Rand Paul calls for term limits, says Trump has peaked

Paul Egan | Detroit Free Press

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — The federal government never gets any smaller because Americans leave members of Congress in Washington too long, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Saturday in calling for federal term limits.

"We should term limit them all, fumigate the place and bring them home," said Paul, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president.

Paul said in an after-dinner speech at the Grand Hotel that both Republicans and Democrats stay in Congress too long and become part of a system they can't shrink.

Paul also hammered Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, for her handling of security at the embassy in Benghazi, Libya, prior to a 2012 attack and for putting sensitive and potentially classified emails on a private server that was not secure.

Earlier Saturday, Paul said he expects "a reshuffling of the numbers" in the 16-way Republican presidential race after Wednesday's nationally televised second debate. And he has set himself apart as a candidate who can gain support.

"I think we've seen the crest of Donald Trump and hopefully we've seen the last of him as someone leading in the primaries," Paul told reporters on Mackinac Island in advance of his Saturday night speech to the Mackinac conference.

"I think he's yesterday's news," and "I don't think he rises to the bar of someone we should consider," Paul said in reference to the New York real estate tycoon and reality TV star who developed an early double-digit lead in polls, and remains the front-runner, in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Paul is the son of physician and former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012.

The Kentucky senator told reporters he's set himself apart by taking strong positions in favor of personal privacy by opposing the mass collection of telephone data by national intelligence agencies and by opposing sending people to prison for minor drug offenses such as possession of marijuana. He said he's also the only candidate who has set out a plan for how Republicans can expand their support into large, mostly black cities such as Detroit without changing the party's basic messages.

Paul has visited Detroit and set out a plan for economic freedom zones that he said would leave an extra $1 billion in Michigan's largest city.

"We have a strong operation in Michigan and Michigan is a big part of our strategy," Paul said. "A lot of emphasis goes on the first four states, but Michigan is right after that, and so if you're not prepared to be organized in the states after the first four primaries, you really can't win this race."