Trump, Massie feud reaches fever pitch

The Hill

2 days ago

President Trump's feud with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is showing no signs of abating as the president seeks to oust the GOP congressman for his history of regularly breaking with the administration.
Massie recently opposed the administration by denouncing its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and refusing to support the president's legislative agenda, leading Trump's political operation to launch a targeted campaign against Massie.
On Friday, a Trump-aligned super PAC, led by the president's co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, rolled out its first ad as part of a $1 million ad buy targeting Massie. The 30-second ad — titled 'What happened to Thomas Massie?' — hit the GOP congressman over his opposition to Trump-supported legislation to fund border security and cut taxes. It also ties him to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
But Massie isn't backing down.
He hit back in a post on the social platform X, appearing to refer to measures in Trump's legislative agenda that the Senate parliamentarian opposed, including blocking Medicaid funds to be used for gender-affirming care.
'The BBB now allows funding sex changes for minors!' Massie said, referring to what Trump calls the 'big, beautiful bill.' 'This ad slams me for voting against the BBB, but the Senate just stripped the 'ban on sex changes for minors' from the BBB. By the ads' twisted logic, those who support the Senate's edits now support sex changes for minors.'
Earlier in the week, Massie invoked former Vice President Mike Pence being targeted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after Vice President Vance questioned if his successors saw as much 'excitement' as he has while in office.
The ad campaign is the first major sign the president's political operation is flexing its muscles, and Massie's recent digs against Trump foreshadow a fight that is likely only to heat up.
'There's a large feeling that the chickens have finally come home to roost for Massie,' said T.J. Litafik, a Kentucky-based Republican strategist.
Massie's break with Trump over his legislative agenda and U.S. military intervention in Iran are only the most recent developments in the feud between the two.
In 2020, Massie faced Trump's wrath when he tried to force a roll call vote on the CARES Act coronavirus stimulus bill, forcing lawmakers to rush back to Washington to avoid a delay in passing the legislation. Massie let three calls from Trump go to voicemail before he finally took the president's call in the Speaker's Lobby. Trump then publicly called for Massie to be thrown out of the GOP.
Three years later, Massie famously backed Trump rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in what became a deeply personal presidential primary battle.
And earlier this year, Massie was the only Republican lawmaker who did not back Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) despite Trump's appeal to House Republicans.
'Massie has chosen to be a tremendous antagonist toward Trump at just about every turn,' Litafik said.
The feud has put Johnson in an awkward position as he seeks to navigate a narrow Republican majority in the House. Johnson stopped short of endorsing Massie on Tuesday when asked if he would defend Massie against a primary challenger.
'That's the hardest question I had this morning, and I'm being totally honest with you,' Johnson said. 'Look, the Speaker's job, my role with my party cap on is I'm leader of my party here, and the Speaker leads the incumbent protection program, right, that's what we call it. I got to make sure everybody gets reelected. I travel the country nonstop, relentlessly, raising money to ensure that that happens.'
'But I certainly understand the president's frustration about the colleague you named, and he and I talk about that quite a bit,' he continued. 'Can't quite understand what the rationale is, but if you're here and you're wearing one team's jersey and every single time you vote with the other team, people begin to question what your motive is and what your philosophy is and why you're so consistently opposed to the platform, the agenda of your party.'
When asked about Johnson's remarks by reporters on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Massie said that whether the Speaker is 'for me or against me, the result is the same.'
'If they would just quit hitting me, I might get bored and give up,' Massie said, referring to Trump's efforts to oust him. 'But I am not going to lose. I do not lose.'
Republicans hold an eight-seat majority in the House, a narrow enough margin where Johnson needs the conference to be united on measures like passing Trump's agenda.
'It needs to be done with these tight margins in the House because essentially, if you can't get the 'yes' on anything, you're just a placeholder and a hindrance to the Trump agenda,' said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist.
Other Republicans question why Trump and his allies are so deeply invested in kicking Massie off Capitol Hill.
'It does strike me as odd that this is the fight you'd really want to pick at a time when we should be more worried about keeping the House majority than taking out Republicans from it,' said another national Republican strategist.
Massie's district is considered safely Republican. Kentucky's 4th Congressional District is situated in the northern part of the state, stretching from Louisville's eastern suburbs to the Cincinnati area along Kentucky's border with Ohio.
Massie has trounced his past primary challengers, none of whom have been particularly strong or backed by Trump.
'It is tougher when you're going against someone who is pretty loose and free, and isn't going to cave and doesn't cave into the pressure. I think that's what his district appreciates about him. It's what that district and other parts of the state appreciate about Rand Paul,' the national Republican strategist said.
Kentucky GOP strategist Shane Noem noted the state's Republicans come in 'many stripes.'
'The modern Libertarian wing of the party started here when Sen. Paul was elected in 2010. There's room for all varieties of Republicans in the party; it's up to the voters what level of loyalty they expect to the president's agenda,' Noem said.
Paul has also broken with Trump in the past, most recently on Trump's legislative agenda and the sweeping global tariffs Trump imposed. Paul earlier this year claimed that he was 'uninvited' from the annual White House picnic, in what he said was retribution for his opposition to parts of the president's agenda. Trump later said that 'of course' Paul was invited to the gathering.
Paul also criticized Trump's recent strikes on Iran, arguing that Congress, not the president, 'holds the war power.'
But Republicans note Massie's disagreements with Trump have proven to be more intense.
'Rand Paul has had his moments of opposing Trump,' Litafik said. 'Massie has been much more aggressive and much more numerous in his approach.'
While Trump's allies are launching the effort with a massive war chest, all eyes will be on a potential Trump-backed primary opponent.
'The one essential ingredient that as of yet has not developed is an opponent,' Litafik said. 'I think that there will be a very viable opponent that emerges.'
'This is a race unlike any that he would have faced before,' he said.
Mychael Schnell contributed.