Posted on 06/27/2020 5:38:52 AM PDT by RandFan
Rep. Thomas Massie isn't in a forgive-and-forget kind of mood.
The libertarian-leaning House member on Tuesday crushed his Republican primary opponent 88%-12% in the northern Kentucky district he's represented since 2013. That despite several high-profile House Republicans initially backing, and sending campaign contributions to, his primary opponent.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the spring criticized Massie over delaying tactics on passage of a coronavirus economic relief bill. The proposal became law, but not before Massie used parliamentary tactics to force lawmakers to return to Washington as the pandemic worsened.
The feud was an extension of tensions between House Republican leaders and Massie, an MIT-trained engineer and multiple patent holder who frequent dissents from the party-line on votes. Particularly when, he says, party leaders disregard Republican principles of small government and limited spending.
Questions linger over “whether the Republican leadership is going to actively and openly back primary opponents to incumbent Republicans. I think it's a dangerous precedent that Liz Cheney set as a member of the GOP leadership team, to try and cull the herd while we're still in the minority,” Massie told the Washington Examiner.
“You don't cull the herd when you don't have enough herd. And yet she's trying to use politics to influence the policy of the members in her conference. and I think it's wrong," Massie said. "Especially when we're in the minority. The money that she spent financing my opponent could have been used for taking back the majority.”
Republican leadership made no indication that it will openly endorse further primary opponents over incumbents.
Massie angered Republican leadership and President Trump in March when he demanded a roll-call vote for the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package. However, his attempt failed after party leaders brought 216 members to the floor and gallery in order to establish a quorum.
The parliamentary stand taken by Massie, though, caused Trump to call for the Kentucky Republican to be ousted by his own party in the upcoming primary — an unusual action by the leader of any party. But Republican Party lawmakers such as Cheney, and Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois followed suit and gave money to Massie’s primary opponent, Todd McMurty.
The same lawmakers ultimately rescinded their support of McMurty not long thereafter when controversial social media posts of McMurty’s emerged.
Cheney's office declined to provide the Washington Examiner with a comment.
Massie says his concern relates to the openness of the Republican Party choosing a primary opponent over an incumbent. He compared it to hardball tactics employed by the past two Republican House speakers against dissidents such as then-Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, now Trump's White House chief of staff.
“John Boehner and Paul Ryan had their super PACs and their c-4's and their dark money that they would try to use against members. They used that against Mark Meadows, and it didn't work out too well for John Boehner,” he said. “They've always told lobbyists up here, 'Don't give to this member, give to his opponent, or her opponent.' It's common knowledge that they extort members with their committee assigbnments.”
Massie said he believes party leaders used the opportunity of Trump’s tweet to attack him for years of his criticism of the party’s congressional campaign committee’s dues, which Massie has often referred to as “extortion.”
“When they saw the tweet from President Trump, they saw that as the signal to charge that it's time to go after Massie," he said. "They've been holding their fire or supporting my opponent behind the scenes, but they decided they could engage in open warfare against another member of the GOP with the president. Who they, by the way, have a miserable record of supporting.”
Calling for the ouster of a principled conservative -- and siding with a bunch of establishment @ssholes who represent everything his supporters have been railing against for years -- was idiotic.
That’ll be the least of our problems if Trump loses in November.
expose it all Massie!
Bush League Republicans can’t stand real conservatives who represent the citizens.
They’re a dying breed. The GOP needs to embrace the future or be left behind
The party bosses like the Cheney’s are not helping!
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I have hopes for that young man .. another mistake!
I’m convinced Trump doesn’t decide who to endorse it’s someone behind the scenes (GOP) and they just tell him to do it. I don’t think he knows the candidates inside out or cares. He has plenty of other things on his mind...
It’s the Uniparty massie exposed...
Trump was not from the Uniparty club
Repealing the 17th amendment is the cure to the Uniparty
I agree .
some Gope idiot is behind the scene here making bad decisions .
I think he will win .
An amazing person .
Trump should stay out of primaries .
That NC woman was a never trumper and everyone knew it and voted her out .
Much rather have Massie than Chaney (or Kinzinger, etc.).
Buzz off, Liz.
Love this guy Massie-
Wish I had the opportunity to vote for a congress critter like him.
Massie is one of our best. Trump erred in bashing him but I understand why he did it. Watch Massie’s YouTube channel for fascinating, geeky engineering projects he regularly engages in.
Cheney is trying to build a majority - one that includes insider Democrats and excludes independent thinkers like Massie.
Trump is a corporate CEO - he delegates. I'm sure he has been shocked to learn that in DC, delegation means the individual given the power feels free to run with it and do whatever they want...because it is a lot harder for the boss to fire him or her.
“The money that she spent financing my opponent could have been used for taking back the majority.”
He doesn’t get it. By leaning away from the party he supposedly represents on so many occasions, doesn’t that make him the opposition to the party and they are trying to take the majority back? All that education and no ability to reason facts. Possible wasted scholarships that could have been provided for someone with the ability to deduct simple ideologies.
rwood
Massie is a true American patriot. Liz and her father are true NWO shills!
The Bush/Cheney R’s are actively working against Trump. If he wins they quietly stab him in the back for four years and in 2024 trot out another globalist to promise they are an extreme conservative and sell us out to the Marxist left and Marxist deep state, assuming they actually win. Bush R’s are like roaches they hide and wait for the occasional people elected exterminators like Reagan and Trump to serve their time and leave and the creep back out.
Honestly after Trump leaves the scene the republic will officially die and US military backed Marxist government will take hold. After the behavior of the joint chiefs and former US generals and admirals it’s clear they hold the US Constitution and the average citizen in contempt because many of us are not towing the Marxist deep state line. I have no doubt a general Mattis wouldn’t dare fire on violent leftist rioting and burning cities. I also gave no doubt general Mattis wouldn’t hesitate to us special forces and gunships on conservatives if they took up arms to defend the Constitution. It’s sad but the US military officer corp is made up of a nasty gang of Marxist. We are in deeply perilous times for freedom, the rule of law and western civilization.
Republicans in Washington to a man, want Trump to lose, and are working with the Democrats.
No Republican is standing up for Trump, they may throw him a bone, here and there, but behind the scenes, they are coordinating with the Rats. They think then they can go back to “Business as Usual”.
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