Some years ago, back in the days of black-and-white television, there ran a 30-second commercial depicting an argument between two perky, young blondes, perhaps twins, with one stridently asserting, “Certs is a candy mint!” while the other insisted, “Certs is a breath mint!”
This dynamic dispute is finally resolved when the paternalistic, voice-of-God announcer butts in to explain, “Stop! You’re both right!” returning smiles to the faces of the young ladies and an end to the hostilities.
Do they even make Certs anymore?
Anyway, that tense exchange came to mind this week in contemplating the ongoing conflict between President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump and Kentucky’s own Rep. Thomas Massie, R-SomewhereorotherLewisCounty, which apparently will require something more forceful than the voice of God to tidy up.
The thing is, they’re both right.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media site, called Massie a “GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight,” as well as a “negative force.” Despite the Trumpster’s less than stellar accuracy in most matters, it’s hard to argue with any of that, given the history of Wonder Boy’s frequently loony and well-documented statements and votes during his 12 years in Congress.
Massie, meanwhile, has drawn the ire of the dyspeptic president-cum-dictator by characterizing his godawful One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which adds about $3.5 trillion to the nation’s $37 trillion in red ink, as a budget buster, referring to it as “a fiscal suicide pact between the White House and Republicans in Congress.” As he recently told the New American podcast, “You can’t have increased spending and cut taxes without increasing the debt and sending a signal to the people who service our debt that we’re not a good investment anymore.”
No disputing all that.
That massive, ugly measure finally passed the House and was sent to Trump’s desk on Thursday in a 218-214 vote. Only two Republicans — Massie and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – joined all the chamber’s Democrats in voting no.
In a statement posted on X after the vote, Massie said the package “will significantly increase U.S. budget deficits in the near term, negatively impacting all Americans through sustained inflation and high interest rates.”
Can’t say that’s wrong either.
As in most cases involving Trump, it’s vital to remember that disagreeing with Supreme Leader on anything is unacceptable with punishment resulting in political exile.
So it goes this time. Trump is actively seeking a candidate to oppose Massie, whose 4th Congressional district runs along the Ohio River from Ashland to just east of Louisville, in the 2026 Republican primary, He has already established Kentucky MAGA, a super PAC aimed at ousting Massie, placing a couple of his long-term henchmen, Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita, in charge. Axios, an on-line news site, has quoted LaCivita as saying the outfit will spend “whatever it takes” to end Massie’s political career.
Kentucky MAGA has already produced an ad, 10 months before any primary, ready to hit the airwaves primarily in the Louisville and Cincinnati media markets as part of a $1 million ad buy, according to Axios.
The spot includes the regular sort of Trump crapola, chiding Massie for opposing Trump’s order to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, asserting that he “sided with Democrats and the Ayatollah.” It further blasts him for opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill.
It ends with the message, “Let’s fire Thomas Massie.”
Trump is already working to line up a “wonderful American patriot” as an opponent. Various reports maintain that some time in the coming weeks he intends to meet with state Sen. Aaron Reed, R-Shelbyville, a former Navy SEAL. In a brief interview with The Courier Journal of Louisville, Reed said he has “no plans yet” to enter the race and will make a decision, “When God tells me.”
Wow. That would almost be as big an endorsement as the one from Trump himself.
In the meantime, Trump is touting a poll indicating a candidate of his choice would slaughter Massie in the primary.
In yet another Truth Social post, he wrote, “New poll: Anybody I Endorse beats Thomas Massie of Kentucky by 25 points. Get ready. Massie is a very bad guy!”
The only publicized poll of the race at this point has been issued by Kaplan Strategies. The survey of likely GOP primary voters in the 4th District shows that only 19 percent say they plan to vote to reelect Massie regardless of who challenges him. That number drops even lower — to 14 percent — if former President Donald Trump endorses a primary opponent.
Currently, Massie faces one declared challenger, Niki Lee Ethington, a nurse from the way western part of the district in Spencer County, who said she is “stepping forward to represent Kentucky families who feel unheard in Washington.”
The Kaplan Strategies poll determined that Ethington leads Massie in a head-to-head match-up 31 percent to 19 percent, which is, frankly, preposterous considering that Massie received 75.9 percent of the vote in the 2024 Republican primary against two opponents with similar or more politically significant backgrounds than the one held by Ethington. And there’s no indication she’s going to gain Trump’s support.
Trump and Massie have been staging this Punch and Judy routine for some time now. In 2020, Massie served as the target of Trump’s overflowing bile when he played a game with the rules of House procedures, demanding an in-person vote for a COVID-19 relief measure he opposed, forcing lawmakers to return to Washington to get the damn thing passed. At that time, the always kind and considerate Trump opined that the GOP should somehow “throw Massie out of the Republican Party.” at the time, calling him a “third rate Grandstander.” Massie remains a member of the party and has never really faced a re=election challenge.
It does not seem the turn of events has intimidated Massie, whose campaign has actually collected plenty of cash as a result. He has gained the support of some rich dude from South Africa, named Elon Musk, who finds himself on the outs with his former BFF – Trump – and vows to send plenty of cash Massie’s way in his re-election bid, a pretty good pick-me-up since Musk is reputably the richest man in the world.
In a post on X, Massie notes he has been up against it before and, “Overwhelmingly, in each instance, voters in Kentucky rejected them because I have a decade of consistently putting America and my constituents first. None of my opponents received more than 20% of the vote, but that’s because we ran excellent campaigns with the resources needed to win. For instance, my allies and I spent $2,000,000 in my 2020 primary when Trump attacked me for opposing the COVID bailouts. That’s why I’m taking this threat seriously and asking for grassroots donations on X.”
Now, it would be easy to portray Massie as the hero in this debate on several levels. He’s absolutely right – the debt is out of control and needs to be addressed in a drastic manner. And, as almost every Republican is curled up in a corner like a cur dog waiting for Trump to cane them for offenses both real and imagined, Massie has displayed the fortitude to stand up to the bully, something extraordinarily rare for a Republican member of Congress these days.
But (and yes, here comes the but) Massie is no Medal of Honor recipient. He doesn’t reject the One Big Beautiful Bill because of the tax cuts – he would, in fact, welcome the opportunity to vote for them. He blames the increasing debt contained in the measure on the fact that it doesn’t sufficiently cut spending, which would undoubtedly further harm low-income families and, particularly children.
As someone who doesn’t shy away from letting people know just how smart he is, with a pair of degrees from MIT, Massie displays a problem with simple arithmetic – a tax cut in this instance will reduce revenues and, thus, add to the debt to the tune of about $3.5 trillion.
That’s stupid.
Program cuts, undoubtedly, are going to have to come, and some measure across the board may be, as was said in the film Argo, the best bad idea we have. But care should be taken, as much as possible, to not hurt those who are already hurting.
And the rest of the horse manure he covers himself in can’t be ignored. Massie is, to paint it accurately, a gun fanatic who thinks people should carry a Glock as often as they put on underwear. It’s an issue that can’t be ignored and all the other bits of hoo-ha he has championed over the years don’t paint the picture of a hero.
But he’s right about the debt, wrong about how to address it.
Regardless, Trump is already taking a home run trot predicting that Massie is a dead duck. That seems premature.
Massie is something of a cult hero in some sectors of the country and, most particularly, in the heavily conservative 4th District of Kentucky. He has feuded with Trump before yet managed to roll up big numbers in his re-election efforts. His constituents like him throwing verbal grenades in DC and, while they will continue to rabidly back Trump, they’ll like pull the Massie lever as well.
It was the great Mark Twain who once said, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Massie might say that next primary day.