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- [00:02]
Tom Woods (Intro/Outro)
Get ready to take a flamethrower to the official narrative and learn what the elites don't want you to know. You're listening to the Tom Woods Show.
- [00:19]
Tom Woods (Host)
Hey, everybody, Tom woods here. It's episode 2746 of the Tom woods show. And I'm just delighted to have Kelly Paul with me. She is co author of, with her husband, Senator Rand Paul, of the Case Against Socialism, as well as. Well, this one's from over a decade ago. True and constant friends, love and inspiration from our grandmothers, mothers and friends. And we're going to talk a little bit later about a couple of children's books she has forthcoming. But I just thought I follow you on Twitter. I agree with all your posts and all your reposts, and I thought we would have a good conversation. So thanks for being here.
- [00:53]
Kelly Paul
Thank you, Tom. I'm delighted to be with you today.
- [00:56]
Tom Woods (Host)
Now, I want to ask about your professional background, but first, I can't help saying this is not quite the life I suppose you were expecting when you first met Rand Paul, you know, several decades ago.
- [01:08]
Kelly Paul
Yes. We've been married for, well, it'll be 36 years in October, October 20th, 1990, we got married. And, yeah, I just thought I was marrying this wonderful physician, which he is. I knew he loved politics, of course, and I knew about his family. But, you know, at the time, he really said he didn't have any intention of running for anything because his dad, Ron Paul, had always said, you know, you put all of this time and energy into medical school and residency. You need to practice for at least 15 or 20 years before you even think about it. Which we almost made that, you know. But I also believe, as Rand says, timing is everything. And when Jim Bunning decided not to run for that seat and it was an open seat, suddenly, you know, our life made a pretty abrupt turn into politics. From small town doctor in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to U.S. senator.
- [02:08]
Tom Woods (Host)
Can you share with us a little bit of what the conversations were like when it came up? I think I'd like to run for U.S. senate. I mean, surely it, it had to have had at least some inspiration from the success of his father.
- [02:21]
Kelly Paul
Yes, obviously, I, I wasn't super for it right at first. You know, we had, all of our kids were still at home, and it's a daunting thing to even consider running for statewide office, national office. So I was a little skeptical. Rand is an extremely optimistic person. He's an extremely persuasive person. His persuasion tactic on me was that because I said, you know, I Thought we were going to do this later in life. He said, well, we are in our, you know, mid to late 40s now. And I was thinking like, I don't know, 60, you'll run or something. He said, but the time is right for now. And he said, you know, Kelly, this is just going to set the stage. He said, I have less than a 5% chance of winning this seat. You know, Mitch McConnell's hand picked candidate, Trey Grayson, Secretary of state, paid all his dues, has had statewide office now for, I don't know how long he'd been in, but, you know, Rand had zero name recognition. He was, you know, an ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And he said, I'm not going to win. I have less than 5% chance of winning. But let's do this. And it'll set up. My name recognition will be good exercise for later when the kids are all out of the house and I'll run maybe in my 50s or 60s. And I remember looking at him, I knew in my heart of hearts, I said, if you do this, you're going to win. I know you're going to win. When people hear you, they're going to love you and you're going to win. So we have, you know, I'm going into this knowing that you're going to win. And I did. And even though it was a crazy race, I don't know if you Remember back in 2010, the National Attention it got. It was definitely a trial by fire for me to experience that from just out of the blue to ran, being literally on every single Cable News Channel 24, 7. I remember sitting in my kitchen and I had the remote and I would just go from CNN to Fox to MSNBC to all the different things, thinking, okay, let me find somewhere where they're not talking about rant that year. And I never would. I mean, it would be constant.
- [04:27]
Tom Woods (Host)
Well, it so happens by a bizarre coincidence that I was in the same college graduating class with Trey Grayson. So I knew him a little.
- [04:35]
Kelly Paul
Oh, okay.
- [04:36]
Tom Woods (Host)
And the thing was, because I, you know, I thought, well, let me see if I see if I can tell Rand anything. And I, and I was thinking back, and the thing that stood out about Trey was that nobody really knew what his political allegiances were. He was the guy who was always hanging out at the Kennedy School of Government, but we didn't know is he. We thought probably he was like a conservative Democrat, but nobody exactly knew. And the fact that he never kind of poked his head up and took a Stand on anything that any of us would remember was almost like he was planning a political career even then. No one knew anything about him. This is perfect guy for Mitch McConnell.
