After traveling with President Trump on Air Force One where they celebrated the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, emboldened U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a snarky note to U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) for his birthday — publicly on social media.
Paul has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s seizing Venezuelan oil tankers (“I consider it a provocation and a prelude to war”) and bombing boats in the Caribbean, which the administration claims are carrying Venezuelan drugs and drug traffickers reportedly headed to the United States. (Paul, called the strikes “illegal” and characterized them as “extrajudicial killings” without due process.)
Note: Paul said he’s all for getting rid of the bad guys but according to international law, the U.S. should be using due process. (Instead of killing people, arrest them and have their day in court.)
Graham wrote to Paul: “To Senator @RandPaul, Happy Birthday! I hope today is full of family, friends and good cheer. Oh by the way, as a birthday present we have seized yet another oil tanker trying to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil. I hear Russia isn’t too happy. Next year to celebrate, maybe we can do a golf outing to Venezuela and Cuba! Should be good to go by then.”
To Senator @RandPaul, Happy Birthday!
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 7, 2026
I hope today is full of family, friends and good cheer.
Oh by the way, as a birthday present we have seized yet another oil tanker trying to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil. I hear Russia isn’t too happy.
Next year to celebrate, maybe…
Note: Last week, Paul criticized Graham for encouraging Trump to seize Maduro. Paul said of the President, “It disappoints me, but he’s under the thrall of Lindsey Graham.”
Paul added jokingly: “There should be a law that Lindsey Graham can only go to the White House every other week, and then he’s only to meet with under, you know, mid-level people, not the president, and no more golf outings.”
Paul replied to Graham’s birthday note: “Thanks for the B-day greetings @LindseyGrahamSC. Replacing one socialist with another in Venezuela doesn’t bode well for golf though. Luxuries like golf flourish only under capitalism. #hayek.”
Paul’s coda is a reference to the philosopher and economist Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992), a Libertarian lodestar who once famously wrote: “Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions and will receive praise or blame for them. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable.”
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