President Donald Trump issued sharp criticism of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Sunday, following the congressman’s co-sponsorship of a resolution aimed at limiting the president’s authority to carry out military operations against Iran.
The public rebuke marks the latest in a series of clashes between the two Republicans.
In a Truth Social post, President Trump described Massie as “weak” and “ineffective,” stating, “Massie is weak, ineffective, and votes ‘NO’ on virtually everything put before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be.”
He continued, “Massie should drop his fake act and start putting America First, but he doesn’t know how to get there — he doesn’t have a clue! MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!”
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The president further announced plans to campaign in Kentucky to support a primary challenger against Massie in the next election cycle.
“The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard,” Trump said.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump announces primary challenge against Thomas Massie, says he will personally campaign there "really hard.""MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER [like] the plague."POTUS says Massie "is not MAGA," but a "grandstander who thinks it's good politics for… pic.twitter.com/qhtZW5cRBh
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 22, 2025
Tensions between Trump and Massie have been ongoing.
In 2020, Massie opposed a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package aimed at stabilizing the economy during the early stages of the pandemic.
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The congressman’s demand for a recorded vote on the bill drew widespread criticism and prompted Trump to call for his removal from the Republican Party at the time.
Most recently, Massie teamed up with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to introduce a War Powers Resolution designed to restrict President Trump’s authority to unilaterally order military strikes on Iran without congressional approval.
The measure has attracted increased attention in Congress after the United States conducted strikes on three major Iranian nuclear facilities—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
In an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Massie defended the joint resolution and argued that Congress should have been consulted before military action was taken.
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“I represent part of the coalition that elected President Trump. We were tired of endless wars in the Middle East, and tired of wars in Eastern Europe,” Massie said during the interview.
“They should have called us all back. And, frankly, we should have debated this war powers resolution that Ro Khanna and I offered, instead of staying on vacation and doing fundraisers, and saying, ‘Oh, well, the President’s got this under control, we’re going to cede our constitutional authority.’”
President Trump, meanwhile, has defended the strikes as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The military operation, which involved over 125 aircraft and used advanced precision-guided munitions, marked the largest operational deployment of B-2 stealth bombers in U.S. history.
“MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is definitely one,” Trump wrote in the post.
“He’s a simple minded ‘grandstander’ who thinks it’s good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ at every chance they get. Iran has killed and maimed thousands of Americans.”
Earlier this month, President Trump also criticized Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), another libertarian-leaning Republican, for opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—his administration’s major legislative package.
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Both Paul and Massie have expressed concern over the bill’s cost and its potential impact on the national debt.
The two Kentucky lawmakers have frequently drawn criticism from GOP leadership for their votes against large spending bills and their vocal resistance to American military involvement overseas.
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You can’t write bills that change the Constitution.
What’s wrong with these people we send to Congress?
You don’t have to be a registered Democrat to be a political hack. You can also be a RICO, and be a political hack – like Massie. Ths man has no honor and certainly no common sense. A thorough political hack – and nothing else.
Massie said, of Congress, “we’re going to cede our constitutional authority.” This is a flat out lie and he knows it. Congress has already usurped powers from the Presidency in regards to being Commander In Chief. What Massie wants to do is usurp even more of that power and exert control of the President’s authority as Commander In Chief. Instead of having one person being briefed on global issues and threats to the United States and making decisions, Massie wants there to be 435 decision makers involved, each of whom has a personal agenda. This, as Massie well knows, is not how the Framers of the Constitution intended the country to work. 435 people talking, debating, arguing, making deals and concessions, and holding the process hostage till their petty grifts get addressed. Is that how we want our military activities managed?