- [05:13]
Kelly Paul
Yes. Yeah. No, you're exactly right. And, you know, isn't that the case with so many people in government, literally from high school on? They want this path, and Rand always describes it as they want to be someone rather than do something Right. They want this role in government. And so they're very cautious. They never take a stand too much on either side. And that's part of the problem that we have in government. People want to just protect their role and be seen as, I don't know, reasonable or whatever. And so they don't ever take any hard stands. And that's probably why we're $38 trillion in debt.
- [05:57]
Tom Woods (Host)
Let's go way back. How did you guys meet?
- [05:59]
Kelly Paul
We met at an oyster roast in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1989. I was there with friends from work, and he was there with a bunch of other residents from Georgia Baptist. He was doing his internship in general surgery at Georgia Baptist. And, yeah, I was just there. I was kind of bored. I had gone up to a bunch of girls from University of Georgia that were having a good time, and I was like, I'm going to meet some new people. And before I knew it, I was having fun with these girls from University of Georgia. They graduated a few years before. And I turned around, and there was Rand, and he was manning the keg and asked me if I wanted a beer. And I was like, yeah. And we talked for a while, and he was smart and interesting, but we're just kind of talking vaguely. We were actually talking, if you can believe this. I know this sounds crazy, but we were talking about Dostoevsky, and he was smart. He was like, all my favorite books, Brothers Karamazov. I don't even know how he got into all of that. But anyway, at first, I thought he was really too young for me. I was like, gosh, he looked really young. I mean, I was 25, he was 26, and he looked younger than that at the time. And then there was this crazy thing. I always talk about it like it was. It was like divine intervention or something, because about 20 minutes later, I was back talking to the girls from University of Georgia, and there was this dramatic event that happened that there were a bunch of people sitting on a low deck at this party, and it collapsed, and all these people spilled out into the grass. And it wasn't like it was 20ft high or anything. It was like 4ft or something. So, you know, it was like, thankfully no one was really hurt. But in that moment, it was dramatic. And everyone's like, oh my gosh, these people are laying in the grass. And I see Rand and these three other guys going over there because he hadn't told me he was a doctor when we talked. And I see him like, you know, doing all these manipulations on people. And this girl goes, oh, thank goodness we have all these doctors here from Georgia Baptist. And I'm like, I thought he was like, still in college or something. And so anyway, after that, like, Rand was definitely surrounded by a lot of girls and including me, but he was like, hey. We started talking again and I gave him my phone number and we went out to dinner the next night.
- [08:14]
Tom Woods (Host)
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- [09:32]
Kelly Paul
Not political consulting. I did a little bit of it, tried it and you know, I decided it wasn't really for me. My background is marketing communications. I wrote executive speeches for Sprint, Nortel networks. I did their corporate magazines. I did corporate newsletters. I did all that kind of stuff. So I was marketing communications with Sprint and, and then Nortel. Then I freelanced for a long time as a writer in the telecommunications industry. And I did a brief stint, I worked a little bit, actually. Ted Cruz was one of our clients when I did a little bit of political Consulting. But I just decided political consulting for Rand was enough.
- [10:11]
Tom Woods (Host)
Yeah. Well, that's just it. Obviously, if you have these skills and you're in communications, that's valuable for a political candidate. So would you say, like, did the two of you work really work together on the campaigns?
- [10:23]
Kelly Paul
Oh, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I edit all of his speeches, give him ideas, you know, work together on two books. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how anyone in politics does this world if they don't have a spouse that is extremely into it. Maybe not everyone has the background I do, but it definitely helps that I think I help him a lot. I do have a background in writing, in persuasion and communication. So sometimes it's hard. You know, you don't want to criticize your spouse. But obviously, you know, sometimes I tell him when he does great, and I tell him when I think we need to work on that, and it's good. We sound off on each other back and forth, and I think it's helpful.
- [11:08]
Tom Woods (Host)
So where are you from originally?
- [11:09]
Kelly Paul
I'm an air force brat, so I grew up all over the world until I was nine. And I. And when I was nine years old, my father retired and we moved from Izmir, Turkey, to Russellville, Kentucky.
