Trump's headed to Kentucky to boost GOP challenger in Massie's back yard



President Donald Trump, committed to toppling Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie (R), is traveling on Wednesday to the congressman's district to support his Republican challenger Ed Gallrein at Hebron's Verst Logistics packaging facility.

Bad blood

Massie first drew the president's ire in a big way in 2020 when he delayed Trump's $2 trillion COVID relief package.

Although the antagonism between the two men apparently subsided — Trump endorsed Massie in 2022 and characterized him as a "first-rate Defender of the Constitution" — their detente proved short-lived.

It certainly did not help that Massie backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary; voted against Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act; criticized the president over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files; and publicly opposed the current and previous U.S. military actions against Iran; or that the president, in turn, branded Massie's Trump-voting wife a "Radical Left 'flamethrower'" and repeatedly called for the congressman's removal both from office and the GOP.

Trump allies are also behind the political action committee that has spent over $1 million on anti-Massie ads in Massie's 4th congressional district.

Trump's champion

On Tuesday, Trump once again identified his champion in the campaign to unseat Massie: Ed Gallrein, a farmer and Navy SEAL combat veteran whose website notes that he's "fighting for President Trump's and the Republican Party's America First Agenda."

'Trump fans in KY-4 and across the entire Commonwealth also support my work.'

While Trump originally endorsed Gallrein in October, the candidate officially filed to run on Tuesday.

After saying that Massie — a lawmaker with a 86.53% lifetime Turning Point Action score and a 90.74% score this Congress — is the "Worst 'Republican' Congressman we have had in many years," Trump stated that "the person that will help us do the job, and do it right, is Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, Fifth Generation Kentucky Farmer, and American Hero, Captain Ed Gallrein, a true Patriot."

RELATED: Trump holds off on Texas Senate endorsement to pressure GOP to deliver on 'No. 1 priority' legislation: Report

Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

Trump urged individuals thinking about running against Massie to "rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who is, far and away, best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie."

The president noted in a separate post hours before making the trip to Kentucky, "Massie, who is running against a great American Patriot in the Kentucky Primary, will hopefully lose BIG."

Blaze News reached out to Massie's office for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

Massie claimed in an X post ahead of Trump's visit that interlopers may discover "Trump fans in KY-4 and across the entire Commonwealth [who] also support my work in the Epstein files, reigning in spending, ending forever wars, draining the swamp, and food freedom!"

The congressman also released an attack ad this week, amplified by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), that portrays Gallrein as a fair-weather friend who abandoned Trump and left the GOP just after the president secured the Republican nomination in 2016.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that the voter registration cards referenced by Massie indicate that Gallrein changed his voter registration from Republican to independent on May 18, 2016 — around the same time Trump won the GOP nomination.

Gallrein reportedly registered as a Republican again in June 2021, when he decided to launch his unsuccessful campaign for the Kentucky Senate.

Gallrein's spokeswoman Alexandra Wilkes told the Enquirer that Massie, not Trump, prompted his flight from the Republican Party.

"Ed briefly changed registration out of frustration with the broken system Congressman Massie created in his district, which hurt the Republican Party, and he is proud to stand with President Trump and true conservative Republicans," said Wilkes.

As of midday Wednesday, the prediction market Kalshi put Massie's chance of securing the Republican nomination at 58% and Gallrein's chance at 43%.

Massie faced two challengers in the 2024 GOP primary for Kentucky's 4th congressional district and secured 75.9% of the vote. He went on to net 99.6% of the vote in the general election.

The primary election takes place on May 19.

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Fetterman joins GOP lawmakers in praise of Iran strikes; Massie joins Democrats in condemnation



The latest joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran have been met in America with bipartisan praise and condemnation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of America's most vociferous advocates for regime change in Iran, rushed to celebrate the "historic operation," noting that he is "in awe of President Trump's determination to be a man of peace but at the end of the day, evil's worst nightmare."

'This is not "America First."'

Graham wrote in one of several emotion-laden commentaries, "My mind is racing with the thought that the murderous ayatollah's regime in Iran will soon be no more. The biggest change in the Middle East in a thousand years is upon us."

Graham was hardly alone in his celebration of the regime-change strikes on the Shiite nation.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) provided a laundry list of reasons why this is a "vital mission of vengeance, and justice, and safety," noting, "Iran has waged war against the U.S. for 47 years: the hostage crisis, the Beirut Marine barracks, Khobar Towers, roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan that killed or maimed thousands of American soldiers, the attempted assassination of President Trump."

