Rand Paul has compared his rival Donald Trump to Gollum, the character from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who is obsessed and corrupted by the power of the One Ring.

“One candidate on this national stage wants you to give him power,” Paul wrote in a Facebook note posted on Wednesday. “He tells you he is rich, so he must be smart. If you give him power he claims he will fix America, but there is another tradition in America. A tradition that believes that power corrupts, and that our goal should be not to gain power but to contain power or limit Presidential power.”

“This race should not be about who can grasp the ring,” he continued. “Electing Gollum should not be our objective. This race should be about which candidate will best protect you from an overbearing government.”

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