Inside the Trump-Massie love-hate relationship

President Trump’s threat to back a primary challenger against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is just the latest boiling point in their hot-and-cold relationship — and the Kentuckian is brushing off the attacks.

“It's temporary,” the Kentuckian told me after Trump threatened to end his political career over Massie’s “no” vote on a six-month continuing resolution, backed by the president, that would keep the government open through September.

Massie was the only House Republican to vote against the legislation, which he argued does not set up Congress to make lasting cuts to government spending.

The libertarian congressman sees Trump’s public attacks as a tactic to “keep other people in line.”

The House GOP, after all, has a razor-thin majority and almost no room for error.

“Probably somebody had a strategy that said, 'We can't let any more horses out of the barn, so let's whack Massie and then the other horses will stay in the barn,'" Massie said. “Because nobody expected that to change me, right? What am I gonna say? ‘Oh, I was so misguided for the last 12 years. I misdirected all of my efforts into fiscal conservatism.’”

Massie’s “no” vote was hardly a surprise to Trump or other Republicans in Congress.

Massie is often the sole GOP lawmaker voting against various measures. He was also the lone GOP vote against a budget resolution framework for Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda. His problem on that measure was that it didn’t cut spending enough.

A number of Republicans are privately furious that Trump is trying to make an example out of Massie when they saw him as simply standing on principle.

“I think it’s a bunch of noise and distraction,” one member told me of the threats, shaking their head when I asked if Trump’s tactics would be effective in scaring Republicans from defecting.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who also has libertarian streak, said he was “shocked” by Trump’s primary threat.

“They have a love-hate relationship. I mean, the reality is a lot of the same people ... love them both,” Davidson said. “I think Donald Trump doesn't like not getting his way.”

Massie, though, said he thinks he and Trump can easily patch things up.

After all, they’ve had a lot of fights before and have generally made up.

Let’s just look at the last several years:

• March 2020: Massie tried to force a roll call vote on the CARES Act coronavirus stimulus bill. That forced lawmakers to scramble to get back to Washington to avoid a delay in passing the legislation. Trump was furious. He called Massie three times; Massie let it go to voicemail. Finally, Massie took Trump’s call in the Speaker’s lobby. The president publicly called for Massie to be thrown out of the Republican Party. 
  
• June 2020: Massie easily defeated a 2020 primary challenger in Todd McMurtry, who initially drew support from then-House GOP conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and other national-security focused Republicans, but lost that support after past racist social media material came to light. Trump and Massie did not speak for more than two years, until…
  
• August 2022: Trump — apparently having forgiven Massie — endorsed the Kentucky congressman ahead of his primary, calling him “a first-rate Defender of the Constitution.”
  
• April 2023: Things soured again when Massie endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the presidential primary.
  
• March 2024: Massie blasted Trump for “ridiculous bullying tactics” after the presidential nominee called for a primary challenger to Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who had also endorsed DeSantis but promptly endorsed Trump after the Florida governor ended his presidential campaign.
  
• October 2024: Massie gave his “full endorsement” to Trump in the days leading into the election, noting that he committed to freeing Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht (a promise Trump made good on in January).
  
• November 2024: Massie said he is “ready and willing” to accept a role concerning agriculture in President-elect Trump’s administration, but shot down rumors he would be Agriculture secretary.

Massie told me that things had been good with Trump in recent months: “My last three phone calls with him have been great.” That last call came about two weeks after the election.

While Massie has long been known to make major unpopular moves due to his convictions, it is impossible to see his latest beef with Trump without thinking of the major shock to his personal life: His wife of 31 years and high school sweetheart died suddenly last year. “If they thought I had no F's to give before, I definitely have no F's to give now,” Massie told The Wall Street Journal a few months ago.

Massie had also won some public support from other conservatives at a time when few want to say anything negative about Trump.

Commentator Matt Walsh, for instance, called the notion of ousting Massie “asinine,” adding he is “by far and away one of our best congressmen.”

Further reading: Trump wants to end this GOP maverick’s political career. He’s not too worried, via Ben Jacobs at Politico.

I’m Emily Brooks, House reporter at The Hill, here with a weekly look at the wider right-wing ecosystem, influences and debates in Washington, D.C. Let me know what you’re about to launch, what is on your calendar, and who is making moves: ebrooks@thehill.com

THE START OF A SHIFT ON ISRAEL AID? A new Heritage Foundation report released Wednesday is proposing that the U.S. wind down military aid to Israel as part of a strategy to “re-orient its relationship” with the country over the next two decades.

You read that right. That proposal comes from the Heritage Foundation.

It’s a notable stance for the prominent conservative think tank given the long and deep support for Israel among conservatives and Republicans.

And release of the report was accompanied by some drama: Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter canceled a scheduled appearance at a Heritage Foundation event scheduled to promote the new report, as first reported by Jewish Insider. 

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy said it “greatly values” its “working relationship and friendship” with the Heritage Foundation, attributing the cancellation to a “miscommunication regarding the format for the event.”

And a Heritage spokesperson fired back at the Jewish Insider story in a statement to me:

“The report set to be unveiled at the event was grossly misrepresented as a hostile attempt to chop aid, by people who prefer to see Israel weak, vulnerable, and forever dependent on the United States. Heritage stands by its work as the report underscores the urgent need to strengthen and elevate bilateral ties between the U.S. and Israel.”

READ MORE: My colleague Laura Kelly and I wrote about the Heritage report here.

ON MY CALENDAR NEXT WEEK: Breitbart News is hosting a policy event next Wednesday with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, partnering with CGCN and the ALFA Institute (the organization launched by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy).

THREE MORE THINGS…

1. Citizens for Sanity, a nonprofit advocacy group with ties to the Stephen Miller-founded America First Legal, has a new digital ad campaign praising the bureaucracy-slashing efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). I’m told the digital ad buy is in the high five-figure range. Context: Elon Musk reportedly gave the group $50 million ahead of the 2022 midterms.

One ad lists a number of the vilified programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) like “DEI in Serbia,” contrasting the funding totals with those allocated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for North Carolina flood recovery efforts. Another one spoofs greatest hit album ads while listing USAID grants. They both end with the tagline: “Stop the insanity. Support DOGE.”

• Steve Bannon was the latest guest on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new podcast. Rather than sparring or getting deep, the brisk conversation was largely just Bannon sharing his perspective on news of the day and the Trump agenda, as he does on “War Room.” The governor found some common ground with Bannon on taxing corporations and said he appreciates the MAGA leader for sharing his perspective — which, after listening to his first three podcasts, seems to be his favorite phrase when talking to ideological opponents. Write-up in NYT… 
  
• Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the daughter-in-law of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a former CIA officer — and now, the associate director for intelligence and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration. Trump wanted the now-CIA skeptic to serve as the agency's deputy director, but GOP lawmakers intervened. Philip Wegmann profiles AFK at RealClearPolitics.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think: ebrooks@thehill.com.