{"id":48,"date":"2026-05-20T13:08:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:08:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:08:40","slug":"trump-knocks-off-thomas-massie-in-heated-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n<\/div> <\/div>\n
\n\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

President Donald Trump <\/span>has knocked off another GOP dissident in his effort to cleanse the Republican Party of anyone who has even modestly challenged his agenda.<\/p>

Read more Legislators Denounce \u201cAppalling and Horrific Treatment\u201d of Mothers in Immigrant Detention<\/a><\/p>\n

Rep. Thomas Massie lost Tuesday\u2019s Kentucky primary to challenger Ed Gallrein, following a bitter race full of dirty tricks and astonishing amounts of money. At upwards of $35 million, the contest had become the most expensive primary in US history.<\/p>\n

Massie is a seven-term libertarian who came to Congress in 2012 during the tea party movement that swept in a new class of deficit hawks and \u201cconstitutional conservatives.\u201d Virtually all of those original tea partiers eventually migrated to Trump\u2019s MAGA movement, where their concerns about the budget deficit, endless wars, and adherence to the Constitution have been sublimated to their fealty to Trump, who has no interest in any of these values. Massie was the last man standing, and as such, had made Trump\u2019s life difficult, ultimately embarrassing the president by forcing him to make good on his campaign promise to release the government\u2019s files on Trump\u2019s friend, the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

As I explained recently:<\/p>\n

\n

Trump was only two months into his second term when he first threatened to have Massie primaried. \u201cI will lead the charge against him,\u201d Trump pledged on Truth Social after the congressman had refused to vote for a short-term spending bill. Massie didn\u2019t seem too worried. \u201cHe\u2019s going after Canada and me today,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThe difference is Canada will eventually cave.\u201d Massie went on to be one of only two House Republicans to vote against the president\u2019s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, calling it a \u201cdebt bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

For Trump, the final straw came in June last year, when Massie worked with [California Democrat Ro] Khanna to try to block the president from attacking Iran without congressional approval. When Trump joined the Israeli assault on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, Massie criticized Trump directly. \u201cI feel a bit misled,\u201d Massie told Fox News Digital. \u201cI didn\u2019t think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Trump was furious. \u201cMAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!\u201d Trump fumed. Shortly afterward, he deployed his best campaign operatives to try to unseat the Kentucky Republican. Chris LaCivita, Trump\u2019s 2024 co-campaign manager, set up MAGA KY PAC to fund a primary challenge, underwritten almost solely by three pro-Israel billionaires: Miriam Adelson, widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and hedge fund titans Paul Singer and John Paulson. Together or through their PACs, they contributed $2.975 million to unseat Massie. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

LaCivita first proved his commitment to punishing Trump defectors when he helped unseat Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) in 2024. Good was no bleeding heart. He was the Trump-supporting chair of the arch-right House Freedom Caucus. But his temerity in endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary was all it took. \u201cBob Good won\u2019t be electable when we get done with him,\u201d LaCivita vowed. Trump appeared in an ad targeting Good, and Good lost the primary by fewer\u00a0than 400 votes.<\/p>\n

This year, Trump helped oust five Republican Indiana state legislators who had rejected pressure from the president to redraw the state\u2019s congressional maps to create two new Republican seats in mid-decade redistricting. And this month, Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy lost his primary after Trump targeted him over Cassidy\u2019s vote to convict him in his 2021 impeachment trial.<\/p>

Read more A Hallowed Monument to US History May Be Assailed by Data Centers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCombined with Cassidy\u2018s loss over the weekend in the Louisiana Senate primary and the five Indiana state senators\u00a0losing their primaries two weeks ago,\u201d says Trey Grayson, a former secretary of state and 2010 Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky, \u201ca lot of Republicans are going to say, \u2018I think I\u2019ll keep to myself and stay in line.\u2019 That would be a natural reaction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Massie\u2019s defeat may indeed cow the rest of the Republican conference, but it\u2019s likely to only embolden the congressman, who will still have the rest of the year to continue to antagonize the lame-duck president. He\u2019ll also likely focus on some of the same issues he\u2019s been pursuing since he was first elected, such as making it easier for small farmers and ranchers to sell their beef across state lines.<\/p>\n

Recently, Massie said he\u2019d learned a lot from his successful effort to pass the Epstein Transparency Act using a discharge petition that can force a vote on a bill over the objection of the House speaker. That legislation \u201cis a proof of concept that if you have enough people behind an issue, I now have the tools to get it passed,\u201d he told me. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the hardest ways to get a bill passed, but it\u2019s the grassroots way. I would start with what I\u2019ve learned and apply that going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential targets for such a strategy could include a bill he introduced recently to restrict law enforcement searches. Not only would it require the government to obtain a search warrant to access data held by brokers or internet companies, it would also bar law enforcement from using facial recognition, biometric tracking, and license plate readers tied to individuals without first getting a warrant.<\/p>\n

And despite Trump\u2019s proclamation that the shaky ceasefire in Iran means he doesn\u2019t need congressional approval for the war, Massie says that current law requires Congress to hold a War Powers vote in the coming weeks on whether to allow Trump to continue the conflict. \u201cIt\u2019s clearly a war,\u201d Massie told me. \u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a vote after my primary that requires a positive outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an engineer, Massie understands how to interpret the odds better than most, and when I spoke with him earlier this year, he was realistic about his prospects in the primary\u2014and sanguine about it. \u201cI\u2019d be perfectly happy going back to my farm,\u201d he told me. \u201cIf I were to lose, my blood pressure would go down, and my quality of life would go up, so I\u2019m okay with that fate. I think so many of my colleagues just so desperately want the job that they couldn\u2019t imagine doing a single thing that would endanger having the job.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Trump Destroyed USAID. Now People Are Dying.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rogue Kentucky Republican is the latest casualty of the president\u2019s campaign to cleanse the GOP of dissenters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rogue Kentucky Republican is the latest casualty of the president\u2019s campaign to cleanse the GOP of dissenters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48\"},\"wordCount\":1090,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48\",\"name\":\"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=48#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub","og_description":"The rogue Kentucky Republican is the latest casualty of the president\u2019s campaign to cleanse the GOP of dissenters.","og_url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48","og_site_name":"Moving and Mortgage Hub","article_published_time":"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2"},"headline":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary","datePublished":"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48"},"wordCount":1090,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48","name":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary - Moving and Mortgage Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-20T13:08:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4916a600334e988d77f6ad2abbf82dfc.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=48#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump Knocks Off Thomas Massie in Heated Primary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/","name":"Moving and Mortgage Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}