Trump Vows To Defeat Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie (Again)— How Much Will Musk Spend?

GOP Anti-Family CR Passes The House

Since 2012, Thomas Massie has represented the wealthiest district in Kentucky— the northeast part of the state, KY-04, from the suburbs around Louisville along the Ohio River through the suburbs south of Cincinnati and into the more rural eastern part of the state. Although there are all or part of 21 counties in the district, most of the residents live Boone, Kenton and Campbell in the Cincinnati Metro. Districtwide, Trump beat Kamala 67-31%. On the same day, Thomas Massie was reelected with no opposition. He had won his primary against 2 Republicans with 75.9% despite having backed DeSantis against Trump and despite being attacked by AIPAC with hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads.

With McConnell not running for his Senate seat again, Massie is viewed as one of the top contenders, along with former Attorney General and ex-gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron, Rep Andy Barr, and local very rich people Kelly Craft and Nate Morris.

Trump’s a mega-star in Kentucky politics, having won every county in the state but two and having won more votes than any other Republican presidential candidate in history. On Monday evening, he posted this on his social media sewer:

Trump might not be able to defeat Massie in a congressional primary but it would be hard to imagine Massie surviving a statewide primary with Trump against him. A few months ago, an OpEd in the Courier Journal noted that “Like McConnell, Massie does not give much thought to his image but not in favor of his party, but his ideals. Nicknamed ‘Mr. No,’ he has caused disruption that has given frustration on both sides of the House over his six-going-on-seven terms. He has introduced bills to eliminate the Federal Reserve and the PRIME Act that would give small farmers the ability to serve consumers easier… Massie’s rhetoric has been to lessen the grip of the federal government on its constituents so they may live a more free and prosperous life through supporting themselves. Massie’s ambitious vision for our federal government is a ‘less is more’ approach for its constituents. McConnell was a mastermind in the balancing act of the Senate world in Washington. As McConnell balanced the powers, Massie aims to slash the powers and empower the individual from the blind overreach from Washington. After almost two decades as the GOP leader in Washington, as McConnell steps down, Kentucky seems to be well-represented in Washington as Massie does not seem to be slowing down any time soon.” He responded to Mar-a-Lago in no uncertain terms:

A gaggle of unserious lawmakers— Tony Gonzales (R-TX), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Cory Mills (R-FL), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Kat Cammack (R-FL), Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)— all threatened to vote “no,” causing nothing but eye-rolls in the Capitol. As expected, other than Massie, none dared vote against it. In fact, the worst of the GOP-lite Democrats, Jared Golden (ME), Laura Gillen (NY) and Don Davis (NC), looked like they would be more likely to step in and bail out MAGA Mike and Trump if they were needed than any of the so-called GOP fencer-sitters would actually dare vote “no.” The Republicans didn't even need Golden's vote at all, but he still voted for it; it's who he is.

Now, with the members of the House already out of town, the Senate gets to vote yes or no by end-of-business on Friday— and there are plenty of cowardly Democrats too scared, like Golden, to vote against it. Yesterday, John Bresnahan, Jake Sherman and Max Cohen reported that “Senate Democrats, who repeatedly insisted to us that they were focused on what the House could pass, took a very cautious stance on the CR when asked how they’d vote. With Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) a no, eight Democrats have to vote yes to overcome a filibuster. Yes, key Senate Democrats trashed the GOP CR as bad policy. But these senators also reiterated they view a shutdown as an outcome no one wants. And they’re not declaring it DOA in the Senate. ‘I’m waiting to see what the final version is, until then we’re not gonna make any decisions,’ Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said. ‘Passing a full-year CR risks handing [Trump] a huge slush fund with which to do what he wants in ways that could be harmful to our national security,’ Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) called the CR ‘awful.’ Just days ago, Warner told us he preferred a CR to a government shutdown. Fellow Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine also slammed the CR, despite the huge number of federal workers in the state. The bill was drafted with zero Democratic input. That’s a tough pill for many Democrats to swallow. But in the face of a shutdown, some may opt to hold their nose and vote yes even as a majority of the caucus votes against it.”

Judging by what she said on the Senate floor, you can be sure Elizabeth Warren won’t be voting for the bill:

Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk are shutting down the federal government, piece by piece. 

Shutting down the agency that stops banks and payday lenders from cheating working people.

Shutting down children’s cancer research.

Shutting down key parts of the Department of Transportation agency responsible for keeping people safe when flying in airplanes. 

Even shutting down parts of the Social Security Administration.

And now, Republicans in Congress are laying out their blueprint to shut down the entire federal government.

A budget is a reflection of our values. This proposal makes crystal clear where Republicans’ values lie. After months of bipartisan talks, they’re walking away from the negotiating table and offering a non-starter House bill that forces us to the brink of a full government shutdown.

And who would that hurt the most? Working people. Billionaires win, families lose. Republicans’ values are clear.

Their shutdown bill does two terrible things: 

First, it wipes out the guardrails that Congress wrote for how to spend taxpayer money. That means that Trump and Musk can hold everyone under their magic spell— they can spend taxpayer money or shut off taxpayer money however they want. 

Perhaps Trump and Musk want to shovel $75 million of ALS treatment funding to anti-vaccine research instead. That would be OK under this Republican deal. 

Or maybe they want to shift $300 million or more from the Federal Aviation Administration’s telecommunications funding bucket towards contracts with over to a fat contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink. The budget the Republicans sent over would permit that too. 

And if Trump and Musk decide to fire another 25,000 veterans or kick a million old people out of nursing homes, this package from the House Republicans would say “sure.”  

In addition to giving co-presidents Trump and Musk the power to spend taxpayer money wherever they want, the House Republicans also propose general cuts.  Cuts from programs that help families put food on the table, afford child care, and keep our communities safe.  Cuts from local communities for projects like improving hospitals, teaching facilities, and childcare centers— millions of funding that the House and Senate had already agreed to. 

But the House Republican package isn’t just about cutting out Veterans and old people. Nope. It’s also about spending more.  

Republican House members want to pour an extra $6 billion over the next six months— yup, a billion dollars a month— to the Pentagon. No explanation. No justification of why this money is needed. Nope. Cuts everywhere else but the one government agency that has never once passed an audit gets an extra $6 billion.  House Republicans want to give $6 billion more dollars to make sure defense contractors keep getting their fat paycheck. 

Republicans in Congress don’t care whether the government shuts down because they don’t care about hurting working families. All they care about is getting back to jamming through their true agenda: $4.6 trillion dollars worth of tax handouts for millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations, paid for by gutting health care for millions of people. 

Donald Trump looked Americans in the eye and said he’d quote “lower costs on Day One.” We’re seven weeks in, and he’s done the exact opposite. He’s raising costs for families. More people are losing their jobs. Sky-high child care, housing, and food costs. And it’s open season for banks, credit card companies, and shady student loan outfits to scam people.

The Republican shutdown playbook is dangerous, and it will hurt working families. Democrats are right to oppose the House bill. And people all across this country are right to expect us to stand up and fight back.