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Trump, Massie feud reaches fever pitch
Trump, Massie feud reaches fever pitch

The Hill

time4 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Hill

Trump, Massie feud reaches fever pitch

President Trump's feud with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is showing no signs of abating as the president seeks to oust the GOP congressman for his history of regularly breaking with the administration. Massie recently opposed the administration by denouncing its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and refusing to support the president's legislative agenda, leading Trump's political operation to launch a targeted campaign against Massie. On Friday, a Trump-aligned super PAC, led by the president's co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, rolled out its first ad as part of a $1 million ad buy targeting Massie. The 30-second ad — titled 'What happened to Thomas Massie?' — hit the GOP congressman over his opposition to Trump-supported legislation to fund border security and cut taxes. It also ties him to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). But Massie isn't backing down. He hit back in a post on the social platform X, appearing to refer to measures in Trump's legislative agenda that the Senate parliamentarian opposed, including blocking Medicaid funds to be used for gender-affirming care. 'The BBB now allows funding sex changes for minors!' Massie said, referring to what Trump calls the 'big, beautiful bill.' 'This ad slams me for voting against the BBB, but the Senate just stripped the 'ban on sex changes for minors' from the BBB. By the ads' twisted logic, those who support the Senate's edits now support sex changes for minors.' Earlier in the week, Massie invoked former Vice President Mike Pence being targeted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after Vice President Vance questioned if his successors saw as much 'excitement' as he has while in office. The ad campaign is the first major sign the president's political operation is flexing its muscles, and Massie's recent digs against Trump foreshadow a fight that is likely only to heat up. 'There's a large feeling that the chickens have finally come home to roost for Massie,' said T.J. Litafik, a Kentucky-based Republican strategist. Massie's break with Trump over his legislative agenda and U.S. military intervention in Iran are only the most recent developments in the feud between the two. In 2020, Massie faced Trump's wrath when he tried to force a roll call vote on the CARES Act coronavirus stimulus bill, forcing lawmakers to rush back to Washington to avoid a delay in passing the legislation. Massie let three calls from Trump go to voicemail before he finally took the president's call in the Speaker's Lobby. Trump then publicly called for Massie to be thrown out of the GOP. Three years later, Massie famously backed Trump rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in what became a deeply personal presidential primary battle. And earlier this year, Massie was the only Republican lawmaker who did not back Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) despite Trump's appeal to House Republicans. 'Massie has chosen to be a tremendous antagonist toward Trump at just about every turn,' Litafik said. The feud has put Johnson in an awkward position as he seeks to navigate a narrow Republican majority in the House. Johnson stopped short of endorsing Massie on Tuesday when asked if he would defend Massie against a primary challenger. 'That's the hardest question I had this morning, and I'm being totally honest with you,' Johnson said. 'Look, the Speaker's job, my role with my party cap on is I'm leader of my party here, and the Speaker leads the incumbent protection program, right, that's what we call it. I got to make sure everybody gets reelected. I travel the country nonstop, relentlessly, raising money to ensure that that happens.' 'But I certainly understand the president's frustration about the colleague you named, and he and I talk about that quite a bit,' he continued. 'Can't quite understand what the rationale is, but if you're here and you're wearing one team's jersey and every single time you vote with the other team, people begin to question what your motive is and what your philosophy is and why you're so consistently opposed to the platform, the agenda of your party.' When asked about Johnson's remarks by reporters on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Massie said that whether the Speaker is 'for me or against me, the result is the same.' 'If they would just quit hitting me, I might get bored and give up,' Massie said, referring to Trump's efforts to oust him. 'But I am not going to lose. I do not lose.' Republicans hold an eight-seat majority in the House, a narrow enough margin where Johnson needs the conference to be united on measures like passing Trump's agenda. 'It needs to be done with these tight margins in the House because essentially, if you can't get the 'yes' on anything, you're just a placeholder and a hindrance to the Trump agenda,' said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist. Other Republicans question why Trump and his allies are so deeply invested in kicking Massie off Capitol Hill. 'It does strike me as odd that this is the fight you'd really want to pick at a time when we should be more worried about keeping the House majority than taking out Republicans from it,' said another national Republican strategist. Massie's district is considered safely Republican. Kentucky's 4th Congressional District is situated in the northern part of the state, stretching from Louisville's eastern suburbs to the Cincinnati area along Kentucky's border with Ohio. Massie has trounced his past primary challengers, none of whom have been particularly strong or backed by Trump. 'It is tougher when you're going against someone who is pretty loose and free, and isn't going to cave and doesn't cave into the pressure. I think that's what his district appreciates about him. It's what that district and other parts of the state appreciate about Rand Paul,' the national Republican strategist said. Kentucky GOP strategist Shane Noem noted the state's Republicans come in 'many stripes.' 'The modern Libertarian wing of the party started here when Sen. Paul was elected in 2010. There's room for all varieties of Republicans in the party; it's up to the voters what level of loyalty they expect to the president's agenda,' Noem said. Paul has also broken with Trump in the past, most recently on Trump's legislative agenda and the sweeping global tariffs Trump imposed. Paul earlier this year claimed that he was 'uninvited' from the annual White House picnic, in what he said was retribution for his opposition to parts of the president's agenda. Trump later said that 'of course' Paul was invited to the gathering. Paul also criticized Trump's recent strikes on Iran, arguing that Congress, not the president, 'holds the war power.' But Republicans note Massie's disagreements with Trump have proven to be more intense. 'Rand Paul has had his moments of opposing Trump,' Litafik said. 'Massie has been much more aggressive and much more numerous in his approach.' While Trump's allies are launching the effort with a massive war chest, all eyes will be on a potential Trump-backed primary opponent. 'The one essential ingredient that as of yet has not developed is an opponent,' Litafik said. 'I think that there will be a very viable opponent that emerges.' 'This is a race unlike any that he would have faced before,' he said. Mychael Schnell contributed.

