imagine that’s going to be our policy—that would lead to chaos,” Paul replied, adding:

We have dozens. Think of it also this way. I’m not saying this is U.S. citizens, but when we try to protect U.S. citizens’ rights, we still make mistakes. We get a judge’s warrant, we send the police to a house, sometimes the numbers get transposed and they go to the wrong house and the wrong people die, even with the utmost care. What are the chances that somebody on a boat leaving Venezuela actually has been—their parents have been kidnapped and the boat has been taken, you’re told to drive us to this island or we’ll kill your parents.

And the people on the boat actually aren’t even the people that you’d like to kill, that someone’s been kidnapped to do this? It’s the same way with sex trafficking. Some people on boat may be the ones being trafficked, not the traffickers. Right. The other question nobody seems to have asked—one more question—nobody seems to have asked this: the outboard boat was 2,700 miles away. How do we know it was coming to the U.S.? So they may be selling drugs to Trinidad. Is it our job?”

Cain shot back, “Well, we are the main destination point for whatever percentage of drugs coming out of Central and South America.”

Paul challenged, “You don’t think anybody in the Caribbean is using drugs? What if they’re selling the drugs in Trinidad? Are we now the police for Trinidad? Are we going to blow up every boat? It’s just insane. You can’t blow up any ship that you think might have drugs on it.”
Cain concluded, “I always get this rap. It happens with Democratic politicians a lot. Here it is with a Republican politician. I’ve been told I got to go to commercial break several times. I do want to say this: I appreciate your fidelity to limited government and the Constitution. I think the differentiating factor here—I’m going to have to leave it here—is they’ve been designated a foreign terrorist organization and they’re importing a chemical that’s killing tens of thousands of Americans.”

Paul pushed back, adding, “But not by Congress—not by Congress, by the president. That’s not constitutional! Under the Constitution, Congress must declare war.”

“We’ll continue this conversation, I hope, Senator. Thank you for your time,” concluded Cain.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.