RELATED: World leaders respond to regime-change strikes on Iran: 'Peacekeeper is at it again'

Photo by Mahsa/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

"The butcher’s bill has finally come due for the ayatollahs," added Cotton, who signaled appreciation in a separate post for Trump's speech.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee with Cotton, thanked Trump for his "strong leadership," and characterized Operation Epic Fury as both a demonstration of "peace through strength" and "AMERICA FIRST."

Democrat Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) joined Graham and the other Republicans in lavishing praise on President Donald Trump for attacking Iran, stating, "President Trump has been willing to do what's right and necessary to produce real peace in the region."

"God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel," continued the Democrat.

Several of Fetterman's Democrat colleagues condemned the attacks and the president's perceived circumvention of Congress, which retains the authority to declare war.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) claimed that "single-handedly starting another war with Iran is dangerous and illegal" and expressed doubt about whether "America first" meant another foreign entanglement.

Democrat Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) raised concerns about the constitutionality of the strikes, noting, "The Constitution is clear: the decision to take this nation to war rests with Congress, and launching large-scale military operations — particularly in the absence of an imminent threat to the United States — raises serious legal and constitutional concerns."

Warner demanded that the administration "come forward with a clear legal justification, a defined end state, and a plan that avoids dragging the United States into yet another costly and unnecessary war."

While Congress was not formally briefed on the strikes, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with and briefed the Gang of Eight, which includes the Democrat and Republican leaders from both the Senate and the House.

A spokesperson for Johnson confirmed to NOTUS that Johnson was notified. Sources also told NOTUS that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) were notified along with Sen. Warner, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), and Republican Rep. Rick Crawford (Ark.).

RELATED: Iran sparks regional war after retaliating against US military assets over 'massive' US-Israel strike

Photo by Stringer/Getty Images

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — who recently filed a Senate resolution with Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) that would block a war against Iran unless approved by Congress — was less restrained than Warner in his criticism of the president.

Kaine accused Trump of waging an "illegal war," called the strikes a "colossal mistake," and implored his colleagues to "go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action" and vote on his war powers resolution.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a critic of the president who has similarly attempted to prevent Trump from going to war with Iran without congressional approval, referred to the attacks as "acts of war unauthorized by Congress."

In a subsequent post on social media, Massie stated, "I am opposed to this War. This is not 'America First.'"

"When Congress reconvenes, I will work with @RepRoKhanna to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran," continued Massie. "The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war."

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Democrats' campaign to limit Trump's war powers is dead in the water



Democratic lawmakers pushed legislation in both chambers of Congress last week with the aim of limiting President Donald Trump's war powers — something they sought in his first term and began gunning for again ahead of his second inauguration.

This campaign, spearheaded in the House by Republican Thomas Massie (Ky.) and in the Senate by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), picked up steam in the wake of Israel's June 12 military strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure and amid suggestions by the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that America's direct involvement in the conflict was a foregone conclusion.

Although greatly strained by a continued exchange of explosives, the ceasefire between Iran and Israel that Trump announced on Monday and repaired Tuesday morning appears to have sapped much of the energy from lawmakers' war power delimitation campaign.

After all, it appears that Trump's controversial bombings — the kind that Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Chuy Garcia (Ill.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) don't think the president should be able to order — did not pave America's way into another protracted Middle Eastern entanglement but rather paved the way to an exit for all parties involved.

In other words, campaigners must now convince their peers that Trump must be deprived of the powers he just used for a back-burn that spared Israel and its neighbors from a greater conflagration.

Massie noted several hours before Trump announced the ceasefire that his war powers resolution to prohibit America's involvement in Iran had 57 co-sponsors.

RELATED: Trump’s strike wasn’t an escalation — it was an exit

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"Whether you like it or not Congress will be voting on U.S. hostilities in Iran," tweeted Massie. "Under the War Powers Act, the President is required to withdraw from hostilities in Iran within 60 days (+30 days ext.) unless he gets a vote of Congress."

The congressman changed his tune Monday evening, telling reporters, "I talked to the speaker on the floor just now and told him we wouldn't push [the measure] if the ceasefire holds, so it's really in their court," reported Politico.

'I still think we need to do it.'

Regardless of whether the ceasefire holds, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made clear that the measure had no chance of survival, adding that Massie should "do right by the country and do right by the Republican team here" by dropping the measure.

Democrats, meanwhile, indicated that they still want to hold the doomed vote on the basis of hypotheticals and with the aim of virtue-signaling.

"We may ... have a conflict in the future, and we need to be on record saying no offensive war in Iran without prior authorization," Khanna told Axios.

Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.) said, "I still think we need to do it."

"This is a serious matter. Congress ought to debate this," McGovern told Axios. "I complained about when Obama took action without congressional authorization; I complained when Biden did as well."