Pro-Trump PAC targets Massie in first ad
Pro-Trump PAC targets Massie in first ad

The Hill

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • The Hill

Pro-Trump PAC targets Massie in first ad

The pro-Trump PAC MAGA Kentucky rolled out its first ad targeting Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Friday, marking the first spot in a $1 million ad buy as the lawmaker feuds with President Trump. The 30-second ad, titled 'What happened to Thomas Massie?' hits the GOP congressman over his opposition to Trump-supported legislation to fund border security and cut taxes, as well as his opposition to the president's recent military intervention in Iran. 'After Trump obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program, Massie sided with Democrats and the Ayatollah,' the ad's narrator says, as an image of Massie flashes on screen with other images of Ayatollah Khomeini, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Massie quickly responded to the ad in a post on X, appearing to to refer to measures in Trump's legislative agenda that the Senate parliamentarian opposed, including blocking Medicaid funds to be used for gender-affirming care. 'The BBB now allows funding sex changes for minors!' Massie said, referring to Trump's 'big, beautiful bill. 'This ad slams me for voting against the BBB, but the Senate just stripped the 'ban on sex changes for minors' from the BBB. By the ads' twisted logic, those who support the Senate's edits now support sex changes for minors.' The ad is one of the first major steps Trump's political operation has taken in its effort to oust Massie from Congress. Earlier this week, Trump's co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita launched MAGA Kentucky PAC amid Trump's growing feud with Massie. 'MAGA KY was formed for the specific purpose of firing Thomas Massie – His constituents will soon learn that he prefers the politics and policy of AOC and the radical left – over President Trump,' LaCivita told NewsNation, The Hill's sister cable network.

Senate picks fight with House GOP on the "big, beautiful bill"
Senate picks fight with House GOP on the "big, beautiful bill"

Axios

time17-06-2025

  • Business
  • Axios

Senate picks fight with House GOP on the "big, beautiful bill"

Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) has picked a big intra-GOP fight on SALT, Medicaid and clean energy — all but ignoring some of the House's most delicate budget compromises. 🥊 Why it matters: Neither the House nor the Senate wants to go to a formal conference, but the Senate text released Monday afternoon showed just how extensive, and contentious, the conference-like negotiations will be. "That would be a big mistake," Majority Leader John Thune told Axios about an actual conference between the House and Senate. "That would drag this thing out." Zoom in: Members of the House SALT caucus were outraged that the limit was reduced from $40,000 to $10,000 in the Senate text. "Everyone knows this 10K number will have to go up. And it will," Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said on X. 💰 To help pay for his priorities, Crapo cut deeper on Medicaid and reopened the debate on the provider tax. The House wanted to cap the provider tax threshold at 6% for Medicaid expansion states, but the Senate version plans to gradually lower the threshold to 3.5% in 2031. Crapo also put limits on how much can be deducted for President Trump's key priorities — no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on seniors. On energy tax credits, Crapo wants to allow more projects to claim them before the credits sunset. Crapo also reduced the child tax credit from the House-passed $2,500 to $2,200. 🏈 Even the House's Trump-supported provision to strip sports team owners of a lucrative tax break was ignored. And on the so-called "revenge tax" on foreign subsidiaries, the Senate watered down the House language and delayed its implementation until 2027. The first test will be getting 51 senators on board, and just a few hours after the text came out, it was already on shaky ground in the Senate. "We're further away than we were before," one GOP senator told us after leaving a meeting tonight with the rest of the conference to discuss the bill. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he's a "no." Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted the changes to Medicaid. Other Republicans were eerily quiet or said they needed time for review. Between the lines: For Democrats, the deeper cuts to Medicaid and scaled-back child tax credit are ready-made to blast the GOP.

