Sen. Rand Paul uses Phoenix stop to swing at Donald Trump

PHOENIX — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) used a weekend fundraiser in Phoenix to take a swing at the current Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.

Paul called Trump a fake conservative during the private fundraising event.

“He’s been a Democrat 65 of his 69 years, he’s been for a single-payer system before he was against a single-payer system, he’s been for raising taxes,” Paul listed as reasons Trump isn’t a true conservative.

Paul also called out the media, saying Trump has been given far too much airtime since announcing his candidacy.

“They’ve (the news media) spent more (coverage time) on Trump than all the other Republican candidates combined,” he said. “Twenty-five times over.”

Paul said he is looking forward to Tuesday’s GOP debate, when he and other presidential candidates will be able to take the stage and turn the conversation away from Trump and instead focus on the issues.

“I think we’ll resonate once some of that bombast and everything else clears out of the air,” he said.

Trump aside, Paul also spoke about a recent poll that said a majority of Americans would support sending troops to combat the Islamic State terror group. While he said he wants to see ISIS fall, he said he would stop short of calling for boots on the ground.

“I’m not always for war,” he said. “In fact, I have a healthy disrespect for war, a healthy regard that it should be a last resort. And I think others in office need more of that.”

Paul, a Republican candidate with libertarian leanings, said the latter term is something people used to shy away from 25 years ago, but has become more mainstream as of late.

“The bottom line is that it means we have a healthy respect for individual rights and a healthy disrespect for big government,” he said.

KTAR’s Brian Rackham contributed to this report.

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