- [11:23]
Tom Woods (Host)
That's a bit of a change.
- [11:24]
Kelly Paul
Yeah. My brothers and I laugh. I would bet money that we are the only people in the history of the entire world that moved from Izmir, Turkey, to Russellville, Kentucky, probably so. And that was in the 1970s. And so, yeah, it was definitely a culture shock because, you know, I was still very young. I was 10 when we moved to Russellville. And so we were in this little town. It's only about 7,000 people. And we lived there until I parents lived there, you know, until they moved to Bowling Green a few years ago. But I graduated from high school there, and then I went to college out of state and then lived in Atlanta. Then met Rand. Then we went to Durham, North Carolina, for him to complete his residency in ophthalmology. So we. The first three years of our marriage were at Duke in Durham, North Carolina. And then when he finished that, we moved to Kentucky in 1993. So I had really wanted to be close to my mom and dad when our first son was born. So we settled here and decided to make this our home.
- [12:28]
Tom Woods (Host)
Okay. I was wondering how Rand made it to Kentucky. Actually, now I know the. Now I know the answer. But what were your political. Were you politically aware as a young person?
- [12:37]
Kelly Paul
Not particularly. I would say like a typical college student. I didn't Think too deeply about things. And I was probably, you know, I'll admit it. I mean, it was more cool to be left leaning. And so I was like, oh, you know, yeah, okay, you know, was a little bit more left leaning. And then I got my first job in Atlanta. And I'll never forget this job. I was working for this really tiny ad agency, and I made $18,000 a year. So I did the math. Well, first I contracted. So my first job out of college was for a software company, and I was a contractor. So I would bill them for my hours and I would get paid that amount. So I didn't really think too much about taxes. And about eight months later, I got a real job at W2 Income. And they said, you're going to pay you 18,000. I'm like, oh, that's not bad. You know, I. Typical English major. I did 18,000 divided by 12 divided by 2. So I figured out what I would be making. That's fine. Get my first paycheck. It's a lot less than what I bought. And I'm like, you know, I'm 22 years old and I walk in and knock on the door of the. Our person that did the payroll. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I still remember her name. She was super Southern from Atlanta. I said, may, I'm so sorry, but they've made a mistake on my paycheck.
- [13:59]
Tom Woods (Host)
She's.
- [14:00]
Kelly Paul
And she died laughing. I'm showing it. She said, honey, have you never heard of faca? And I'm like, faca? What? What is faca? She's like, fuck. She was saying fica, but it sounded like she said, honey, that's your taxes. And I'm like, oh, my God, if they're taking this much from me at $18,000 a year. So, yeah, I voted Republican the very next.
- [14:25]
Tom Woods (Host)
So a lot of times people say that, that you get your first paycheck and it changes you politically. And you're living proof of that.
- [14:32]
Kelly Paul
Yes. It's like, if you're taking this much from everyone, including someone who's making $18,000 a year, why are we out of money all the time? Why can't we balance our budgets? Why are we in debt? You know, unfortunately, my years of voting Republican haven't changed anything.
- [14:50]
Tom Woods (Host)
Well, okay, that's a whole. That's a whole separate conversation. I couldn't agree with you more. But, so in other words, when you met Rand, you were at least approximately of, like, mind on political questions?
- [15:01]
Kelly Paul
Yeah, I was leaning. Yeah, I was definitely, definitely Leaning more right. And, you know, he was obviously already extremely knowledgeable in his political beliefs, being the son of Ron Paul. And I loved hearing about it. I mean, I learned a lot from Rand. From the moment that I met him, I thought he was one of the most thoughtful, interesting, and introspective people that I'd ever met. And he had an incredible knowledge of history, and not only American history, but world history. And he was just a. He was a seeker and a thinker, and he still is.
- [15:35]
Tom Woods (Host)
I assume the 2010 Senate campaign kicked off in 2009.
- [15:40]
Kelly Paul
Yes.
- [15:41]
Tom Woods (Host)
Okay, so how old were your children then?
- [15:44]
Kelly Paul
They were 10, 13, and 16.
- [15:49]
Tom Woods (Host)
Okay, so this is maybe none of my business, but what was the conversation like with them? Because, of course, there's something very glamorous about running for the US Senate, but at the same time, they have to be aware for the unbelievable nastiness, the attention, sometimes unwanted. So did you guys prep them for this?
