Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, asked on Thursday if he would endorse Donald Trump now that he’s the party’s presumptive nominee, answered that he has always said he would back the winner of the Republican primary.

“You know, I’ve always said I’ll endorse the nominee,” Paul said in an interview with interviewed by radio host Leland Conway. “I said that even when I ran [for Senate] in 2010.”

Back in January, when Rand Paul still had self-respect, he had a different opinion of Trump:

Appearing on Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” Monday, Paul invoked his experience as an optical surgeon to draw an analogy between voters’ love affair with the bombastic business mogul and a speck of dust in one’s eye.

“Have you ever had a speck of dirt fly into your eye? Annoying, irritating, might even make you cry,” Paul said. “But if the dirt doesn’t go away, it’ll keep scratching away at your cornea until it eventually blinds you with all its filth, and then it makes fun of you on CNN.”

“Donald Trump is a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag,” Paul continued. “A speck of dirt is way more qualified to be president.”

Where I was really saddened by Rick Perry rushing to smooch Donald Trump’s desiccated posterior, I think this is a good move. I have never, ever, been a fan of Rand Paul. He, like Trump, was always amenable to playing footsie with the more noxious elements that supported his deranged dad. Since election Paul has proven he is more interested to toadying to Mitch McConnell than actually working to advance conservatism. He seems to think that the way forward is by sucking up and getting a seat at the table. Hopefully, his craptacular performance and now his self-beclowning will serve to marginalize him.