Rand Paul’s Hostile Takeover of the Republican Party Is Getting More Hostile

Jonathan Chait: "Until very recently, Rand Paul’s project of insinuating himself comfortably within the Republican Party, and positioning himself as a plausible presidential nominee, had gone along with remarkable ease. Yes, the author of his campaign book turned out to be an unreconstructed neo-Confederate. That was a speed bump. (Who among us has not entrusted the explication of his worldview to a man who has cheered on the assassination of President Lincoln?) Paul had staged a masterful piece of political theater with his marathon Senate speech denouncing the Obama administration’s drone policy. He has assembled a top-tier campaign apparatus. As recently as January, The Atlantic’s Peter Beinart tabbed him the Party’s 2016 frontrunner. But now the war to stop Paul has been joined. Paul may overcome the resistance, or he may not. What the struggle shows is the sheer audacity of his project."