Donald Trump: Throw Thomas Massie out of Republican Party

Breitbart ^ | 27 Mar 2020 | CHARLIE SPIERING

[E. Pluribus Unum]

President Donald Trump berated Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Friday, demanding the Republicans throw him out of the party for obstructing the massive coronavirus rescue package.

“WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

…& costly. Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is “HELL” dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the “big picture” done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020

The president described the famous Republican libertarian as a “third rate Grandstander” who was obstructing the bill.

“He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous and costly,” Trump wrote.

Massie is expected to force a roll call vote in Congress on the $2 trillion emergency funding bill, requiring members of Congress to rush back to Washington instead of passing the bill unanimously by a voice vote.

If Massie demands a quorum, 216 members of Congress are needed to return to Washington to pass the bill.

The Kentucky congressman shared an image of text from the Constitution on Thursday, suggesting that he would demand a quorum.

It appears that Massie believes that members of Congress should be required to record a vote on one of the biggest spending bills in the history of the country.

But Trump described him as a “disaster for America” for holding up the vote.

[Songcraft]

"...We expect these stunts from the commie democrats..."

All those commie democrats (including Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, and Nancy Pelosi) actually supported and voted for this stinking, pork-filled piece of crap.

If any of these commie clowns were president, which one of them do you think would not have signed this exact same pork-filled bill, just like Trump did?

     Joe Biden?

     Bernie Sanders?

     Hillary?

     Cuomo?

     Obama?

[JohnDeereGreen]

I have been giving it away for years and years. Thanks Jimmy for that.

[dfwgator]

The Democrats all high-fived each other behind closed doors afterwards and said, “We Finally Got Him!”

[pollywog]

I agree... I love our President but I agree with Massie on this.
He is doing the right thing.

[mountainfolk]

We are talking about what is, not if's. Massie already had his say about the bill and nothing he could do about the outcome except possibly delaying it while the country dealt with the consequences. Of course the commie democrats got their pork added and that was to be expected. I am more disgusted with members of the Republican party taking advantage of the hard work of Pres Trump and others to promote their own interests, however noble they perceive them to be, especially when it benefits the commie dems. This last minute stunt deserves the response Pres Trump gave. If an elected congress person is willing to put their personal interests ahead of that of their president, they cannot be counted on for further support, like John McCain and his smart alek thumbs down.

[PrivatizationNow]

Massie: Let’s follow the Constitution

Literally the Entire Establishment: wOw, YoU mUsT wAnT cHiLDrEn tO dIe

[palmer]

Which means it's a greater-than-usual deception.

Possible. But more likely it's just plain language pork, with no deception. The fact that each state got a guaranteed minimum amount of slush funds no matter what their status says it all. Senators were paid off.

[palmer]

If every American got $1200, that would be under 25% of the total bill cost.

Yes, that's because Congress didn't want to give out cash. They are spending $8k per American adult. Basically they will transfer money to industries and workers who are hardest hit. Some is to former worker via higher unemployment benefits. They want to incentivize workers to stay home and collect. Some is to industry with some strings attached, including some sort of concessions to promote unionization.

The rest of the money is slush money for states (guaranteed 1.25 billion whether they need it or not), plus hospital money, etc. Senators and lobbyists all got what they wanted for sure.

[Theophilus]

The Emperor has such lovely new clothes! Power never had such raiment!

Acts 12:22
And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

We need a RollCall on this bill, period. No more anonymous voting by Congress. We need to know who is doing what to America.

[Theophilus]

Socialism is taking control of the entire economy and enslaving the entire population and you call it “hard work”.

[Varsity Flight]

To maintain the feudal debt, work-camp structure. 1200 is the back end payment to banks, insurance, public entities. The front entry was when the fed first intervened repos etc.,

[tallyhoe]

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was right..He wanted to get everyone on record.. They would have to vote on the house floor.. He did the best he could.. I would have voted no on this monstrosity!!!

[Theophilus]

Amen. Nancy Pelosi likes to just “deem it passed.”

[Timmy64]

You’re not the only one!

[Theophilus]

Maybe the President missed the Tea Party. Should we throw him a Covfefe Party?

[Paul R.]