- [16:09]
Kelly Paul
We did, but being the ages that they were, I think they were kind of like, oh, it'll be. You know, I don't think they really understood the spotlight as much as, you know, it really is. I would say, though, they were all so into their own lives. It was all sort of like, okay, like, our youngest was really excited about it. He. Even after Ren was elected, he was always interested in going up to D.C. he went to several. He ended up going to high school in D.C. so he was into it. Our middle was all about, like, I'm fine with whatever you do as long as I don't have to change high schools. You know, he was already, you know, making this soccer team, varsity soccer team for his freshman year. And he was like, I don't want to move my high school. And we promised him that he wouldn't have to do that. So that was his concern. And our oldest was on his way to college, so we just kind of, you know, as a family, they were excited about it. And it's, you know, it is what it is. You get on that roller coaster, and you have to take the ups and the downs.
- [17:06]
Tom Woods (Host)
I don't mean to sound like a downer, but I remember years ago, during the GOP presidential campaigns of Dr. Ron Paul on Facebook, Carol Paul used to be much, much more active. And you would see she would get hopping mad when somebody would say something untrue about her husband or unkind about her husband. It just drove her crazy. You know, it was one thing for him to be a, you know, a congressman who probably wasn't the most famous congressman, you can get away with a lot. And you know, nothing really happens to you. But you run for president, Rudy Giuliani attacks you on tv. That was a whole different kind of life. And now, even since just then, that was 2008, but just in the 18 years since then, the nastiness has gotten so much worse. I don't know how you endure it. Honestly, I don't know how you endure it.
- [17:54]
Kelly Paul
You get used to it, I guess. You can tune it out. Yes, some of it does affect you. Not from the random people on Twitter, I don't. That really doesn't affect me. But you know, there are people that, you know, actually people in media who suddenly will turn on you or say things that are untrue. And that does hurt. But you just gotta keep going. You just gotta keep going.
- [18:16]
Tom Woods (Host)
I think you have to be made of a certain kind of stuff to be able to withstand because I. Because Rand takes it from all sides. I mean, it's one thing you're a Republican, the Democrats don't like you. Rand is a much more complicated case where he speaks his mind in all situations. And in principle, everybody loves that. In principle, that's what we want.
- [18:37]
Kelly Paul
Yeah, they really don't like it. They don't like it when their own flaws and their own hypocrisies are revealed. And we're seeing that right now. And that is harder. I will say that is harder. It's always harder to be attacked by your erstwhile friends or your so called friends. And then suddenly, you know they're calling you out just because you have revealed their own hypocrisy or their own when they're straying from the values and the principles that they claimed to represent. People don't like that.
- [19:09]
Tom Woods (Host)
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- [22:23]
Kelly Paul
Yeah, that's probably the one area when you say, does this bother you? Ugly comments. That has bothered me a lot.
- [22:31]
Tom Woods (Host)
Yeah.
- [22:32]
Kelly Paul
You know, to see someone you love, your family member, your husband, suffer extreme physical pain and suffering for over a year and then have people laugh at it or dismiss it or joke about it or lie about it. It's constantly lied about. I mean, that is the most horrible thing about it all, is not only are people so cruel and so callous, but that they twist it for their own political means. I mean, this case, when it went to trial, all of that information is readily available to any journalist who wants to look at it. This man, they love to call him the neighbor. And that they were, quote, unquote, that it was a fight, which was not at all, and that they were having some kind of yard dispute. Total lie. This person, who we live on almost three acres, so it's not like we can really see his house from hours. And this person admitted to the police, they're like, why did you attack Rand? Oh, well, yard waste. We were having an argument over yard waste. When did you talk to him? I haven't talked to him. He doesn't talk to anybody. This guy said, they're like. So he admitted in court that he had not spoken to Rand in nearly seven years. Rand never had any difficulty with this person. Their daughter used to babysit for my kids. I liked his wife. He was a sad, mentally disturbed. I believe, I believe he went on steroids. His wife left him. His kids left him. He had lived in that house alone for almost seven or eight years. I think he had. He was left leaning, had all this hatred of Trump. But if he had been convicted of assaulting a member of Congress for political reasons, it would have been 10 to 20 years in prison. And the journalists never ask why suddenly this person who is admitted he hadn't spoken to Rand, hadn't complained about us in any way to the homeowners association, nothing. That suddenly he violently attacks Rand, runs down a hill, slams into him from behind, breaking his ribs. And then he says, oh, it's because he had yard. He had limbs in his lawn. And the media repeats it over and over again, all the Headlines were Rand Paul less than perfect neighbor. Rand Paul has a messy yard. Meanwhile, it's like, of course he's going to come up with some reason other than he hates Rand Paul politically.
