Massie calls on Elon Musk to fund primary challenges against Republicans who backed Trump tax bill

Fox News

04-06-2025

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Elon Musk should fund primary challenges against almost every Republican who voted for President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" last week.
"I don't primary my colleagues, but I feel pretty good about him doing it," Massie told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
"There's a few others that should be spared," when asked to clarify if he meant all 215 House Republicans who supported the legislation. "But people want term limits, right? Elon can bring term limits."
Musk came out against the massive Trump agenda bill that House Republicans passed last week.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk first posted.
It was followed by several posts on the national debt, and one that read, "In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people."
Massie said on Wednesday, "I just think he made one mistake when misstatement – he said take them out in November. I would take them out in primaries if I were Elon Musk."
Both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the White House have closed ranks around the legislation.
Johnson issued a rare forceful response to Musk from the podium of his weekly press conference on Wednesday, calling the billionaire "flat wrong."
"Elon and I left on a great note. We were texting one another, you know, happy texts, you know, Monday and then, and then yesterday, you know, 24 hours later, he does a 180, and he comes out and opposed the bill," Johnson told reporters.
"And it surprised me, frankly. And, I don't take it personal…I think he's way off on this, and I've told him as much, and, I've said it publicly and privately."
The massive budget reconciliation bill is aimed at advancing Trump's priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the debt limit.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected it would add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years, but House GOP leaders have dismissed that modeling as inaccurate representations of economic growth.
Massie was one of three House Republicans to vote against the bill. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, also voted "no," while House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., voted "present."
Massie is also no stranger to clashing with both Trump and Johnson. He has faced primary threats from the former and led an unsuccessful bid to remove the latter from House leadership.
Massie has been consistent, however, in his opposition to legislation that would have any chance of adding to the federal debt – now currently nearly $37 trillion.
Republican supporters of the bill, however, have contended that it is the best possible vehicle to radically reform government programs plagued with waste, fraud and abuse, and restore much-needed funding to the border, while extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts.
However, the legislation is now in the Senate, where Republicans have already signaled they would want to see changes to the final bill.
Fox News Digital reached out to the National Republican Congressional Committee for comment on Massie's remarks.