President Donald Trump often seems to be the sun around which other Republicans orbit, putting their direction and their movements – and, from time to time, stimulates a fate of his solar system when they deploy.
But a GOP legislator has always found its own political gravity, surviving the confrontation after competing against the standard party carrier: the representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Massie was one of the few Republicans firmly opposed to the The republican party scanning bill To adopt key elements of the Trump’s agenda this year, such as the extension of 2017 tax reductions and stimulating expenditure for the application of immigration. And he did not avoid expressing his criticism what Trump nicknamed his “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which, in the words of Massie, is equivalent to a “tidy“Represents”Expenses at Biden level and increased deficits,“And contains a concession he said”mainly benefit Limousine liberals in blue states. “”
Trump, never shy with words, smashed massive as “stands” which “should be passed out of the office” – Massie’s criticism Pointed in fundraising calls For his own campaign. This is not a new dynamic for Kentuckian, one of the few Republicans who found himself in disagreement with Trump several times but who lived to tell the story. The question is whether it can start again in 2026, and if the tension evaporates as it has already done or if Trump really takes the step to support a main challenger this time.
“It’s a step in place,” said Massie on Tuesday, talking about Trump threats. “In 2020, he wanted me to be thrown from the GoP, so losing a seat would not be as bad as being thrown away, isn’t it?”
“I think it’s a hyperbole from him. I am not worried about it,” continued Massie.
Massie, a faithful libertarian who came to Washington while the Tea Party took over the House Republican Conference in the early 2010s, has actually found himself crossed with Trump over the years.
He The first attempts of the Republicans exploded To repeal Obamacare in 2017. He roast with democrats In an attempt to reverse Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border in 2019. And his opposition to the relief package coche from 2020 to the start of the pandemic led Trump to label it “Third-rate milking-time” on social networks and encourage a main challenge against him.
Massie has long observed that he and Trump do not come from the same ideological roots. In 2017, he told the Washington to examine that the election of Trump had led him to reassess his hypotheses on what motivated republican voters during and after the era of tea.
“After a soul search, I realized that when they voted for Rand (Paul) and Ron (Paul) and me in these primaries, they did not vote for libertarian ideas – they voted for the craziest son of a slut in the race”, ” Massie said. “And Donald Trump won best in class, as we did until his arrival.”
Massie revisited the quote in a brief interview with NBC News last year on the sidelines of a presidential campaign event for Florida Governor Ron Desantis in Iowa. Massie was one of the few members of the Congress to approve a Trump challenger in the primaries of 2024, and he retained his approval from Trump in the general elections Until the last days of the race.
“I thought I wanted Congress to have more crazy candidates,” said Massie last year. “And I decided that this was not the case. And I think there is a backlash. People are looking for someone who is only a solid conservative. I think we are tired of madmen, and the voters are too.”
“In the race in Crazy, I could sometimes direct the tour,” added Massie with a smile. “Now, I can’t even stay on tours.”
Despite large -scale dissidents and confrontations on social networks, while Trump previously thought of finding a main opponent to overthrow Massie, no seriousness has materialized.
Massie came to victory in her main months after Trump’s threat in 2020, and he won Trump’s approval before his primary in 2022.
To hear Massie describe it, he resisted. Other Republicans have lost primaries or decided to retire, sometimes among the Tanking survey numbers, faced with Trump’s anger. Not him.
“I have Trump antibodies”, Massie told Fox News in 2024 When asked if he would be confronted with political reprisals for not having approved Trump’s main offer. He added: “Trump came to me and I won my re -election, so I’m not worried about it.”
He is currently faced with a single republican challenger, Nicole Lee Ethington, a nurse who has Criticized Massie on social networks For his “no” vote on the recent legislation. But it remains to be seen how much Trump or his allies could try to continue Massie in the GOP primary next year. The Kentucky Republican has overshadowed 75% of the votes in each of his last three primaries.
However, Massie’s libertarian policy means that he has regularly found himself in the minority among the Republicans of Congress, in particular on expenditure issues, the military participation of America abroad and the government’s use of supervision at home.
Again, he found himself in a familiar place in Trump’s republican party.