The unlikely alliance between Trump and Rand Paul

"When you get Rand Paul on your side, it has to be positive, that I can tell you," President Trump said at Thursday's signing ceremony for his new executive order easing Obamacare rules. "Boy."

Trump and the independent-minded Kentucky Republican senator have been on the same side more than ever seemed likely during the presidential campaign.

"Rand and the president are both outsiders and both politically savvy," said a Republican strategist. "It's really not that surprising that they would find their way to working together."

It wasn't always so cordial. As the Republican primaries raged, Paul described Trump as an "orange-faced windbag" and a "delusional narcissist," comparing the future president's insults to junior high school taunts. Trump once opened a GOP by declaring, "First of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on the debate stage."

Trump was a brash New York businessman and reality TV star, Paul a cerebral Kentucky eye doctor turned Tea Party darling. Trump was loud, Paul soft-spoken.