'Repulsive cult behavior': MAGA erupts in civil war over Kentucky race

In recent months, the MAGA movement that carried President Donald Trump to the White House has been fracturing over a range of issues, from the Jeffrey Epstein files to the war in Iran to accusations that the Commander in Chief is the Antichrist. Now Trump allies are increasingly divided over Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), whose primary opponent received the president’s endorsement after Massie broke with the White House on a number of key issues. This infighting has become so antagonistic that it increasingly looks like a full-blown circular firing squad.

Massie has drawn Trump’s ire for a number of reasons, like his opposition to the war with Iran and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but arguably the biggest involved his advocacy for the release of the Epstein files. That issue has garnered Massie much sympathy from former allies who have broken with Trump over his mishandling of the file release, and even some who have attempted to remain in the president’s good graces.

MAGA’s Massie argument has been simmering for months, and it has become increasingly heated as Tuesday’s Kentucky primary has neared. Last Friday, Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) attempted to diplomatically thread the needle between her support for both Massie and Trump, tweeting over photos of both men, “Below is my friend Thomas Massie. He loves America and is fighting to save it. Also below is my friend and President, Donald Trump. He’s put his life on the line to save this great country. I support both of these men. I’ve worked with both to preserve freedom and liberty. And if that makes you angry, bless your heart.”

The following day, Trump delivered a less-than-diplomatic response, calling Boebert a “weak minded” “carpetbagger” and threatening to withdraw his endorsement for her.

“Yes, I saw the President’s post,” she posted later the same day. “No, I’m not mad or offended. I knew the risks when I agreed to stand by my friend Thomas Massie. I was, and will be, America First, America Always, and MAGA.”

The next day, Vice President JD Vance delivered a speech where he criticized Massie for voting against “the party,” prompting one popular conservative commentator to compare Vance to Stalin. On Monday morning, former Trump ally and ex-Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene retweeted the Stalinist accusation, noting that she found Vance’s attack on Massie “disappointing.”

“Thomas Massie is not the problem,” she posted. “’The Party’ is the problem. And demanding loyalty to ‘the party’ is the most repulsive cult behavior we’ve ever seen in American politics.”

The same morning, Fox host Laura Ingraham waded into the debate, musing on X, “If Massie is a ‘true conservative,’ then why does everyone on the Left want him to win?” Shortly after that, far-right provocateur Laura Loomer claimed that he is a “national security threat” who is “bankrolled by pro-Hamas Muslims.”

Far-right commentator Alex Jones thinks that all of these attacks on Massie have backfired on his opponents, saying that Massie has “already won,” and that Trump’s efforts to tear the congressman down will instead “create a whole army” of Massies pushing back against the president’s agenda.