'He should be primaried': Trump vows to 'lead the charge' against GOP lawmaker
President Ronald Reagan famously said that someone who supported him 80 percent of the time was an 80 percent ally and not a "20 percent enemy." The Gipper also joked that his "11th Commandment" was "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."
But President Donald Trump, in contrast, demands total obedience from fellow Republicans — often threatening GOP lawmakers with primary challenges if they don't vote the way he wants them to. Conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) is the latest example.
Massie was the lone House Republican who recently joined House Democrats in voting "no" on a spending bill that Trump favored. Now, Trump is calling for Massie to be voted out of office via a GOP primary in the 2026 midterms.
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In a Monday night, March 10 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic 'NO' vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him."
In his post, Trump compared Massie to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) — an arch-conservative who served on the January 6 Select Committee and blamed Trump for the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. Cheney was voted out of office in 2022 via a GOP primarily challenge and aggressively campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Trump, on Truth Social, said of Massie, "He's just another GRANDSTANDER, who's too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won’t stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS???"
On X, formerly Twitter, Massie stressed that Trump could not bully him into voting a particular way.
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The conservative congressman tweeted, "Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn't work on me…. Three times I've had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance."
In an article published on March 11, The Hill's Alex Gangitano notes, "Massie has frequently bucked his party on fiscal matters and has cast doubt on passing the continuing resolution to keep the government funded until the end of the fiscal year…. The president also attacked Massie in 2020, when he called him a 'third rate grandstander' on X and called on him to be thrown out of the Republican Party."
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