Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is making life slightly difficult for his senior senator from home, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by becoming the majority vote against Individual 1's national emergency declaration. Paul's opposition is rooted in his occasional deference to the constitution. "We may want more money for border security," Paul said of his opposition, "but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing."
That's an idea McConnell regularly dispenses with in the pursuit of raw power and partisan politics, including his own re-election. After a rough first year under Trump, when McConnell's failure to achieve Obamacare repeal had Trump regularly bashing him, the passage of tax cuts and Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation seem to have smoothed those rough edges. But now McConnell is caught between Paul and Trump, both of whom have much higher approval ratings in Kentucky than McConnell, who remains underwater at home at 38 percent approval rating and 47 percent disapproval in Morning Consult survey from this winter.
He needs both of them for his re-election, but particularly Paul. "His support is important. McConnell had his endorsement last time and they work together more than they don't," says McConnell adviser Scott Jennings "There's no secret that Rand Paul comes from a slightly different wing of the party than Mitch McConnell, but the vast majority of time they're on the same page. Occasionally they aren't." The two seem to have worked out a system where McConnell lets Paul pretty much do what he wants because what Paul wants rarely gets in the way of McConnell's agenda.
This hiccup isn't likely to hurt the McConnell-Paul relationship, because Paul's defection won't make that much difference, ultimately. There aren't enough votes in either the House or Senate to overrule Trump's veto of this disapproval resolution on the national emergency. Paul gets to make his libertarian stand without really having much impact. McConnell will have the vote, it'll be a temporary embarrassment, and then he can get back right to destroying the federal judiciary by pushing through more extremist judges.
That in turn cements his good relations with Trump. And that's where Democrats can hit him. What Paul's stand on the side of the constitution does is provide a sharp contrast on principles. Now we just have to make principles matter to the voters of Kentucky.