At this point, the best healthcare in the world isn’t going to save you if you are a senior, get infected, and have a couple other things working against you.

Besides, the bigger risk is virus spread by people infected but with mild to no symptoms.

OTOH, Trump should smear Pelosi all over the floor for sending the House home in the middle of an emergency! That’s bloody treason.

[nathanbedford]

Is there any principled conservative position that you will stand for against Donald Trump? Is there any conservative hill you will die on with or without Donald Trump?

Is fiscal sanity an important conservative consideration? Is regular and due constitutional order concerning one of the biggest handouts ever conceived by man a principled position? Massie's opposition to a law which not only plunges the nation deeper into debt but alters the very manner in which we govern ourselves worthy of at least requiring a recorded vote? Is passing a massive law the provisions of which were extorted by an extreme political party and which for all practical purposes can never be repealed in our lifetime, unworthy of protest?

Look at the comments on this thread, how many people favored this bill? Few, most conservatives on this thread are against the bill because they, at least on this issue, are not confused between conservatism and Trumpism. But note carefully, Congressman Massie did not criticize the president personally, rather he criticized Democrats and the outrageous provisions of the bill. It was Pres. Trump who criticized Massie personally. Why?

Is it not fair to ask whether Trump vigorously fought the Democrats hard enough against fiscal insanity? Is it not fair to ask whether Sec. Mnuchin, a transplant from Goldman Sachs, is the proper negotiator to play hardball with the Democrats? Did Mnuchin cave because the president wanted him to cave? Did the president humiliate Massie publicly in order to cover himself and his own profligacy and pusillanimity when he went along with Democrats on this outrageous and dangerous legislation? How better to cover one's tracks than to change the subject? Change the subject by calling a courageous conservative a "grandstander."

You seem to sidestep all of these issues because you think, "entire society is faced with an existential crisis from the nearly complete shutdown of the pre-eminent economy in the world" and, presumably, the crisis justifies the means. But later you say, "This situation is both unprecedented and terminal unless corrected by emergency means...and even then you are only buying time."

These are difficult issues, complex problems with implications for the economy that none of us can say with honesty that we comprehend. Why is it proper for a congressman to object, to express a different honestly held viewpoint? Why is it improper for a congressman who was never asked to come aboard on the takeoff in crafting this legislation to say he will not be part of the landing? This is a deal put together by a Goldman Sachs partner, Nancy Pelosi, Chucky Schumer, and, God help us, Mitch McConnell in secret. Who among these was representing your interests? I say representative Massie represented all our interests, he did so publicly, he did so at great personal cost, he did so honorably.

Why did Donald Trump lash out against him? To save a few hours, Nancy Pelosi had cost the country a week without much comment from the president? Why did this single conservative congressman draw perhaps more flak from the president than the real authors of this situation? Or is the president himself and author of this fiasco? Is this not another example in Washington, and too often on these threads, of the sin being not the sin itself but to expose the sin? To expose that hypocrisy, is that not what Congressman Massie has done? He has committed a grievous Washington sin. So far as I have the power, I forgive him.

In this affair who is the true conservative?

[Paul R.]

The rate desired is one low enough to not overwhelm the health care system. If we go significantly higher, the fatalities go way up, the insurance industry collapses (and don’t even get me started on the derivatives - good God!)

As for Pres. Trump, I think his mistake was that he thought that just because some Dems were evidently willing to work in good faith, he believed that wicked witch Pelosi and her ilk would go along. He should have spent about 15 minutes at the beginning of each presser demanding a clean bill, publicly exposing anyone dirtying it, berating Pelosi for sending the House members home in an emergency, and calling on voters to let their reps have it as deserved, immediately. Give out the phone numbers and e-mail addresses, have voters cc to every news organization. Put the info. online everywhere possible.

[Paul R.]

By the same token, why was Massey not proactive / out front screaming bloody murder and threatening to call for a roll call vote the second Pelosi sent the House home? Additionally, it’s not like a lot of the onerous provisions were secret until the bill was made public. At least in a general way a lot of that stuff leaked out. Use the leverage Pelosi gave you from the get-go, not after the fact. Attack the Dems every minute for not focusing solely on the problem at hand. This would also give Pres. Trump a little “cover”.