U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has a history of occasionally going against the grain of the Republican Party as noted this week when he joined the majority of Democrats who voted against the Republican’s stopgap funding bill, which didn’t pass and caused the government to shut down. Paul was the only Republican to vote against it.
On MSNBC, Paul yesterday warned his fellow Republicans of potential hypocrisy.
Referring to the Democratic candidate running for Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, Paul said: “If you’re going to criticize the socialist Mamdani for wanting to own grocery stores, you better criticize Republicans who want a share of Intel, of Nvidia or U.S. Steel. Owning even part of the means of production is a step toward socialism. It’s a bad idea and a dangerous precedent.”
If you’re going to criticize the socialist Mamdani for wanting to own grocery stores, you better criticize Republicans who want a share of Intel, of Nvidia or U.S. Steel. Owning even part of the means of production is a step toward socialism. It’s a bad idea and a dangerous… pic.twitter.com/s31igmKg3M
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) October 1, 2025
Paul isn’t the only Republican to oppose President Trump’s decision to invest in the American semiconductor company Intel in exchange for a 10 percent share. Republican Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Republican Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) also condemned the state ownership of a company.
Dr. Jeffrey A. Singer, a Senior Fellow at the libertarian thinktank the Cato Institute (who worked in the Department of Health Policy Studies), replied to Paul: “It’s also a bad idea to have government-owned platforms for selling discount prescription drugs, e.g., TrumpRx. Sort of reminiscent of Mamdani’s government-owned grocery stores.”
Note: Mamdani has proposed that if elected he would launch a pilot program to open five city-owned grocery stores (one in each borough) — to operate like nonprofit organizations which would be exempt from paying rent and property taxes — to address high food costs and expand access to healthy food.
President Trump announced on Tuesday at a press conference that the website TrumpRx.gov will launch in early 2026. According to a vague fact sheet at Whitehouse.gov, a “large majority” of primary care treatments and “some select specialty brands” will be available on the website. Pfizer announced a voluntary agreement to supply drugs for the government website, but details regarding the agreement have not been released.