Trump fights his next battle against rebel Republicans in Kentucky

U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing for a crucial electoral battle this Tuesday in Kentucky, one that would guarantee him a firm grip on the Republican Party in Congress. After ousting Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy this weekend — one of the seven Republicans who tried to impeach him in 2021 — Trump hopes to eliminate Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman from Kentucky who is challenging him in Congress.

Massie is an eccentric, libertarian-leaning Republican congressman and one of the most vocal Trump critics within the conservative party. He has repeatedly warned against increasing the national debt, and last year voted against the Big Beautiful Bill, sparking Trump’s outrage. He spearheaded the legislative effort to compel the Trump administration to release the full contents of the Epstein files and is a staunch opponent of the Iran war.

Trump has sent Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, to challenge Massie in the primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which is being held this Thursday to determine the Republican nominee for the midterm elections next November. The president is trying to influence the campaign by mobilizing money to support Gallrein and launching offensive messages against Massie through his social media platform, Truth Social: “Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO [Republican by Name Only] from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won big SIX TIMES, including all Primaries, must be thrown out of office, ASAP!”

Trump has set the political machine in motion to provide resources to his candidate to help him defeat Massie. The clash between the two contenders has made the race the most expensive House primary in history, with $32 million spent on advertising.

Gallrein has about $7 million supplied by the president’s inner circle and by strong backing from the pro‑Israel lobby (AIPAC), which is financing him with $9 million. In total, Trump’s candidate has roughly $18.5 million to spend on the campaign, compared with Massie’s $13.5 million. Although Massie has fewer resources than his challenger, he still enjoys a significant stream of donations, coming mainly from small farmers in his district, which stretches along the Ohio River.

A $32 million campaign

“How did this race become the most expensive race in the history of Congress for a primary? It’s because three billionaires from outside of Kentucky have funneled millions of dollars in here. They’re trying to buy a seat,” Massie said last weekend in an interview on ABC News.

Massie is trying to exploit his role as a Trump opponent. He’s not backing down. He insists that the war against Iran is hurting the United States. He’s one of the lawmakers who accuse Trump of entering the conflict because of Israel. And he accuses the pro-Israel lobby of trying to buy the election.

“That’s where all the money comes from, and it will be a referendum on foreign policy, whether Israel gets to dictate that by bullying members of Congress,” Massie said. “And I’m the one they haven’t been able to bully, so they’re putting all the brunt, the force on me.”

Born in Huntington, West Virginia, Massie, 55, is a peculiar man. A graduate in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he lives in seclusion in the mountains of northern Kentucky, on a farm he built himself that runs on solar panels. He is a handyman and inventor with more than 30 patents. He owns a Tesla with a license plate that reads “Friends of Coal.”

Against Israeli influence

Massie is also a millionaire. After finishing his engineering studies, he founded a virtual reality company that simulates the sense of touch. He sold it for a fortune, although the exact amount was never revealed.

He believes he’s ahead in the polls and argues that the situation has made the White House “desperate.” “That’s why the president is losing sleep and tweeting about this,” he said.

For several days, Trump has been attacking Massie on Truth Social in an attempt to sway the race. “ He is the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in History, voting against Tax Cuts, the Wall, Law Enforcement, and in favor of the Transgender Mutilization of our Children, Men playing in Women’s Sports, and so many more horrible things,” the president wrote on his social media platform.

“He stands to gain not much,” Massie told the Financial Times, referring to Trump. “And he stands to lose a lot when they lose this race against me.”

Massie is a familiar face in Congress, having served seven terms in the House of Representatives since 2012, when he won a seat thanks to the support of the Tea Party’s ultraconservatives.

Despite boasting that he is ahead in the polls, the latest surveys place him behind Gallrein, who is maintaining a low profile. He has made few public appearances and is relying entirely on the huge advertising campaign.

Controlling the party

The U.S. president has been gradually eliminating his critics within his party. He has transformed the traditional conservative party into a cohort of legislators where loyalty to him takes precedence over independence or respect for institutions.

This Saturday, he managed to defeat Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The Trump-backed candidate, Julia Letlow, won the party’s primary against one of the Republican senators who voted in 2021 to impeach Trump for his role in the Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6, 2021.

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