President Donald Trump has made one factor clear: Any Republican who questions his agenda—constitutional or not—is disposable. Simply ask Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
In a scathing and long-winded Fact Social publish on Sunday, Trump blasted Massie as a “simple minded ‘grandstander’” after the congressman criticized Trump’s bombing of three nuclear-weapons-related websites in Iran, calling the strikes unconstitutional. Massie had additionally teamed up with Democrats to introduce a war-powers decision aimed toward limiting U.S. involvement as tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated.
Trump, unsurprisingly, wasn’t within the temper for dissent.
“Massie is weak, ineffective, and votes ‘NO’ on virtually everything put before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be. He is disrespectful to our great military, and all that they stand for, not even acknowledging their brilliance and bravery in yesterday’s attack, which was a total and complete WIN,” Trump wrote.
“Massie should drop his fake act and start putting America First, but he doesn’t know how to get there—he doesn’t have a clue!” he added. “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!”
In response, Massie didn’t flinch. He joked on X that Trump had “declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress,” including the self-congratulatory hashtag “#sassywithmassie.” And in interviews, Massie has made clear he’s not backing down.
“I didn’t think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war,” Massie informed Fox Information Digital. “Other people feel the same way, who supported Trump—I think the political danger to him is he induces a degree of apathy in the Republican base, and they fail to show up to keep us in the majority in the midterms.”
Massie doubled down on CNN, warning that Republicans may lose their congressional majority if Trump drags the nation into conflict. And he may need some extent: Whereas quite a few GOP lawmakers initially opposed getting entangled in a wider Iran-Israel battle, many have since fallen in line. However public opinion isn’t so unified.
A YouGov ballot discovered that 68% of Republicans assist the bombing of Iranian nuclear websites, with simply 13% opposed. Amongst independents, although, 51% disapprove—in contrast with simply 27% who assist it. In the meantime, solely 16% of Democrats assist the strikes and 70% oppose them.
Some GOP lawmakers, together with Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have raised issues about Trump’s strikes, reminiscent of whether or not they’re constitutional. Legally, it’s murky: Trump didn’t get congressional approval earlier than ordering strikes, and for the reason that Structure grants Congress the only energy to declare conflict, many Democrats and authorized specialists argue the transfer crossed a authorized line and amounted to an unauthorized act of conflict.
Nonetheless, for Trump, Massie is a simple goal. He’s certainly one of solely two Home Republicans who voted in opposition to Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” And Trump labeled him a “grandstander” way back to March 2020, when Massie opposed a COVID-19-related aid bundle. Trump even referred to as for his ouster from the occasion—earlier than endorsing him once more in 2022.
This time, although, forgiveness doesn’t appear to be on the desk.
Axios reported that Trump’s political machine is mobilizing to recruit a MAGA-aligned challenger to unseat Massie, a transparent message to any Republican tempted to step out of line. With a $500 million conflict chest and an enormously highly effective political equipment, Trump has the means to punish those that cross him.
Trump’s loyalists had been fast to pile on. As an illustration, right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who spends loads of time round Trump, wrote on X, “So glad everyone is finally waking up to what a massive Cunt Thomas Massie is.”
This isn’t simply private—it’s strategic. Trump is flexing his energy to silence critics inside his occasion. And he’s making it clear: Constitutional issues, wartime restraint, even primary dissent received’t be tolerated.
