President Donald Trump got what he wanted again Tuesday night.
Despite rising prices, an unpopular war in Iran and his own sagging approval ratings, Trump proved he still is master of the Republican Party when his endorsed candidate, Ed Gallrein, ousted U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie in a Northern Kentucky primary.
Gallrein beat Massie handily, grabbing about 55% of the vote, in a race many political observers saw as a test of Trump’s hold over his party. Trump’s supporters saw it that way, too.
“Do not ever doubt President Trump and his political power,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on his X account Tuesday night, adding an expletive to make his point. “F–k around, find out.”
Trump wanted Massie out. Badly. The only question was whether Republican voters in Kentucky’s 4th District, who had returned Massie to office seven times over 14 years, would abandon him this time at the president’s command.
They did. In droves.
Trump’s relentless criticism hurt Massie with GOP voters
Trump’s attacks on Massie clearly took a toll. The president criticized Massie at every opportunity – at rallies, on social media and even at the National Prayer Breakfast – calling him “a bum,” “a moron” and “the worst congressman in history.”
On the eve of the primary Monday, Trump posted a video from the Oval Office where he spent more time criticizing Massie than he did praising Gallrein – whose name he mispronounced.
Pro-Trump PACs also went after Massie, helping to make the race the most expensive House primary campaign in history. At one point, Massing opponents ran TV ads featuring phony, AI-generated video of him holding hands and sharing dinner with liberal U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“He is so bad,” Trump said of Massie the day before the primary. “I hope you’re gonna put him out of business tomorrow.”
How did Massie, who got Trump’s endorsement as recently as 2022, end up on the receiving end of so many Trump outbursts? He butted heads with the president too many times – on the budget, on the Iran war and on the handling of the investigative files for the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“Trump once again proved his power in the GOP,” said Trey Grayson, a Republican political commentator and former Kentucky secretary of state.
Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL who’d lost the only other campaign he’d ever run, a state senate race, knew Trump’s voice was crucial. He attached himself firmly to the president and praised him Tuesday night in his victory speech.
“I want to thank President Trump for his support, his endorsement and his counsel while I navigated this campaign,” Gallrein said.
Massie touts his independence: ‘We didn’t bend a knee’
Massie and his supporters hoped his popularity and libertarian politics might help him withstand the onslaught, sparing him a fate that has befallen so many other Republicans who have crossed Trump over the years.
After conceding defeat Tuesday, Massie acknowledged the attacks were too much to overcome. But even with the campaign and, possibly, his political career behind him, Massie didn’t blame Trump directly for his loss.
Instead, he spoke of outside political forces, a collective “they,” who Massie said bought the election.
“They used a lot of dirty tricks,” Massie said. “But we did not. We didn’t bend a knee.”
While the polls suggest bending a knee to Trump might cost Republicans in a general election, GOP candidates need him to get out of their primaries. Gallrein’s win, along with other recent primary victories by Trump-endorsed candidates nationwide, leave little doubt about Trump’s hold over the party.
Even as most Americans, in poll after poll, sour on Trump’s economic and foreign policy agendas, Republican voters continue to support the president.
A recent Reuters poll found that while Trump’s overall approval rating has tumbled to about 35%, his support among Republicans remains close to 80%.
That’s softer support than a few months ago, before the Iran war sent gas prices soaring, but it’s enough to keep the president firmly in control of the GOP.
It certainly was enough Tuesday to win over Northern Kentucky voters. Late Tuesday, Massie led Gallrein in only two of the 21 counties in his congressional district.
Lewis County, where Massie lives, was one of them.
Voters questioned Massie’s credibility as a Republican
Becki Conley, of Latonia, said she’d voted for Massie ever since she moved into the district almost a decade ago. She said she switched to Gallrein this time because she agreed with Trump’s criticism that Massie wasn’t a strong enough Republican.
“I don’t feel he supports the Republican Party the way he ought to,” she said after voting Tuesday.
Sheila Clymer, a Florence voter and long-time Massie supporter, also cast a ballot Tuesday for Gallrein. She said she made the switch for one reason.
“I know he’ll support Trump,” she said.
Those sentiments didn’t surprise University of Cincinnati political scientist David Niven, who watched the race closely. He said Gallrein won because he and Trump convinced enough voters that the president and the party were inseparable.
He said any politician who challenges Trump, even one with years of conservative credentials like Massie, risks becoming an outcast.
“That’s what really makes this race nationally significant,” Niven said. “The willingness to question Trump is cause for excommunication from the party.”
Erin Glynn contributed
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Thomas Massie tussled with Trump – and ‘found out’
Reporting by Dan Horn and Jolene Almendarez, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