- [25:00]
Tom Woods (Host)
I know, hello.
- [25:01]
Kelly Paul
Because he went from looking at a 10 year sentence to I think eventually he only got like nine months. But no journalist said that. They literally took. Even though we put out press releases, we talked to the media, we said, look, we haven't talked to this guy. Rand has never had words with this guy. This guy's never emailed Rand, this guy's never called Rand or Kelly or the homeowners association, nothing. But they took it as gospel what the felon, what the assaulter, what the evil person did. And that has probably made me lose my faith. And in our media more than anything, it's because they allowed that to be the narrative and they allowed that to be quote unquote, the truth. That everyone laughs about it and acts like, oh, Ran, you know, wasn't doing the right yard work and he got in a fight with someone. That's not what happened at all. But that is such a pervasive lie that it makes people be so cavalier about joking like, haha, he got what he deserved or whatever. And it's just sick. It is just sickens me to my very core when I hear anyone say that or make light of it. But it also really angers me about the media because the media pushed that narrative too. It's like, wow, you hate this guy who only just wants to stand up for the Constitution, who's one of the best people up there, and you allow this complete lie about his assault to go forward. Why? Why would they do that? I don't understand it.
- [26:37]
Tom Woods (Host)
Well, it all of course got dredged up again recently because of the nomination of Senator Mullen for Homeland Security and Rand's statement there. I watched that, I made all my kids watch it. In which he described in detail and shame on me for not having known just how severe the situation had been for him. But he described that and then demanded that this man justify his remarks. That I can understand why Rand Paul's neighbor would have assaulted him in that way. I mean, this is so I thought, well, this is a home run for Rand. I mean, that's absolutely fantastic. And then I forgot how degraded the Republican Party is or a lot of Republican voters. And they're all saying, oh, Rand Paul's got to get over it and move on. You know, if AOC had said, I can understand why somebody shot Donald Trump and Trump got Upset about that. Would they say to Trump, you've got to get over that man. Move on. They have no principles at all.
- [27:32]
Kelly Paul
Zero. Yeah, that really sickened me. And, you know, frankly, it sickens me that we have the head of dhs, you know, a man who tried to get in the fight, you know, literally tried to jump over the dais and get in a fistfight with someone in a Senate hearing and never apologized for that. Went on all the news shows and tried to act like a big, tough, you know, cowboy, saying, sometimes people need to get punched in the face. I mean, some of his quotes just blow me away. And Ranch showed them in the hearing. And everybody's just kind of like, whatever. Here's a man who said, sometimes people need to get punched in the face. Or he also said, I like to bite, and I don't care where I bite people. It's like we have an entire agency now that has been riddled with problems. Riddled with problems with overuse of force. This is why Kristi Noem left. And then who do we put in? Someone who says he likes to bite and someone who is so dumb, literally so dumb, that he thinks that dueling still exists. He's using that as an example. Oh, well, this is how we solve problems. Dueling and caning. And Rand's like, remember, dueling's been illegal for 170 years. And he. The dumb look on his face. I mean, this man is a Neanderthal. So I'm not surprised. Decided to yuck it up and make a big joke about his colleague. And don't ever forget why he said that, too. I mean, he was being asked by the media why he voted against an additional. He voted against Rand's amendment to stop giving an additional $5 billion dollars in refugee welfare. I mean, the last couple months, through brave journalists like Nick Shirley, we have seen the incredible levels of fraud that's being perpetrated against the American taxpayer by these refugee communities. The Somalis in particular. The 9 billion that we know of. And then we're seeing all of these fake daycares and fake hospice. So. And what does the US Senate do? It hands him another 5 billion. Rand got in there, tried to stop it, literally carved out this amendment, said, we can do something about this, right? Let's not send an additional 5 billion. And then what are all these fake? MAGA? Republican. They say they're all MAGA, and yet they're the worst in terms of appropriating spending. And he voted against Rand's amendment. And Rand had called out several of the Republicans that did, he's like, it wasn't Democrats that destroyed his amendment. It was Republicans. So when he's asked by the media, he can't defend his own position, and what does he do? He resorts to childish, juvenile name calling. And then to add to that, says, ha, ha, I'm glad he got assaulted. Or I just, you know, says, I understand, which basically means he justifies it. He justifies violence because he is a violent man. He's a freaking Neanderthal.
