Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has made a habit out of raising money from President Donald Trump's attacks against him. And the president's latest jab at the Kentucky Republican has yielded a significant flood of donations to his campaign coffers.
In a Tuesday post to his X account, Massie announced that he had raised nearly $22,000 since Trump attacked him in a Truth Social post earlier this week. He also took a jab at Trump and sarcastically suggested that the president secretly wanted him to win reelection given how much money he was bringing in from his attacks.
"In just the past 18 hours, 368 donors have given $21,915," Massie wrote. "Maybe this is 4D chess and Trump really does want me to beat his candidate from 'central casting.'"
Massie's post was a follow-up to a separate X post from Monday night, in which he alerted his followers to a post from Trump touting Massie's Republican primary opponent in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District. In the post, Trump encouraged his supporters to back former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who he referred to as "central casting." Trump argued that Gallrein is "best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won BIG, ALL THREE TIMES."
"Captain Ed Gallrein has my Complete and Total Endorsement against 'Congressman' Thomas Massie — He only votes AGAINST the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left," Trump wrote. "Unlike 'lightweight' Congressman Massie, a true hater of Israel, and a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET KENTUCKY DOWN!"
Trump has consistently attacked Massie ever since the Kentucky Republican circulated a bipartisan discharge petition aimed at compelling the Department of Justice to release all remaining documents pertaining to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein. And Massie has made a pattern of turning the president's invective into a fundraising vehicle for his campaign. When Trump called Massie a "lowlife" the day after Christmas, Massie raised several thousand dollars in a matter of hours.
In addition to Gallrein, Massie is facing off against registered nurse Nicole Lee Ethington and physician Dr. Robert Wells Jr. in the May 19, 2026 primary. He has represented the 4th Congressional District since 2012.