The loyalty of Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) supporters will be tested next November after the congressman had yet another run-in with Trump.
Massie has been pushing back against Trump’s big, beautiful bill, voting with Democrats against the bill and regularly speaking out against it.
Now, Massie has taken up with Democrats that Trump’s strike against Iran was unconstitutional, and Donald Trump appears to have had enough.
Massie is among a small contingent of congressional Republicans who refuse to sign off on the big, beautiful bill due to their belief that this spending bill will plunge the United States further into debt.
He stated, “I’d love to stand here and tell the American people, we can cut your taxes and we can increase spending and everything’s going to be just fine. But I can’t do that because I’m here to deliver a dose of reality.
“This bill dramatically increases deficits in the near term but promises our government will be fiscally responsible five years from now.
“Where have we heard that before? How do you bind a future Congress to these promises? This bill is a debt bomb ticking.”
Trump was already targeting Massie, but after he ripped Trump and sided with Democrats over the strike against Iran, Massie made himself public enemy number one for Trump.
Massie, on the strike, started to push Democrat talking points, calling it “unconstitutional,” but most constitutional scholars that I have read on this disagree.
A president clearly has the power to call for immediate military strikes in certain situations if that act is not deemed to be an act of war.
Every administration has conducted strikes in the same neighborhood as the strike conducted late Saturday night. For example, Barack Obama ordered more than 20,000 bombs dropped during his time in office. Biden also had numerous strikes ordered, with Democrats sitting on their hands when he did so.
Trump has been threatening to primary Massie for all the headaches he has caused him, and Trump officially put him on notice on Sunday with a post on Truth Social.
The president wrote, “Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.
“He’s a simple minded ‘grandstander’ who thinks it’s good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ at every chance they get.”
I have said before that I do not support Trump bullying his fellow Republicans to get them to fall in line, but I think Massie is very much wrong in this case. He is pushing Democrat talking points when precedent is in place to support this strike by Trump. I have doubts about the spending bill, but I fully support this strike. Massie is just wrong, and he is about to find out who his supporters are more loyal to.