“At this point, it certainly is realistic,” Ron Paul said. | Getty Ron Paul: ‘At this point’ it is ‘realistic’ Trump will be the nominee

Trouble may be brewing in the Paul family after Ron Paul said that Donald Trump — not his son Rand — stands a good chance of being the Republican presidential nominee.

“Realistically, is Trump going to be the nominee at this point?” Newsmax's Steve Malzberg asked the former lawmaker and presidential candidate during his show Wednesday.


“At this point, it certainly is realistic,” Ron Paul said. But he went on to caution, “If I had a limited sum of money ... I probably wouldn’t invest a whole lot.”

“There hasn’t even been a vote cast; it’s all been done by polling which, for the most part, it’s generally rigged,” he added.

Paul went on to talk about the prospects of his son, who has struggled to regain traction at the polls and who boycotted the most recent GOP debate after he got bumped to the undercard stage. “I think he may well surprise everyone, because he has a good organization and caucus states are different. That's where we always did well," Paul said.

Thursday morning, Paul emailed a statement to POLITICO clarifying his comments.

"As usual the media can't get anything right. I responded to a poorly worded question, agreeing that it was 'realistic' at this point that Trump could win, not that he will win. In fact,

I then proceeded to say not one vote has been cast and this has all been trumped up by the media and rigged polls for entertainment. Rand is going to surprise everybody because freedom is popular and when it matters voters won't cast their lot with an authoritarian like Trump," he said.