When Donald Trump hosted his high-profile Rose Garden luncheon for all his senators this week, one Republican senator was conspicuously missing: Rand Paul. But he chose to have better company.
On Oct. 21, every other GOP senator received an invite to what seems like Trump’s new private “club meeting,” a closed-door court session where loyalty is the main course. Paul, however, wasn’t on the list. He revealed on X: “I actually wasn’t invited to the White House lunch today, but that’s ok. I had a previously scheduled Liberty Caucus lunch with @MassieforKY,” referring to the Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.
Just like Paul, the Kentucky congressman who joined him, is also on Trump’s growing enemies list. The two men have long been the Republican Party’s resident skeptics who never lick the boots of the wannabe “king” and occasionally grow a spine to stand up for the truth. Paul previously called out Trump’s mass-deportation plan using the military and labeled it “illegal.” He also blasted deficit-bloated budgets and routinely votes against bills that balloon spending.
Massie has also famously voted against Trump’s signature tax-and-spending package, opposed unauthorized military strikes in Iran, and recently demanded the declassification of federal Epstein investigation files. Just days ago, Trump attacked him on Truth Social, calling him “a weak and pathetic RINO,” and endorsed Ed Gallrein to take his position instead.
But after Trump’s petty and spiteful move to leave Rand Paul off the guest list came to light, social media didn’t miss the irony. One user called Paul and Massie’s private lunch “the only table left that doesn’t require kneeling,” given how Trump keeps all his goons at the tip of his shoes. “When your own party treats you like the skunk at the coronation, it tells you everything about what the GOP has become — not a political movement, but a loyalty test with appetizers,” he added.
Another quipped, “Wild that Trump can negotiate with Putin, Zelensky, Netanyahu, and Hamas, but not Republicans who want to cut spending.” But we’ve now long known that the self-crowned King treats dissent as treason. So, in reality, Paul and Massie probably had the better lunch. No photo-ops, no gold-plated table settings, no forced laughter at Trump’s unfunny, sexist, and narcissistic jokes.
Trump and his MAGA goons may have had the Rose Garden to themselves, but Paul and Massie got the one thing no one else did: A table where freedom of thought was still on the menu.
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