Rick Wilson: Trump vendetta could come back to haunt him — in a big way

President Donald Trump's ability to influence the outcome of a Republican primary was evident when, on Saturday, incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) came in third place behind the Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (who came in first place) and State Treasurer John Fleming. Cassidy's reelection campaign is now over.

This Tuesday, May 19, Trump's influence on the GOP will also be put to a test in a congressional primary in Kentucky, where the president is hoping to unseat libertarian/conservative Rep. Thomas Massie — a frequent Trump critic on the right.

In a "Fast Politics" video with liberal journalist Molly Jong-Fast, Never Trump conservative and ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson laid out some reasons why Massie, even if he loses the primary, will continue to be a major thorn in Trump's side.

Wilson told Jong-Fast, "Bill Cassidy should have known that the minute he voted to impeach Trump after January 6, (2021), that he would never be forgiven. And Trump is a terrible president. He's deeply, wildly unpopular in the country. He is failing in every axis. But Molly, he still has a hypnotic control over the Republican base — and they are going to go out and do what he tells them."

But Massie, Wilson emphasized, is "not giving in."

The ex-GOP strategist told Jong-Fast, "Republican super-PACs are pouring in money against Massie to make Trump happy. Spending millions and millions and millions of dollars in a congressional race that they won't have in the budget later in the year to defeat Democrats…. But look, Massie is very iconoclastic. He has a personality. He has a bigger character than Cassidy did…. We all know the real reason (Trump is) against Massie: it's (Jeffrey) Epstein."

Wilson added, "Trump hasn't figured this out yet. OK, so you defeat Thomas Massie. For the rest of the year, he's a suicide bomber on Epstein in every way."

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