FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) speaks to the media after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
After Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) voted against President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" — which was signed into law over the 4th of July Weekend — Trump loyalists and MAGA Republicans were quick to attack the GOP congressman as a RINO: Republican In Name Only. But Massie, in fact, has an ultra-conservative voting record. The Kentucky lawmaker is known for being a hardcore budget hawk, and he has long been associated with the Tea Party movement.
The tensions between Trump and Massie are showing no signs of dying down, an according to the Daily Beast's Janna Brancolini, Massie's efforts to get legal files on disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein released are only adding to Trump's anger.
"President Donald Trump fired a loud-and-clear warning shot at a Republican lawmaker who is bringing a number of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex abuse victims to the U.S. Capitol to force the release of legal files on the late pedophile financier," Brancolini reports in an article published early Friday morning, August 15. "Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has teamed up with Democratic Re. Ro Khanna of California in a bipartisan push to secure a House vote on releasing the files from the Epstein investigation. They’re holding a press conference on September 3 to provide an update on the effort and have invited some of Epstein's victims to speak."
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Trump, according to Brancolini, "sent Massie a thinly veiled warning in the form of a polling report that found the lawmaker's break with Trump has made him susceptible to a primary challenger."
"On Thursday night, (August 14), Trump posted screenshots of the findings on Truth Social with key sections highlighted, but without writing anything himself. A poll conducted in his district found that Massie's image ratings had gone from +14 in June to -11 in August, and that his job approval rating fell from +11 to -16. The drop was attributed to an ad campaign run by a political action committee called MAGA Kentucky."
Although Trump's approval ratings have been falling among independents and swing voters, he remains popular with his hardcore MAGA base — which, according to pollsters McLaughlin & Associates, could be problematic in his deep red district.
The pollsters described Massie as "extremely vulnerable in a Republican primary election for Congress" if Trump puts his resources behind another GOP primary candidate.
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Read Janna Brancolini's full Daily Beast article at this link (subscription required).