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Sen. Rand Paul continued to voice his displeasure Friday after President Trump ordered airstrikes against Syria Thursday night in response to President Bashar Assad's usage of chemical weapons against his own civilians, warning of "unintended consequences."

The Kentucky Republican told reporters in the Capitol Friday morning that the continued decisions to topple regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere, including Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, have made things worse in those regions and could ultimately give rise to the Islamic State in Syria if Assad is taken out of power.

"There are often unintended consequences to this. The unintended consequences of toppling Hussein, who was also a despot, who also had gassed his people, was that we made Iran stronger. So the same neocons that wanted to get rid of Hussein now want to get rid of Iran, that they made stronger by getting rid of Hussein," Paul said. "So when they get rid of Assad, which is what all the neocons want, what if the next people that come into power are either ISIS or radical Islamic rebels. Would we go after them next? Is there an end to the progression of regime change in the Middle East?"

"Right now, we're kind of operating in an unconstitutional illegal zone, same we kind f have been doing for the last 15 years though under both Republican and Democrat presidents who have not really obeyed the law," Paul continued. "It's sort of farcical to say that the resolution to get the people who organized 9/11 has anything to do with today. It's farcical to say the Iraq resolution has anything to do with today."

"So really, they're not obeying the constitution. They're just doing whatever they want," he added.

The comments piggyback off of his initial reaction to the strikes, which he argued would not "make us safer" and would be "no different" than past interventions in the region. The Kentucky Republican also took aim at his colleagues over their lack of willingness to take a vote to authorize military force.

"They won't vote even on ISIS, where they had near-unanimity as wanting to do something. They wouldn't even take a vote on that," Paul said. "The constitution is, for all the debate we had over Supreme Court justices and fidelity to the constitution, virtually no one cares about the constitution when it comes to war."

When asked what could change for this to take place, he simply responded "different colleagues."

Paul also said that he has not talked to the White House about the strikes, either before or after they took place. He said any discussion now would be "a day late and a dollar short."

Also from the Washington Examiner

President Obama's former deputy national security adviser indicated Saturday that he isn't very happy with President Trump's decision to hit a Syrian air base with missiles.

Trump's missile strike, which was retaliation for Syria's use of chemical weapons, drew instant comparisons to Obama, who warned the U.S. would act if Syria used chemical weapons.

Obama did nothing after Syria crossed that "red line" of Obama's, and many said Trump was the one to finally enforce Obama's ultimatum years later.

But in an early Saturday morning tweet, Rhodes suggested that Trump's strike was only aimed at boosting his press coverage, and seemed to warn reporters against helping him achieve this.

04/08/17 4:04 PM

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Rand Paul warns Trump of 'unintended consequences' over toppling ... - Washington Examiner