- [30:31]
Tom Woods (Host)
But yet, isn't it funny? He's got the tough guy routine, but when it comes time to vote on something, he's a mouse.
- [30:36]
Kelly Paul
Right?
- [30:36]
Tom Woods (Host)
This is the simplest thing to vote on in the world. Why would you hesitate on this?
- [30:42]
Kelly Paul
Right. I have no idea what. I forget what he said. Oh, the White House didn't want us to. Well, actually, Rand had talked to Trump about that amendment, and Rand's like, yeah, you know, I. He was for it. So I don't know. They all run cover for each other. They all sort of, you know, give all of these word salad responses about why we can't stop all this insane spending, and none of it makes sense and they know it. So I think he was just trying to change the subject by, you know, making this attack on Rand personally. And it was disgusting. Was absolutely disgusting, and I think he's a disgusting person.
- [31:17]
Tom Woods (Host)
I'm not seeking to put you on the spot with this because I would ask Rand himself this kind of question. So I'm not looking into what's the state of Rand's relationship with the president? Nothing like that. That's a separate thing. But have you met Trump, and if so, what was your impression?
- [31:32]
Kelly Paul
Yes, I've met Donald Trump many, many times, and I've always liked him, you know, the same as, you know, Rand always says the first time he met Donald was before Donald was running for president. Rand had reached out to him. Rand was doing a medical mission trip to do eye surgery in Guatemala, and he reached out to Donald Trump to raise funds for this medical mission trip. And Donald, you know, wrote him a $10,000 check and then said, hey, do you want to play golf? And they played golf together. And Rand said, you know, he was very charming and engaging and friendly, and everyone liked him, and he had a great time with them. And I think that's been his experience every time with Trump and mine as well. I've met him many, many times, and he's personally a very warm person, and I always felt like he was being so unfairly attacked by the media. I voted for him three times. But no, I, I don't, I don't like some of the things we're doing now. But in person, Trump is very different than he is, than he comes off.
- [32:33]
Tom Woods (Host)
Yeah, that's the impression I've gotten from pretty much everybody. I'm going back again because I have another curiosity, informed question here. What was it like joining the Paul family? Because that's one interesting family, isn't it?
- [32:47]
Kelly Paul
Yeah, is the best. I mean, I love the Pauls so much. My gosh. I just. Ron and Carol are amazing in laws.
- [32:55]
Tom Woods (Host)
What was it like meeting them for the first time?
- [32:58]
Kelly Paul
It was fun. You know, it's a huge family, right? So Rand's one of five. His sister Lori, who sadly passed away about five years ago, but she has five children and his sister Joy has six children. So my kids have cousins by the dozens. Literally they're, you know, two dozen of them down there. And now there's like the whole generation of great grands. But the first time I met them, you know, I was a little intimidated, to be honest, you know, when we were engaged because, you know, his dad had. I never really met anyone that had been in Congress before. And so I was a little bit like, wow, you know, and they're the most warm hearted, completely humble, you know, natural people. I just, you know, fell in love with them immediately and with Fran's siblings, who I'm very, very close to. And you know, we never miss a Paul family Christmas because it's the best. It's literally like 50 people. I mean, I'm not kidding. That is just immediate family because everyone has so many kids and there's just tons of great food. Carol's always large and in charge in the kitchen and everyone's cooking together. And I always say the great thing about a big family like that is no matter what you're into, there's like somebody doing it right? So there will be a big card table with people doing a puzzle. There'll be people outside playing basketball. There'll be some people that have set up a pickleball game going in the driveway. There's somebody else, you know, playing with all the babies. And there's always tons of. There's always a baby, there's always a bunch of toddlers. And it's just, it's just an amazing family. Amazing, amazing family. I just, I love and I'm so close to all of Rand's siblings and you know, our nieces and nephews that are now, you know, mostly in their 20s and 30s and then there's a whole new crop of grands. So for Ron's 90th birthday where we were all down there in August was really fun because we got to bring our new grandson down there and my daughter in law made matching in the bed hats for our son and our grandson and for Ron and Rand. And so that was really fun. We just had a great big family party and took a huge picture. I'll send it to you for the show of all the extended Paul family under the liberty tree in the Paul's front yard. So they're great people and you know, Ron always takes the time to sit and talk to anybody, any of the grands, any of the great grands about what he does and what he believes. He's just an incredible, incredible man.
