'I got a lot of problems with you': Rand Paul flames Trump, media, waste in Festivus celebration
Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) took to Twitter to celebrate the fictitious holiday of Festivus by airing his grievances against President-elect Donald Trump, wasteful spending, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the media and virtually everyone else in Washington, DC that he could think of.
Festivus is a holiday concocted by TV sitcom Seinfeld character Frank Costanza as an alternative to the other winter holidays. Senator Paul honored one of the main tenets of the holiday, known as the “Airing of Grievances,” telling the twittersphere, “I got a lot of problems with you and now you’re gonna hear about them!”
Good morning Seinfeld fans and Happy Festivus everywhere! Today I'll have my annual #AiringofGrievances. Join me here throughout the day...
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016
Paul started circulating his gripes with the fake news that plagued the presidential election, calling out NBC News’s Brian Williams for his reporting on the Iraq War.
On the media & #fakenews: Festivus is real, media, so don't try 2 fact check it. And @TheOnion is more accurate than a Brian Williams report
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016
The US senator then took a jab at the incoming administration, including Trump’s pick for the Department of Energy, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who famously couldn’t remember the department, which he wanted to abolish while campaigning for president in 2012.
My favorite Cabinet pick is what's his name, umm it's that guy who wanted to eliminate the Dept. of @ENERGY. Hang on I'll think of it...
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016
But Paul wasn’t done – the former presidential candidate denounced several government programs for wasteful spending. This included $1.25 million to produce a superhero cartoon in Pakistan, $30,000 to study Ugandan gambling practices, and a grant from the National Park Service to study “Knowledge, Experience and Beliefs of the Supernatural Environment.”
We’ve got a lot of problems w/ how our tax dollars are spent & you've only heard about some. But I'm not done yet...https://t.co/U22SbuFrkdpic.twitter.com/KZKJYiI2Xk
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016
Things became confusing when Paul went into sports analogies and said, “for those who think @WWE is real, I'm very sorry Bernie Sanders lost.”
But after a few hours, he got back into the game of calling the president-elect out on his cabinet picks, calling it a reality show:
But I'm upset VP & cabinet wasn't picked w/ a reality show. I would have watched. You would have too, don't deny it. #AiringofGrievances
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016
Finally and ironically, Paul ended his Festivus rant with a note on the war on Christmas.
I'm gonna have to stop tweeting about Festivus soon, @FoxNews just asked me to come on & talk about my own personal #WaronChristmas. Rude.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2016