With Massie's initiative now virtually dead, New York Rep. Greg Meeks (D) is reportedly preparing to introduce his own war powers resolution, which looks to be an exercise in futility, given the "hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran" he seeks to end are apparently already finished.

'I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.'

Over in the Senate, the delimitation campaign similarly shows signs of stalling.

Kaine has delayed scheduling a vote on his resolution until he and his colleagues receive a classified briefing Tuesday afternoon on the conflict. Even if the vote proceeds, it's unlikely to go anywhere.

Blaze News senior politics editor Christopher Bedford noted that "most senators hate hard votes, war is a hard vote, and most of them like a belligerent foreign policy. So there's not really any serious, broad will in the Senate to retake war powers. It would take a whole lot more than this to change that."

RELATED: 'They don't know what the f**k they're doing': Trump cusses out Israel, Iran for nearly blowing up his ceasefire

Bloomberg / Contributor via Getty Images

Contrary to his critics' framing, Trump insists that he had the right to order the the strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites.

"I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad as well as in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests," he noted in a Monday letter to House Speaker Johnson. "I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations."

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Rep. Thomas Massie announces the passing of his wife, Rhonda: 'The smartest kindest woman I ever knew'



Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky announced on Friday that his wife Rhonda passed away on Thursday.

"Yesterday my high school sweetheart, the love of my life for over 35 years, the loving mother of our 4 children, the smartest kindest woman I ever knew, my beautiful and wise queen forever, Rhonda went to Heaven. Thank you for your prayers for our family in this difficult time," the lawmaker tweeted.

'His beloved wife Rhonda was a shining light, a brilliant, kind and wonderful woman.'

"She was valedictorian at our high school where we went to the Prom together, accepted at MIT and Harvard, earned a Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT, and devoted her life to our family," he added. "We spent last week touring Mt Rainier with our grandson - she was the best mammaw ever! We love you Rhonda," Massie wrote.

Back in late August 2022, the congressman posted about their 29th anniversary, writing, "Happy 29th Anniversary today to my high school sweetheart & lovely wife. Who else could be valedictorian of her high school class, solve differential equations at MIT, run a farm, can green beans, bake apple pies, set tobacco, rake hay, raise 4 perfect kids, and tolerate me?!"

Condolences have been pouring in on social media.

"I was in Massie's office just yesterday afternoon," Blaze Media's Steve Baker noted. "I had a scheduled appointment with him and other members of his staff. His chief of staff messaged me just before I arrived and said his boss had to go to Kentucky for a 'family emergency.' The meeting went on with the staffers, and they showed no sign of this tragedy. (They may not have even known.) I even joked with them that Massie needed to clean his desk - which was piled high with papers and books and other junk. One staffer said, 'We always make him clean it before the August recess.' My gut aches right now. Prayers up for Thomas Massie and his family."

"Absolutely crushed beyond belief. May God give you and the kids the comfort you need in this challenging time and the strength to go forward," Blaze Media's Daniel Horowitz tweeted.

"Words of sorrow feel utterly insufficient," BlazeTV host Matt Kibbe noted.

"Kelley and I are praying for our friend @RepThomasMassie. His beloved wife Rhonda was a shining light, a brilliant, kind and wonderful woman. We are heartbroken at her passing and feel truly honored to have known her and called her a friend. We are praying for strength and comfort for Thomas and the Massie family at this time of deep sorrow," Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said in a post.

"I know of no finer human being than Thomas Massie. My heart breaks for him and his family. I pray for them, asking that they be comforted at this time of unbearable sorrow," GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah tweeted.

"Casey and I are heartbroken for your loss," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis noted. "We are praying for you and your family."

"May you find peace, strength, and comfort in the Lord. You and your family are in our prayers, @RepThomasMassie," Florida first lady Casey DeSantis tweeted.

GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas tweeted, "Praying for my dear friend and his family. I love them & am heartbroken. RIP."

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Federal Reserve 'acts like firefighters' but 'they are the arsonists'



The Federal Reserve may be the central bank of the United States — but it’s a private corporation that actually has nothing to do with the federal government.

Not only is it a private corporation, but Thomas Massie believes it’s what’s causing America’s skyrocketing inflation.

“What they did during COVID is they created trillions of dollars out of thin air,” Massie explains to Glenn Beck. “Congress spent those trillions of dollars, but it’s the Fed that enables it and it’s the Fed that pulls it off.”

“The Fed acts like they’re the firefighters, but they are the arsonists,” he continues, adding, “The Fed starts out as the arsonist, then they come in and they do the firefighting by raising interest rates, and then they go in and bail out the couple of banks last year. So, they’re causing the problems that they come in and allegedly solve.”

