Trump: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Massie

Consider this a message pour encourager les autres. And recall from yesterday just how many resources that Donald Trump could command in making Thomas Massie into an example of the penalties for disunity. 

Ever wonder what a half-billion dollars would do in a congressional primary? Massie may be about to find out:

Thank you to the House Freedom Caucus for just delivering a big blow to the Radical Left Democrats and their desire to raise Taxes and SHUT OUR COUNTRY DOWN! They hate America and all it stands for. That’s why they allowed MILLIONS of Criminals to invade our Nation. Sometimes it takes great courage to do the right thing. Congressman Thomas Massie, of beautiful Kentucky, is an automatic “NO” vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED, and I will lead the charge against him. He’s just another GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won’t stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS??? Anyway, thank you again to the House Freedom Caucus for your very important vote. We need to buy some time in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. Unite and Win!!!

Like with others, Trump has run hot and cold on Massie in the past. Dig around long enough and you’ll find Trump praising him, and dig around more to find Trump ripping him too. In fact, if Twitter/X had fixed its publishing algorithms by now, I might have embedded a few tweets from those passing around samples of both this morning.

That was then, but this is now, and now is always what matters to Trump. He needs this clean CR to pass to get to the real meat of swamp-draining: the reconciliation envelopes in the latest budget resolution. That’s where the tax cuts will get made permanent, and especially where DOGE reductions and wholesale shutdowns of agencies could potentially take place. While CRs stink on ice — Massie’s right about that — the upside of moving to the next phase far outweighs the stink-on-ice aspects of this tactical move.

There’s another point to be made in favor of Trump’s ire. If Republicans had a larger majority, caucus leadership would have worked to accommodate Massie’s dissenting vote. They would have done so for collegiality and to help him protect his seat in exchange for Massie’s support for the caucus when it’s needed. Well, it’s needed now because of the razor-thin majority that the House GOP has, and Massie won’t reciprocate by giving the GOP unity when it really needs it. And he’s doing so in an instance where they would have to pass another CR now anyway even if they planned to use regular order to write the rest of the current budget, a process that would take months and postpone the next budget cycle too. 

Trump just got back and needs Massie’s help to drain the swamp and get significant budget reductions. Massie wants to keep throwing spanners in the works rather than work with his party’s leadership. Should he be surprised when that leadership starts looking for ways to make him pay the consequences for being a lone wolf when his cooperation is most needed?

Massie apparently thinks so:

Someone thinks they can control my voting card by threatening my re-election. Guess what? Doesn’t work on me. Three times I’ve had a challenger who tried to be more MAGA than me. None busted 25% because my constituents prefer transparency and principles over blind allegiance.

His constituents prefer Trump too, though. Trump won 67% of the vote in KY-04 last year, about the same as in 2016 and 2020. Will Massie’s constituents think he’s more MAGA than Trump if and when Trump comes out for a primary opponent? 

It’s not “blind allegiance” that Trump and Mike Johnson are requesting. It’s a unified party effort on a smart tactical move to achieve greater strategic gains. Massie appears to be falling into a Joe Manchin-esque fantasy of being the center of power. But Manchin had a much better sense of both tactics and strategy. Massie’s throwing spanners for the sake of throwing spanners — or just to keep his profile high in the news. 

Massie had better enjoy this moment in the sun, because it won’t last long. Even if he does survive the next election cycle, the overall outcome will likely make him entirely irrelevant. Massie only matters because the split in the House is so narrow; as soon as that stops being the case, Republicans can safely sideline Massie in a House with a significant majority by either party. 

Massie reminds me of the character Jimmy in That Thing You Do! Rather than work with his team, Jimmy insists on having things his own way or taking his ball and going home. When his bandmates reject his pessimism, Jimmy stomps off muttering, “Sorry I’m buggin’ you! I guess I’m alone in my principles.” That leads Lenny to quip, “Oh, there he goes off to his room to write that hit song “Alone in my principles.””

Massie probably thinks that his song will top the charts. And it might with the Protection Racket Media … for a few days, anyway. After that, Massie is likely to be a one-hit Wonder. 

Addendum: The headline reference is from the classic Peckinpah film from 1974, Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, which is definitely different from That Thing You Do. As I recall, the quest didn’t end well for anyone in Peckinah’s film.