HEBRON, Kentucky — President Donald Trump torched Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), spoke glowingly of his primary challenger, Navy SEAL veteran Ed Gallrein, and also indirectly called out the Senate for having a “hard time” in passing the SAVE America Act, during a stop in Kentucky on Thursday.
Trump laid into Massie for a good ten minutes while speaking at Verst Logistics in Hebron, where Breitbart News, as part of the travel pool, was on hand.
Trump bashed Massie as “the worst person,” and proceeded to underscore that he opposed the One Big Beautiful Bill and all of the tax cuts it brought Americans.
“Massie voted against tax cuts for seniors, he voted against tax cuts for overtime workers, and he voted against tax cuts for earners; tip earners, no. He wanted to increase the taxes. He voted with the Democrats,” Trump said.
“He voted against border security, where we took the worst border in the history of our country, made it the best border in the history of our country in two and a half months… and he voted against eligibility verification for welfare recipients,” the president added.
Trump further highlighted that Massie voted with Democrats against reopening the government during the Democrats’ 42-day shutdown in October.
“We call him Rand Paul Jr. He votes against everything. But at least I like Rand a little bit,” Trump added.
After contending that “there’s something wrong with [Massie],” the president said it will “be interesting to see what he does with the SAVE America Act.”
The SAVE America Act has tremendous bipartisan support among registered voters and includes five key pillars: It requires voter ID to vote in elections; it requires proof of citizenship to register to vote; it does away with universal mail-in ballots but makes exceptions for the use of mail-in ballots for illness, military, travel, or disability reasons; codifies a ban on transgender surgery for minors; and protects women’s sports.
Trump has called for using the talking filibuster to pass the legislation, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will reportedly not use the mechanism to try to pass the bill, meaning it will require 60 votes in the Senate and need Democrat support. Trump has said he wants the bill on his desk before he makes an endorsement in the Texas Republican Senate primary runoff between Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who notably defended the lawfare against Trump during the 2024 campaign, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who has said he would only consider dropping out if the Senate lifts the filibuster to pass the bill.
“I think we’re going to get it approved in the House, and I hear the Senate has a hard time. How can you have a hard time with that?” Trump asked the crowd.
“But Massie wants to vote no, but on this one, he may be forced. I mean, how can you do it? So I just want to say this: Thomas Massie is a disaster for our party,” Trump added.
He then invited Gallrein on stage, and the Navy SEAL veteran blasted Massie.
“I look forward to serving the people as their representative of Kentucky, District Four, because, as you folks know, you deserve an authentic, true Republican conservative that stands shoulder to shoulder with our president and the Republican Party and against the Democrats who are trying to destroy our nation,” he said.
“Tom Massie stands with the ladies of The View. Mr. President, we stand with you!” He added.
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