While inflation impacts millions of Americans negatively, the Fed doesn’t care — because it’s only the rich who matter to them.

“They make sure that the rich people can survive through inflation. The poor people can’t, or even the middle class can’t,” Massie explains, telling Glenn that while the U.S. dollar is the world’s reserve currency, it may not be for long.

“No politician in any other country is going to take responsibility for their own fiscal madness. Everybody’s going to blame it on the United States because we were greedy, grotesque, and took on so much debt that we devalued the dollar, and it’s going to affect the entire world,” Glenn agrees.

This is why Massie believes it's time to end the Federal Reserve.

“They’ve been asking me, ‘What if you get rid of the Fed? What do you replace it with?’ That’s like saying if you take out a tumor, what do you replace the tumor with,” he says, adding, “The serious answer is we go back to stable currency that the government can’t manipulate.”


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THIS is Where Inflation is Coming From
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THIS is Where Inflation is Coming From

How Speaker Mike Johnson BETRAYED Republicans — Rep. Massie SOUNDS OFF



Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has joined Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in seeking to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson before the election — and Glenn Beck is wondering how it got to this point.

“I don’t understand this whole Mike Johnson thing, as speaker of the House, I don’t understand what happened to him, how we went so wrong,” Glenn says to Massie.

Massie has his reasons and lays out three times Johnson not only betrayed his own party but the American people as well.

“He did an omnibus bill that spends more than Nancy Pelosi’s omnibus bills did, and he gave the FBI a brand-new building in that omnibus bill, and he didn’t give us time to read it,” Massie explains, adding, “that was the first betrayal.”

“Second betrayal: FISA. This is the spying program that’s been used to surveil Americans without a warrant. He cast the deciding vote on whether to have warrants or not, and he voted against warrants,” Massie continues.

Lastly, Massie lays out the third betrayal, which happened when every Democrat in the house voted to send more money to Ukraine, before waving Ukrainian flags.

“I think Speaker Johnson, if capable of having shame at this point, should have been humiliated by that display as well. I put the video of that on Twitter and the sergeant at arms told me it would fine me $500 if I didn’t take it down, so I reposted it,” Massie laughs.

“Third betrayal was that Ukrainian vote,” he says. “We gave up all leverage on any border security.”


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Rep. Thomas Massie has the perfect plan to put food production back in the hands of the people



As our federal government cracks down on food production in ways that will make it harder to grow and purchase food, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is leading the fight to stop them.

Massie came up with a solution: a simple amendment to the Constitution that will add the “right to grow food and purchase food from the sources that you want,” he tells Glenn Beck.

“Right now, we’ve descended into this corporatocracy where four companies control all the meat, a few cooperatives control all the milk,” Massie says, noting that Amish farmers are now going to jail for refusing to fall in line.

One Amish farmer in particular is being harassed over his milk and beef production. Massie believes his amendment can stop it.

“The right of the people to grow food and to purchase food from the source of their choice shall not be infringed, and Congress shall make no law regulating the production and distribution of food products, which do not move across state lines,” Massie says, reading his amendment.

“It’s a very tight and compact amendment, but it covers a lot of things in there,” he says.

“No, no, I disagree with you,” Glenn jokes. “To purchase food, you can have just a contract with one human adult to another human adult? That’s ridiculous. We need to start mutilating our children without parental consent.”

“I’m sorry, I forgot,” Massie fires back. “The key to good health is always multiple vaccines and mind-controlling drugs.”

To learn more about Massie's proposal, watch the clip below.


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How to STOP the Government From CONTROLLING Your Food
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How to STOP the Government From CONTROLLING Your Food

Thomas Massie continues advocating for US to leave NATO



Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is advocating for the U.S. to sever ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"Hawaii is not covered by the NATO treaty. Some experts say that needs to change. I say, let's get the other 49 states out," Massie tweeted when sharing a CNN article titled, "This US state is not covered by the NATO treaty. Some experts say that needs to change."

GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah retweeted Massie and posed the question, "If NATO won't cover all of America, why should America cover all of NATO?"

— (@)

Massie has previously advocated for the U.S. to leave the NATO alliance.

"I would withdraw us from NATO," Massie said, according to a 2022 Washington Post article. "It's a Cold War relic. Our involvement should have ceased when the [Berlin] wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed."

CNN reported that a State Department spokesperson suggested that while Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty does not extend to Hawaii, Article 4 should cover any scenario that could impact that state.

Article 5 reads, in part, "The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

Article 4 states, "The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened."

Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin has said that NATO is critical to U.S. security.

"NATO is the strongest military alliance in history, and it is crucial for America's continued security," Austin claimed in a statement. "A secure America is impossible without a strong NATO."

— (@)

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