- [35:33]
Tom Woods (Host)
Hey everybody, Tom woods here with a quick tip for small business owners. If your business isn't showing up online, your competitors are getting the leads and you're missing out. That's where Persist SEO comes in. For over 15 years, they've been helping local businesses grow through SEO, paid ads and the latest in AI powered search optimization so you stay visible and competitive in the digital age. Whether you're in home services, legal or healthcare, Persist SEO delivers real results without locking you into long term contracts or overwhelming you with tech jargon. Visit Ineedseo Help or call 770-580-3736 to schedule your free consultation. That's Ineedseo Help. Easy to remember, powerful for your small business. Now this question though, is going to sound like Whoopi Goldberg interviewing Hillary Clinton. It is such a softball. Like, it's such a softball. But I have to ask it. What would you say is a misconception about your husband that drives you crazy and you wish people knew him better so they wouldn't have that misconception?
- [36:42]
Kelly Paul
Oh, gosh. Well, I think that people think that Rand is, I don't know, that he doesn't have a sense of humor or I, I don't know, something I've heard him described as being sort of like dower, which I don't really get that. I mean, I think that he's, he has an amazing sense of humor and he has tons of friends and people love his stories. And he's also, he doesn't really like to argue very much. He's, he'll sit and listen to it. Frankly, if we get into it with like somebody that has a different point of view, I'm the one that usually gets a little bit more feisty or irritable. If someone is making a point that I think is way off. And Rand is extremely, he's extremely calm. He always wants to like listen to the other person's side and he'll almost like repeat it back to them. He does that sort of. I think it's Ben Franklin that had that admonition that you need to always like really take a step back and almost repeat the other person's point of view and try to learn from it. And Rand is very much like that. He doesn't like a lot of political back and forth when he's with friends or family. He always just kind of wants to understand that other person's point of view.
- [37:57]
Tom Woods (Host)
Tell us about the children's books you have forthcoming.
- [38:00]
Kelly Paul
I'm so excited about those. They're inspired by our grandson, Pierce Ashby Paul. He was born, he's about 15 months old. He's born in December of 2025 and
- [38:12]
Tom Woods (Host)
he, I guess 2024.
- [38:15]
Kelly Paul
Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, 2024. Sorry. Yeah. So he's about 15 months old now. So my books, my daughter in law was over one day last summer and she was like, you know, there aren't very many patriotic children's books, especially for like babies, like board books. She's like, you know, she's very. My daughter, our daughter in law is very conservative. So she married into the right family. So we were talking, we were playing around with peers. We're sitting on the back deck and I'm like, she's like, you need to write one. I'm like, yeah, maybe I will. And she's like, you should write a book for little Republicans. I'm, I don't want to do that. I want to write a book for little Americans. So then that night I was like, we came up with the idea. Good night little American. So that's my board book for babies and toddlers. And it's a very lyrical book. It's in rhyme and my books and the Good Night Young American is for ages 4 to 8, so it's a more involved picture book. But both of them seek to sort of instill still a sense of pride and wonder in the American story. And they both start with a little boy and his dog and his family celebrating the fourth of July. And the little boy asks his parents, you know, why are we, what are we celebrating? And his dad explains to him about the Declaration of independence in 1776. And that's why we're celebrating. That's why we have fireworks, we're singing the Star Spangled Banner and that night he's reading a book to his little boy. The mom and dad. And the little boy starts to dream. And the books take all of American revolutionary history through the dream of a little boy. He starts out on the Mayflower. He is a colonist. He makes friends with Sam Adams and he goes to the Tea Party. He makes friends with Ben Franklin and he flies the kite and learns about electricity. He rides the midnight ride with Paul Revere. He and his little dog are on their own little horse. And he's experiencing all of the things that our founding fathers experienced. He crosses the Delaware with George Washington. He is at the Continental Congress. He watches George Washington be elected. So it's the goal and what I hope the books do is to inspire a sense of wonder and astonishment at the American story. And really how brave, how utterly brave our founding fathers were and the risks that they took and how miraculous our story really is that we became this country. All told with, you know, beautiful art. The artist for Young American is an American artist. The artist for little American is an Italian artist. They both have gorgeous full color paintings bringing it all to life, bringing the American story to life. So I'm so proud of them and excited for them and they're just in time for America's 250th birthday this summer. They'll be out in June.