"Trump is in the Epstein files": Musk drops "big bomb" on president as war of words continues
"Trump is in the Epstein files": Musk drops "big bomb" on president as war of words continues

Yahoo

time05-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

"Trump is in the Epstein files": Musk drops "big bomb" on president as war of words continues

Elon Musk said President Donald Trump was named in the case files of late child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday. The former head of the Department of Government Efficiency said that delays in releasing information around the notorious accused sex trafficker were entirely meant to save face for Trump, who was a known associate of Epstein's. "Time to drop the really big bomb," Musk wrote on X. [Donald Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Epstein was facing charges of sex trafficking when he died in his jail cell in New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide, and the case against him was dropped. Right-wing conspiracy mongers and Republican elected officials have made a good bit of hay out of the idea that the so-called "Epstein files" would reveal a list of his clients and thereby expose a ring of rich and powerful people soliciting underage girls. The idea that someone involved in a criminal trafficking operation would keep a ledger or list of their crimes seems silly on its face, but that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from garnering press by sharing binders full of Epstein info with notable conservative influencers. Those same influencers turned on the release when the files were found to be nothing more than publicly available information. Musk has spent the last several days disparaging the president on social media. The billionaire has railed against a Trump-supported spending bill that is forecast to add trillions of dollars to the national deficit, quickly torching the goodwill he earned over months on the campaign trail and in Trump's inner circle.

This is getting out of hand
This is getting out of hand

Boston Globe

time30-05-2025

  • Politics
  • Boston Globe

This is getting out of hand

So while some President Trump-supported reforms, and humility, at the nation's oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious university might be warranted, the question of 'at what cost' should also be front and center, for conservatives as well as liberals. Advertisement We're not talking here simply about some of the more limited demands from the Trump administration, such as ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, hiring additional conservative faculty, or instituting policies to better police antisemitism. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up We're talking about drastic threats to cut off We've reached a point, that is, where the Trump administration's pressure tactics are on the verge of causing long-standing damage to a great American institution, one that produces world-changing science, medicine, and literature, as well as business and political leaders — including conservatives. Advertisement One would hope, then, that some of those Harvard-trained conservatives have begun asking themselves whether all of this has gone too far. And if they are asking themselves that question, is it not time to start conveying their concerns to the White House? None of this would require public admissions of regret or performative social media posts. Indeed, such public actions could provoke a doubling-down from our stubborn president. But there is a MAGA political infrastructure, and it seems as pliable to private lobbying as any White House of the past, and perhaps more so. Maybe this is a step too far for some members of Trump's inner circle, including Steve Bannon ( But what about Ken Griffin, a conservative hedge fund billionaire who has been a sharp critic of Harvard's leftward tilt — but has also given the university Might they play a role in calling a truce to this massively counterproductive war? Advertisement Harvard clearly has a role to play in this. Recent reporting suggests that while the university was making quiet attempts earlier this year to negotiate, those Like any great power conflict, peace talks usually start with secret overtures through intermediaries. If Harvard hasn't reached out to those intermediaries, we hope it does, and soon. To resolve this battle with the least damage to the country, to a higher education system that is the envy of the world, and to Harvard itself, the university will clearly have to make some concessions. That should not be impossible, because not everything Trump is demanding is unreasonable: reining in at least some DEI programs; implementing stronger protections for Jewish students; bringing greater ideological diversity into its faculty. It also seems entirely possible that the university would benefit from weaning itself from some federal dollars. Harvard's only red lines should be its academic freedom and independence — meaning the Trump administration would have to step back from some of its demands, like micromanaging hiring. To those who would dismiss these ideas as liberal pablum, consider this: The Wall Street Journal's Advertisement Even We agree. The president ran on pledges to strengthen America's industrial base and shrink its trade deficit, to control its borders, and to eliminate 'wokeness' from the federal bureaucracy. Permanently wounding one of the world's great universities, one that is also a magnet for international talent and a critical engine for the country's economy, wasn't particularly high on that agenda. It's time to talk about ending this fight and getting on with more pressing issues. Who is willing to be the university's shuttle diplomat? Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us

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