The strange quest to unseat MAGA stalwart Thomas Massie
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The strange quest to unseat MAGA stalwart Thomas Massie
Nov 8, 2025
President Donald Trump’s months-long effort to find a primary challenger to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a fellow Republican and MAGA devotee in Kentucky, is the latest proof that Republicans in Washington were never truly intent on achieving the agenda they sold to voters last year.
If they were, they would be endorsing Massie as exactly the kind of anti-establishment conservative they’d want to see more of in Congress. An MIT engineer who lives off the grid on his cattle farm, Massie believes that Americans have so little understanding of how government spending is contributing to both the budget deficit and inflation, that he wears a lapel pin he engineered to display a mini “debt clock.” It registers the growth of the national debt in real time (about $80,000 a second).
Massie’s not into the trappings of Washington life. For a couple of his 12 years in D.C., he lived out of his camper truck. He’s one of those lawmakers who actually reads the fine print of bills before he votes. He blames the influence of the military-industrial complex for feeding a Congressional addiction to “forever wars.” He votes against nearly all foreign aid spending. And he’s so true to his convictions that he’s often voted against his Republican colleagues this year because it’s “not what they campaign on,” he told me.
Trump sold voters on giving him another term in the White House by focusing on their fears and resentments. He promised to end American engagement in foreign countries, bring prices and interest rates down, close the border, revive investment in U.S. manufacturing and find criminals who were operating above the law — including releasing files relating to deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein — and bring them to justice.
But when Trump started to pivot away from his own promises on inflation, foreign affairs and Epstein, Massie tried to use his leverage — U.S. House Republicans can only afford to lose two votes — to pull him back.
He was one of only two Republicans to vote against the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill because, he told me, “You can’t cut taxes and increase spending at the same time in the same bill” without causing “inflation and high interest rates.”
He pushed for Congress to restore its war powers after Trump bombed Iran without authorization. He railed against aid to Ukraine and blasted Trump’s bailout of Argentina. And when the White House balked at releasing the FBI files on Epstein, Massie filed a discharge petition to force a House vote on a bill to release the files.
But Trump and his pugilistic advisors don’t see dissent as an opportunity to listen and strengthen their argument. It’s a reason to take down the opposition. Last week, the president endorsed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to challenge Massie in next year’s GOP primary.
For some Trump supporters, it’s a baffling development. Massie might be an iconoclast, but Trump isn’t targeting him for going against the MAGA agenda. He is targeting Massie for doing what Trump said he would do — but didn’t.
After Trump’s primary threat, Massie had a record fundraising quarter from grassroots contributors. But his fundraising consultant for his political committee recently resigned. Too many large donors had been warned by Trump and House leadership not to contribute.
“I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government,” Trump told reporters in May. “I think he’s a grandstander.”
The president was wrong. Few lawmakers are as adept as Massie at identifying the flaws with the system while simultaneously having the guts to call it out. Trump doesn’t really care to halt inflation or stimulate jobs; because if he did, he’d be listening to Massie instead of trying to defeat him.
Nov 8, 2025
President Donald Trump’s months-long effort to find a primary challenger to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a fellow Republican and MAGA devotee in Kentucky, is the latest proof that Republicans in Washington were never truly intent on achieving the agenda they sold to voters last year.
If they were, they would be endorsing Massie as exactly the kind of anti-establishment conservative they’d want to see more of in Congress. An MIT engineer who lives off the grid on his cattle farm, Massie believes that Americans have so little understanding of how government spending is contributing to both the budget deficit and inflation, that he wears a lapel pin he engineered to display a mini “debt clock.” It registers the growth of the national debt in real time (about $80,000 a second).
Massie’s not into the trappings of Washington life. For a couple of his 12 years in D.C., he lived out of his camper truck. He’s one of those lawmakers who actually reads the fine print of bills before he votes. He blames the influence of the military-industrial complex for feeding a Congressional addiction to “forever wars.” He votes against nearly all foreign aid spending. And he’s so true to his convictions that he’s often voted against his Republican colleagues this year because it’s “not what they campaign on,” he told me.
Trump sold voters on giving him another term in the White House by focusing on their fears and resentments. He promised to end American engagement in foreign countries, bring prices and interest rates down, close the border, revive investment in U.S. manufacturing and find criminals who were operating above the law — including releasing files relating to deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein — and bring them to justice.
But when Trump started to pivot away from his own promises on inflation, foreign affairs and Epstein, Massie tried to use his leverage — U.S. House Republicans can only afford to lose two votes — to pull him back.
He was one of only two Republicans to vote against the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill because, he told me, “You can’t cut taxes and increase spending at the same time in the same bill” without causing “inflation and high interest rates.”
He pushed for Congress to restore its war powers after Trump bombed Iran without authorization. He railed against aid to Ukraine and blasted Trump’s bailout of Argentina. And when the White House balked at releasing the FBI files on Epstein, Massie filed a discharge petition to force a House vote on a bill to release the files.
But Trump and his pugilistic advisors don’t see dissent as an opportunity to listen and strengthen their argument. It’s a reason to take down the opposition. Last week, the president endorsed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to challenge Massie in next year’s GOP primary.
For some Trump supporters, it’s a baffling development. Massie might be an iconoclast, but Trump isn’t targeting him for going against the MAGA agenda. He is targeting Massie for doing what Trump said he would do — but didn’t.
After Trump’s primary threat, Massie had a record fundraising quarter from grassroots contributors. But his fundraising consultant for his political committee recently resigned. Too many large donors had been warned by Trump and House leadership not to contribute.
“I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government,” Trump told reporters in May. “I think he’s a grandstander.”
The president was wrong. Few lawmakers are as adept as Massie at identifying the flaws with the system while simultaneously having the guts to call it out. Trump doesn’t really care to halt inflation or stimulate jobs; because if he did, he’d be listening to Massie instead of trying to defeat him.
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Danke
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Is she available?
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Unfortunately for Trump, his quest to unseat Massie will not become a reality.
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Nuttyyahoo went hog wild and now Israel is flailing. I know it gets money straight from the Fed printer, but Massie races are like boats -- holes in the water into which they throw money. It would be hilarious if Massie primaries broke Israel.
Every jurisdiction should elect a Massie. They'd be assured that the local TV stations never go broke.
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Anti Federalist
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Man, I have missed you around here.
I may be able to get one of those little jew purses for you if you dont mind made in chicom
Anti Federalist
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Anti Federalist
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Provides important context · Directly addresses the post’s claim
Miriam Adelson was born in Israel. She is a dual citizen of the USA and Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/us/politics/miriam-adelson-trump-israel.html
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My bad, I think I broke Grok tonight... it made a grammatical error when admitting to contradicting itself. If anything, I wouldn't expect a LLM AI to make simple grammatical mistakes.
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More context: this Amuse character was attacking Massie about Miriam Adelson's citizenship. Grok finally admitted she was born a Palestinian. 
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