Trump rips Massie over Iran strike comments, threatens to campaign for primary challenger
Massie said his "side of the MAGA base" is made up of "non-interventionists" who are "tired from all these wars."
President Donald Trump lashed out at Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a fellow Republican, over his criticism of U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites and threatened to campaign for the person running against him in the Republican primary next year.
Soon after the military operation amid the Israel-Iran war was announced on June 21, Massie said the move was “not Constitutional” on X. The day after the strike, Massie said it was “a good week for the neocons and the military-industrial complex, who want war all the time" on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Massie said his “side of the MAGA base” is made up of “non-interventionists" who are "tired from all these wars."
Trump ripped into the seven-term lawmaker shortly afterward saying he was “not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is.”
“Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 22. “He is a negative force who almost always Votes “NO,” no matter how good something may be.”
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, had also introduced a resolution on June 17 to prohibit U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran war without Congressional approval.
Describing the bombings of the three nuclear sites as a “spectacular military success” Trump called Massie a “lightweight” congressman who was “weak and ineffective.”
The lawmaker was one of two Republicans who voted against his tax bill in the House of Representatives last month.
“He’ll undoubtedly vote against the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, even though non-passage means a 68% Tax Increase for everybody, and many things far worse than that,” wrote Trump. “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!”
Massie seemed amused by Trump's attacks. Late on June 22, he shared Trump's post with his take: "@realDonaldTrump declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress. #sassywithmassie"