Rep. Thomas Massie warns GOP will be ‘very vulnerable’ in the midterms

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., warned in an interview Sunday on “Meet the Press” that the Republican Party would be “very vulnerable” in the midterm elections.

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When asked if the Republican Party was beginning to break with President Donald Trump, Massie said Republicans were “worried about their own political mortality.”

“It’s true, you can knock out Republicans in primaries, but Republicans are going to be very vulnerable this fall,” he said.

Massie was defeated in a primary last week by former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who was supported by Trump. The president strongly opposed Massie, repeatedly publicly criticizing the congressman and urging his supporters to remove him from office.

Massie, who broke with the Trump administration over issues including the war in Iran and the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, said her break with Trump was “absolutely worth it to me.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be worth it for the party,” he said. “Look, some people on the left suffer from ‘Trump Disappointment Syndrome’ – they call it TDS. But there are a growing number of people on the right who suffer from a form of TDS called ‘Trump Disappointment Syndrome.’

“And I think what’s going to happen to the party this fall is that it has disenfranchised a lot of that constituency that Trump brought together to get us to the White House, to a majority in the Senate and to a majority in the House,” he added.

Massie also denounced the president’s focus on issues such as the construction of the White House Ballroom, describing it to moderator Kristen Welker as a “slap in the face of Americans.”

“Ballroom, I mean, it’s such a blatant waste of money,” Massie said.

Trump had repeatedly said the ballroom would be funded by private donations (Comcast Corp., NBCUniversal’s parent company, is one of the donors). But this month, Republicans attempted to dedicate $1 billion in public funds to construction safety. Later, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the bill would have to be rewritten to go through the reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority to pass and would need no Democratic support.

“The president was bragging about Roman architecture, when in reality we operate like a Roman empire,” Massie said of the president’s description of the ballroom. “We’re overwhelmed overseas with our foreign aid, with our overseas bases. We’re spending money we don’t have, and gas and rent and groceries are so high that people can’t afford it.”

“I think it’s dangerous to indulge in things like a gold-plated ballroom in Washington, D.C., while Americans are suffering,” he added.

Later in the interview, Massie discussed possible White House ambitions in 2028.

When asked if he would consider running for president, Massie said, “I won’t rule out anything, and right now I’m not going to rule on anything.” »

“Every hour that passes, I’m a little more relaxed,” he said. “It’s like I’m coming up from the bottom of the ocean, and I’m going to take some time to decide what’s next, but I think I’ll stay engaged in one way or another. Maybe it’s from the outside. I’ve been exposing what’s happening in Washington, D.C., for years, and I will continue to do so.”