Rand Paul made quite a few inflammatory statements this past week regarding Hillary Clinton’s campaign funding and her upcoming run for president in 2016. Millions of dollars for Clinton’s campaign have come from Saudi Arabia, a country that has appalling women’s rights issues, which are issues that Clinton claims to hold near and dear to her heart. Clinton has accepted roughly $10 million in funding from countries that actively violate women’s rights, as well as the rights of other minority groups. Rand Paul, the latest Republican to jump into the presidential race, publically attacked Clinton for her willingness to take large sums of money from countries that contradict her ideology and running platform. “I think there’s also this grand hypocrisy for the Clintons in the sense that we’ve got this whole thing, this war on women thing that they like to talk about. And yet Hillary Clinton has taken money from countries that rape victims are publicly lashed,” Paul said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Paul is making excellent remarks that are likely to deter some — but not many — voters from the Clinton campaign with many Democrats already saying they are not sure if she would make an effective commander in chief. Clinton is still the front-runner in most Democratic election polls to date, as she was at this time in 2007 before the 2008 election process had begun. Many Democrats are still hoping that Clinton will regain the support that she lost going into the 2008 elections. In his interview with “Meet the Press” Paul said that he is opposed to the idea of barring political candidates from receiving money from places such as Saudi Arabia. This is not shocking considering that most politicians receive campaign money from some unconventional places. Paul’s main message is one that I tend to agree with. If a candidate is running with strong female support and is actively receiving campaign funding from places that do not respect women, it is hard for that candidate to explain himself or herself. If Clinton wants to continue to see a rise in confident feminist voters she may need to explain, in detail, where exactly this campaign money is coming from and why she does not see it as counterintuitive to her running platform or to her ideology as a political figure. In an ideal setting, candidates would not need to secure campaign funding from people or places that appear to contradict their platform or talking points. We have seen, however, that candidates who do not take money from wherever they can get it tend to do poorly during elections due to a decrease in exposure to the public. “I think I would expect Hillary Clinton if she believes in women’s rights, she should be calling for a boycott of Saudi Arabia. Instead, she’s accepting tens of millions of dollars. And I think it looks unseemly. And there’s going to be some explaining she’s going to have to come up with,” Paul said during his “Meet the Press” interview. Some of the donations that have been received by Clinton’s foundation for the campaign have even broken an ethics agreement set up with the Obama Administration; former president Bill Clinton has defended these donations vigorously. Clinton announced on Sunday that she would officially be running for president in the upcoming election with a two minute video released by her campaign. “Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion,” Clinton said in the video. “So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote — because it’s your time. And I hope you’ll join me on this journey.” Despite Paul bringing up some good talking points to deter voters from the Clinton campaign, it appears as if Clinton will run uncontested. Even if more Democratic candidates come out of the woodwork, Clinton is expected to run away with the election. Clinton, according to HuffPost Pollster, is currently expected to receive roughly 63.4 percent of the primary vote, even if a slew of other candidates including Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren enter the race. Another super PAC named Ready for Hillary started collecting money in 2013 in anticipation of Clinton’s bid for president. The total amount it has to donate is unknown, but it reached a sum of more than $10.25 million before October 2014. Rand Paul can continue to shout from the rooftops about how Clinton is taking money from places that she should not, but it does not appear as if it is going to stop the money from rolling in. Billionaire Warren Buffet endorsed Clinton in the last election and is now likely to keep even more money and endorsements rolling Clinton’s way after stating that he would “bet money” that Clinton would win the election. Clinton also has the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who said Clinton would “be one of the best prepared leaders to preside in the Oval Office.”

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