Can Thomas Massie survive Trump's swamp machine?

The Hill

16 hours ago

The knives are out for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Trump's $500 million political machine has Kentucky's 4th District in its crosshairs, and the establishment media is already writing the congressman's obituary. But they're missing the real story here.
This isn't about one maverick politician bucking the system. This is about the soul of the Republican Party, and whether it still has one.
Massie stands alone. While his colleagues genuflect before Trump's Truth Social tantrums, Massie asks the hard questions. When the president bypasses Congress to strike Iran, Massie calls it unconstitutional. When Trump demands Republicans rubber-stamp another bloated spending bill, Massie votes no. When the party leadership demands lockstep loyalty, Massie chooses principle.
For this, he's branded a 'grandstander' and 'Little Boy' by a man who turned the presidency into performance art.
What makes Massie unique in the age of MAGA isn't just that he dissents; it's that he can't be bought. While most Republicans perform ritual acts of submission to stay in Trump's favor, Massie reads the Constitution. In Washington, that's practically a revolutionary act.
Massie represents what MAGA was supposed to be before it got hijacked: a rebellion against the permanent ruling class, not a rebranding of it. While Trump's movement descended into ego worship and grievance theater, Massie stayed where it began — principled, skeptical and unwilling to bow to power, no matter who holds it.
The movement that promised to drain Washington ended up building a new palace. It said 'America First,' but delivered 'Trump First.' Through all this, Massie stayed exactly where he was: demanding spending cuts, opposing executive overreach and defending the Constitution even when his own party tried to bulldoze it.
Every MAGA promise has been shattered by its loudest apostles. Fiscal restraint? Trump exploded the deficit. Constitutional order? He ruled by tweet and tantrum. Endless wars? He launched unauthorized strikes. Dismantling the swamp? He just gave it a new uniform.
Massie didn't move. He voted against every bloated stimulus package. He fought against illegal wars — not just when Democrats launched them, but when Trump did it, too. He defended congressional authority when his own party told him to shut up and fall in line. That's not rebellion for show — it is actual courage.
Of course, the MAGA faithful will call him a traitor. That's the tell. They don't oppose the establishment; they have just built a new one. And Massie, by refusing to play along, exposes the absurdity of their game.
Trump's pollsters wave around numbers like talismans. They predict a pro-Trump challenger will sweep the district. But Massie knows his district. He has fought off three primary challenges since 2012. His voters value independence over obedience, and he gives them that, in spades.
The Republican Party faces a choice. It can become Trump's private army, where one stray thought earns you a superPAC hit-job, or it can remember what it once stood for: Small government, constitutional order and leaders who know the limits of power.
Massie is the road not taken. He endorsed the 2024 presidential bid of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when Trump was in the basement. He voted against war fever when it was politically convenient to stay silent. His offense isn't ideological drift; it's consistency. And in a party now built on sycophancy, many view that as unforgivable.
The irony is delicious. Trump, the man who ran against the swamp, now uses the swamp's playbook, word for word. Endless money, poll-tested puppets and political punishment for disobedience. The populist hero has become everything he claimed to hate.
Massie's libertarian, constitutional streak isn't a glitch. In a party now driven by clicks and blind devotion, he's the outlier who still believes in self-government. When Trump calls for bombing another country on a whim, Massie's the one reminding us we're a republic, not a monarchy.
This is what real anti-establishment politics looks like: not all-caps rage posts, not loyalty parades, but stubborn, often unpopular principle. Trump built a machine to generate outrage. Massie just shows up and votes the way he always has.
If Massie falls, the Republican Party won't just lose a congressional seat; it will forfeit the last trace of the ideals it once pretended to believe in. Who will vote against the next trillion-dollar spending spree? Who will stand up to the next foreign war fever dream? Who will remind the executive branch — Republican or Democrat — that it is not above the law?
Trump may have the war chest, but Massie has something far more dangerous to the machine: credibility and conviction. While others orbit Trump's moods, Massie orbits the founding documents. While others contort themselves to fit the day's narrative, he hasn't bent once in over a decade. This isn't just a primary. It's a referendum on whether the Republican Party still has room for Republicans. Not sycophants. Not performers. But actual public servants, men and women who care more about liberty than likes, more about separation of powers than social media relevance, more about the country than any cult of personality.
Thomas Massie is the last Republican who remembers what the job is actually for. If he falls, what's left isn't a party. It'll be an echo chamber dressed up as a political movement.
John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.