Rand Paul assaulted at his Bowling Green home

Rand Paul and Donald Trump. AP/Daily Mail.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) was assaulted by his neighbor yesterday and sustained minor injuries. Bowling Green Daily News. Rene Boucher, an anesthesiologist, allegedly ran onto Paul's property and tacked Paul. Paul suffered a facial injury and had some difficulty breathing due to a rib injury but was not seriously hurt. Boucher was charged with misdemeanor assault, but may face further charges due to Paul's injuries. The motive is unclear but it is known that Paul had a previous relationship to Boucher. There are reports that Boucher and Paul were involved in a "feud" but it has also been reported that Boucher was a staunch Democrat. The FBI are investigating if there was a political motive in this case. 

My Comment:

Very scary situation for Rand Paul. Remember, this is not the only time this year that Rand Paul has faced violence. Rand Paul was present when James Hodgkinson opened fire on the congressional baseball game practice that inured 4 people and almost killed GOP representative Steve Scalise. Paul wasn't specifically targeted in that attack, but if Hodgkinson had killed or injured Paul would have been just fine with the attacker. The fact that Paul was yet again targeted for violence is very scary. 

It's very unclear what the motive for this attack was. A lot has been made of Boucher's political leanings. Conservative outlets have shown screenshots of Boucher's social media accounts and he seemed completely obsessed with Donald Trump, to the point of there being nothing else on his social media pages. That obviously points to a possible political motive. 

That being said, he was also Rand Paul's neighbor. Boucher's political beliefs could have had nothing to do with the attack. There might have been plenty of other reasons for Boucher to attack Paul outside of politics. Indeed, it might have been something as simple as Boucher being angry that Paul was mowing his lawn. Neighbors fight all the time and no further motivation is required. 

Still, Paul was attacked by someone who was deranged and was obsessed with politics. Those two things might not have anything to do with each other or they are connected. We don't know for sure at this point. I would find it hard to believe if Boucher's political leanings had nothing to do with the attack. At the very least the steady stream of anti-Trump propaganda he was posting showed he had no respect for the President. Why wouldn't he disrespect Rand Paul as well? 

Paul was lucky that he wasn't seriously injured in this attack. From what it sounds, he was tackled and had the wind knocked out of him, with light scratches on his face. Obviously that is not a good thing, but it could have been way worse. 

I also wonder why that was all Boucher did to Paul. If he had Paul on the ground with the wind knocked out of him, he could have done some serious damage. I doubt the police response was that quick and it sounds like the cops were called after the incident occurred. Perhaps he realized that tackling a Senator was a very bad idea so he stopped himself?

I think that this case, along with the attack on the Congressional baseball game and the Donald Trump assassination attempt make a strong case for protecting our elected officials, especially the conservative ones. They should be able to conceal carry and I think we might want to consider having armed guards for the more prominent ones like Paul. There are a lot of crazies out there and right now our media is doing everything they can to wipe them up into a frenzy. We need to make sure that our elected officials are safe...