Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul slammed front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling the billionaire "a fake conservative" and saying that he would not quit the race.
"No," the Kentucky senator
told Wolf Blitzer on CNN when asked whether he was going the way of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. "I think it's important that we do differentiate ourselves from the celebrity that does appear to be dominating the polls.
"I've been pointing out that I'm a real conservative and frankly Donald Trump is a fake conservative," he added, saying that many tea party-backed conservatives like himself opposed Obamacare and the president's economic stimulus plan.
"Donald Trump was for it," Paul said, referring to the healthcare plan. "We were opposed to the government stimulus plan. Donald Trump was for it.
"And most of us are for property rights. We don't think the government should use eminent domain to take property from small property owners and give it to big corporations. Donald Trump actually supports that.
"I don't think there's anything about his positions that are conservative," he added. "I think he's an angry individual with a lot of empty platitudes — but I think it's important that actually somebody point out that he's not a conservative."
Paul is currently eighth in the
Real Clear Politics average of national polls, with 3.5 percent.
He further attacked Trump for his past support of Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and New York Sen. Charles Rangel.
"He's a person who promises to be conservative, promises to be against the establishment but then when you ask him why he gives money to Harry Reid, why he gives money to Charlie Rangel, he says, 'Well, it's because I want them to do whatever the hell I tell them to do.'
"That's what's wrong with government," Paul told Blitzer. "People buying and selling politicians and thinking they can buy influence up here.
"I want government to be so small there is no influence to be sold."
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