WASHINGTON — In his second time period, President Donald Trump has turned most Republican members of Congress, from the Home speaker who declared Congress has no conflict powers to the backbench wingnuts nominating him for the Nobel Prize, into his stooges and henchmen.
Apart from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
The Kentucky Republican has stood athwart the tide of Trumpism, not yelling “cease!” precisely, however not less than not going together with the tide.
And Trump clearly hates it.
“He votes, ‘NO!’ on every part, as a result of he thinks it makes him cool, however he’s not cool, he’s a LOSER!” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Tuesday, the newest in a sequence of comparable slams.
“GET THIS ‘BUM’ OUT OF OFFICE, ASAP!!!” the president posted on Monday.
“MAGA shouldn’t be about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is certainly one,” Trump wrote Sunday.
Massie has repeatedly voted in opposition to Trump’s priorities, together with the so-called Large Lovely Invoice, and this month, he additionally questioned the constitutionality of Trump’s determination to leap into the Israel-Iran conflict.
So Trump has escalated his assaults on Massie, saying this week he’ll recruit a main opponent and marketing campaign in opposition to Massie in his Northern Kentucky district. On Thursday, a brand new tremendous PAC backed by Trump allies unveiled anti-Massie attack ads.
Massie says it’s not really about him — it’s about intimidating the various different Republicans who’ve threatened to stray from the occasion line.
“He’s doing this publicly and really flagrantly and notoriously as a way to preserve all of these individuals in line as a result of they don’t need any a part of this, whereas I believe I can maintain it,” Massie informed HuffPost in an interview this week.
Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) have been the one Republicans who voted in opposition to the Large Lovely Invoice when it handed the Home in Might, although a major group of Republicans had threatened to take action. Their most important gripe is that the invoice’s tax cuts are manner greater than its spending cuts, which means it could enhance federal funds deficits.
For years and years, Republicans have mentioned funds deficits and the rising nationwide debt are pure evil. The occasion’s libertarian wing, of which Massie is a number one member, has at all times been significantly adamant.
Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photos
The humorous factor is, Massie is by no means an anti-Trump Republican. He’s a dependable Trump-aligned voter on most high-profile points and a number one voice on others.
To provide one instance, Massie is the foremost proponent of the idea that the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol had been not less than partially instigated not by Trump, however by a supposed FBI informant named Ray Epps, with the last word objective of entrapping Trump supporters within the felony justice system. Epps repeatedly mentioned beneath penalty of perjury that he wasn’t a federal agent. He acquired charged with crimes together with 1,500 different Trump supporters.
After I talked about Epps acquired a pardon like the remainder of them, Massie appeared a bit of disillusioned. “Did he get a pardon?” (All Jan. 6 individuals have obtained govt clemency except they proactively refused it.)
As for Trump’s assaults, Massie initiatives confidence that no person can beat him in his district, noting he beat main challengers final yr and that Trump has not but recruited an precise main opponent this yr. He’s raised cash off of Trump’s posts whereas avoiding a confrontational tone.
“I haven’t escalated it. I simply attempt to make a joke out of it each time. I’m prepared for a ceasefire. I took three of his bunker busters and I’m nonetheless right here,” Massie mentioned. “Privately, I’m getting a number of fist bumps right here and there from my colleagues for the way in which that I’m principally enjoying it off, not getting right into a struggle with the president, simply bringing humor to it.”
Massie’s greatest distinction with Trump and different Republicans is on the query of federal funds deficits. On a superficial stage, there’s no distinction — all Republicans favor fiscal accountability, which means all Republicans need to shrink federal funds deficits and finally shrink the nationwide debt. Or not less than they are saying they do.
Massie is the one one who constantly votes in opposition to main spending payments, and he’s been the one dependable “no” vote in opposition to the Large Lovely Invoice and its promise of trillions in extra debt.
In March, a gaggle of far-right Republicans threatened to vote in opposition to a authorities funding invoice, then caved beneath strain from the White Home. Certainly one of them was Davidson, the Ohio Republican who joined Massie in voting in opposition to the Large Lovely Invoice in Might.
“Quite a lot of us need to be Massie. We need to be the individual that can say no. And I believe it’s necessary for him to stake out that floor,” Davison informed reporters in March. “To me, he’s like a lighthouse. He exhibits the place we needs to be going, however, you understand, you don’t negotiate with lighthouses.”
