Trump Goes to Kentucky to Stump Against Massie

President Donald Trump traveled to Kentucky on Wednesday to stump for Ed Gallrein, a hand-picked Republican candidate he’s hoping will defeat Representative Thomas Massie in May’s primary.

The president held at event at Verst Logistics in Hebron. Judging from photos taken by the Kentucky Republican Party, the venue was smaller than the ones at which Trump’s team typically held rallies in the past. Several outlets reported that “hundreds” attended. Dayton247now reported that about 1,000 people packed into the venue.

As expected, Trump went after Massie. He told the crowd:

Thomas Massie is a disaster for our party. He comes from a state that I won by a landslide, got the highest vote in the history of your commonwealth. But Massie is a complete and total disaster as a congressman and frankly as a human being. We got to get rid of this loser. This guy is bad. He’s disloyal to the Republican party. He’s disloyal to the people of Kentucky, and most importantly, he’s disloyal to the United States of America. And he’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.

Another Trump attack went like this:

He’s the worst. He only votes no. He just votes no. It doesn’t matter. I could give him the best things in the history of a Republican voter, and he’d vote no. There is something wrong with him. 

Trump added, “He’s got one thing going: he went to a good college. But I know a lot of stupid people who went to a good college.”

Massie earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds several patents for inventions.

“Complete and Total Endorsement”

Trump then pivoted to endorsing Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former Navy SEAL. “On the other hand, Ed Gallrein has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump said. “He’s a true American hero and he’s a great patriot — and he’s doing it because he saw what this guy [Massie] was doing to our country. He said, ‘I’m going to run’.”

Gallrein’s comments indicate that his goal would be to cast votes that align with Trump’s wishes. Gallrein told the crowd, “You deserve an authentic, true Republican conservative that stands shoulder to shoulder with our president and the Republican Party and against the Democrats who are trying to destroy our nation.”  

Party or Constitution?

The idea that a legislator’s primary loyalty is to party leaders flies in the face of the oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. But judging from the president’s comments, he believes Republicans’ loyalty belongs to him above all else. That’s a message Massie never got. Since the Kentuckians of the 4th Congressional District first elected him in 2012, Massie has a near-perfect record of casting votes that align with the U.S. Constitution. This has manifested itself in votes against costly funding bills and votes for resolutions written to rein in the president’s war powers, among others.

The president hasn’t taken too kindly to Massie’s convictions. Last year, he decided to mount an effort to have him ousted from Congress.

As for Wednesday’s event, Massie accused event organizers of bussing in people from outside the district. “They used people from outside KY-4 to fill a small venue, woke Eddie’s voice cracked as he struggled to read the teleprompter, and nobody fell for the sad attempt to breath life into his stale campaign,” Massie’s re-election campaign posted on social media.

Massie Ahead

Massie’s social-media team also shared a post from the prediction platform Kalshi, which claimed that Trump’s visit actually boosted Massie’s chances of winning from 52 percent to 67 percent.

There are no major polls available for this race. Massie cited internal polling during a February 21 event in Florence, Kentucky, saying he was ahead by 17 points. Gallrein’s people have rejected this poll as biased.

Massie spoke to Cincinnati-area radio station 55KRC-FM before Trump’s rally. He called Gallrein’s campaign “lifeless.” He added, “I’m not running against Donald Trump. I’m running against a nobody who lost a state Senate race that they dusted off.” Gallrein unsuccessfully ran for state senate in 2024.

Local media outlets talked to Trump supporters and antagonists.

Trump Supporters

“Keep going, Donald Trump, we appreciate you,” said one supporter. “He came in one Day One. He’s standing on business. I love it. He’s doing an amazing job.”

Another explained his support for Trump’s war in Iran: “We just want to show our appreciation to President Trump. The community of Iranian Americans have been waiting 47 years for what Jimmy Carter bestowed upon Iran and for this regime to get toppled.”

U.S. Senate Republican candidate, current U.S. representative, and Trump supporter Andy Barr also attended the event. “We’ve got one of the most consequential, transformative presidents in the history of our country, and he’s right here in the commonwealth of Kentucky,” Barr told a local reporter. “So I’m proud to be on his team in the U.S. House.” Barr added, “This administration, this president, is laser focused on lowering the cost of living for the American people. And those of us in the Republican majority, we’re his teammates in this.”

Protesters Present

And, as is usually the case with any Trump event, there were protesters outside the venue. At least one of them took issue with the idea that the Trump administration has lowered living costs for regular Americans.

A local media outlet spoke to a couple of veterans. One of them was wearing a Navy veteran hat. He said:

We’re all starting to feel the cost of this war [in Iran], most of all the families of the service members who have already died in this unnecessary war. The regular working-class person is feeling it at the pump every day. We’re seeing in the grocery store now. I want veterans to know that we need to stand up, we need to come out here, we need to start making our voices heard for the people.

Another veteran told the reporter, “I was in the first Gulf War. I believe that Gulf War veterans are probably having flashbacks and we don’t need to be over there.” The veteran added, “We started another senseless war. There’s already deaths. It’s costing us a fortune. We need to get out.”

Recent reports say the war in Iran is costing at least $1 billion a day. Newsmax reported Thursday, “Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that the conflict had cost more than $11.3 billion in the first six days alone.”