Trump urges – President Donald Trump escalated his fight with Rep. Thomas Massie Monday by calling him a “fool” and urging supporters to vote him out in Kentucky’s Republican primary on Tuesday. The pressure campaign centers on a bitter feud over the Justice Department’s ha
On Monday morning, President Donald Trump used Truth Social to turn a Kentucky primary into a test of loyalty.
“Vote him out of office tomorrow, Tuesday,” Trump wrote, directing MAGA voters against Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump called Massie “an obstructionist and a fool,” adding that Tuesday would be “a great day for America!”
The push lands in a Republican primary in Kentucky on Tuesday. with Trump spending months laying the groundwork to remove Massie. Trump has also joined in public sparring with Massie over the Justice Department’s failure to fully and swiftly release government files tied to his longtime friend. the late sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
Massie has been at the center of that congressional fight. Joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Massie led the House’s effort to force the release of the files. which Trump has described as a “Democrat hoax.” The files do not appear to implicate the president in criminal activity. but his name is repeatedly mentioned in them.
That is part of the tension playing out on the ground in northern Kentucky, where Massie represents a solidly Republican district. Trump’s endorsement and the intensity of the national pressure could carry weight, but Massie has long been able to withstand Trump-backed challengers.
For Trump, the wager is that a new opponent can break through. Trump has spent much of the last year attacking Massie. and recruited former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to unseat him in Tuesday’s primary. While Gallrein has been involved in Republican politics. he has significantly less experience than Massie. and Gallrein did not agree to Massie’s repeated requests for a debate.
Gallrein framed the race as bigger than one man’s feud. “He’s standing against more than the president. He’s standing against our nation,” Gallrein told conservative radio host Bill Cunningham in March. “Everything he does is about ‘get Trump.’ He’s just picked a fight with him and the party.”
Trump’s strategy is designed to make that fight unavoidable for voters. Tuesday’s election is also a new test of whether a handpicked candidate is enough for the president to drive out critics in office.
Even so, polls have shown there is a solid chance the incumbent can survive Trump’s campaign to oust him. Massie is no stranger to beating a Trump-endorsed challenger, and his matchup with Gallrein has already become one of the most expensive in the country.
The race has drawn massive funding from Trump-aligned super PACs, making it the House’s most expensive primary in history. Massie has argued that the money and attention are driven by weakness, not strength, and he has pointed directly to the pressure campaign as proof that Trump is losing momentum.
On Sunday, Massie told ABC’s “This Week” that he can feel the desperation. “You can tell that I’m ahead in the polls and they’re desperate,” Massie said. “That’s why they’re sending the secretary of war to my district tomorrow.”
He tied Trump’s actions to a broader wave of outside spending. saying. “That’s why the president’s losing sleep and tweeting about this.” Massie added that AIPAC had “dumped another $3 million into my race this weekend. ” and he argued that supporters of his opponent “really haven’t been able to gain a lead in this race.”.
All of it flows from the same combustible thread: the Epstein files dispute. and the way Massie and Trump have turned it into a direct contest over who controls the narrative and who gets to use government power. The files do not appear to place the president in criminal activity. but the repeated mentions of his name have kept the conflict alive. Now, Trump is asking voters in Kentucky to settle it by sending Massie out of Congress on Tuesday.
Donald Trump Thomas Massie MAGA Kentucky primary Jeffrey Epstein files Justice Department Ro Khanna Ed Gallrein Navy SEAL AIPAC Truth Social Bill Cunningham