- [41:17]
Tom Woods (Host)
Well, try to remember to drop me a line. I'll include links to them in my email newsletter.
- [41:23]
Kelly Paul
That would be fun.
- [41:23]
Tom Woods (Host)
For what it's worth. Get the Old woods boost on them.
- [41:27]
Kelly Paul
That would be great. They're both available for pre order on Amazon right now and they'll like I said said they'll be out June 2nd is the official pub date.
- [41:35]
Tom Woods (Host)
One more thing, speaking of books, you and Rand co authored the Case Against Socialism and I don't know that I can think of any other example of a political couple. I mean, well no, not political couple like we are both office holders but where the wife and the husband write a book together. I don't know of any US Senator doing that. How did that come about?
- [41:57]
Kelly Paul
How did it come about? He got the idea and he had a publisher interested in it and he got it started and you know, I just sort of took. We kind of divided it. Like he's like, you know, why don't you write the sections on what they do in Denmark and Sweden? You know, at the time, of course that was when Bernie Sanders was nonstop about how we need to be more like Sweden and Denmark. And so I took over those sections doing the research on really how much taxes they actually pay for the so called free healthcare and free university and really debunked a lot of the myths about those countries because they're not socialist countries. And while they do have an enormous safety net, it's because the people are paying for it. And, you know, people just don't realize that, you know, at $60,000 a year they're paying 60% of their income in taxes for those things. And this is why they're having so much problem now with all of the refugees that they've brought in. Because, you know, those extensive social benefits were predicated on everyone, a high trust society, everyone is paying the same amount. And that's not happening now. I don't go into that in the book, of course, because at that point that hadn't really happened so much yet. It was beginning, but yeah, so it was kind of fun. I took over that side of it and then I tried to, you know, just add a little embellishments here and there. We worked together. We'd sit around at night, you know, going off ideas on each other about how to make this chapter more interesting or that one. So he'd fly off to D.C. on a Monday morning and fly back Thursday night. And during that time I would be at home writing, writing up different things in the chapters, writing up new ideas that we needed to go on. And I'd just show him my pages when he got in and we talk about it all weekend. It was really fun. It was a good time working on that together.
- [43:52]
Tom Woods (Host)
No, it sounds like it's not boring in the Paul household.
- [43:56]
Kelly Paul
No, it's never boring. Never boring being married to Rand Paul, that's for sure. I can imagine it's been an amazing journey and I feel very blessed.
- [44:05]
Tom Woods (Host)
Well, Kelly, Paul, I appreciate your time. I'm looking forward to the release of your books, which as I say, I'll be happy to boost out to my audience. So do let me know. So thanks so much again.
- [44:14]
Kelly Paul
Thank you, Tom. I enjoyed it.
- [44:16]
Tom Woods (Host)
And thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget to join me this year for the best vacation ever@tomwoodscruise.com thanks so much for listening.
- [44:26]
Tom Woods (Intro/Outro)
Make yourself and those you love less vulnerable to the regime, both mentally and physically. Get more forbidden information@tomsfreebooks.com and be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen. See you next time.
- [44:48]
Tom Woods (Host)
Like the sound of the Tom Wood Show, My audio production is provided by Podsworth Media. Check them out@podsworth.com Enter code WOODS50 to get 50 off your first order. If your recording sounds rough, the Podsworth app can make it not only listenable, but professional. Remember, when you use code WOODS50, you'll get half off your first order and you'll also be supporting this show.
- [45:12]
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