President Donald Trump has made one thing clear: Any Republican who questions his agenda—constitutional or not—is disposable. Just ask Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
In a scathing and long-winded Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump blasted Massie as a “simple minded ‘grandstander’” after the congressman criticized Trump’s bombing of three nuclear-weapons-related sites in Iran, calling the strikes unconstitutional. Massie had also teamed up with Democrats to introduce a war-powers resolution aimed at limiting U.S. involvement as tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated.
Trump, unsurprisingly, wasn’t in the mood for dissent.
“Massie is weak, ineffective, and votes ‘NO’ on virtually everything put before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be. He is disrespectful to our great military, and all that they stand for, not even acknowledging their brilliance and bravery in yesterday’s attack, which was a total and complete WIN,” Trump wrote.
“Massie should drop his fake act and start putting America First, but he doesn’t know how to get there—he doesn’t have a clue!” he added. “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!”
In response, Massie didn’t flinch. He joked on X that Trump had “declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress,” adding the self-congratulatory hashtag “#sassywithmassie.” And in interviews, Massie has made clear he’s not backing down.
“I didn’t think he would let neocons determine his foreign policy and drag us into another war,” Massie told Fox News Digital. “Other people feel the same way, who supported Trump—I think the political danger to him is he induces a degree of apathy in the Republican base, and they fail to show up to keep us in the majority in the midterms.”
Massie doubled down on CNN, warning that Republicans could lose their congressional majority if Trump drags the country into war. And he might have a point: While numerous GOP lawmakers initially opposed getting entangled in a wider Iran-Israel conflict, many have since fallen in line. But public opinion isn’t so unified.
A YouGov poll found that 68% of Republicans support the bombing of Iranian nuclear sites, with just 13% opposed. Among independents, though, 51% disapprove—compared with just 27% who support it. Meanwhile, only 16% of Democrats support the strikes and 70% oppose them.
Some GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have raised concerns about Trump’s strikes, such as whether they’re constitutional. Legally, it’s murky: Trump didn’t get congressional approval before ordering strikes, and since the Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war, many Democrats and legal experts argue the move crossed a legal line and amounted to an unauthorized act of war.
Still, for Trump, Massie is an easy target. He’s one of only two House Republicans who voted against Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” And Trump labeled him a “grandstander” as far back as March 2020, when Massie opposed a COVID-19-related relief package. Trump even called for his ouster from the party—before endorsing him again in 2022.
This time, though, forgiveness doesn’t seem to be on the table.
Axios reported that Trump’s political machine is mobilizing to recruit a MAGA-aligned challenger to unseat Massie, a clear message to any Republican tempted to step out of line. With a $500 million war chest and an enormously powerful political apparatus, Trump has the means to punish those who cross him.
Trump’s loyalists were quick to pile on. For instance, right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who spends a lot of time around Trump, wrote on X, “So glad everyone is finally waking up to what a massive Cunt Thomas Massie is.”
This isn’t just personal—it’s strategic. Trump is flexing his power to silence critics inside his party. And he’s making it clear: Constitutional concerns, wartime restraint, even basic dissent won’t be tolerated.