--- title: Trump Attacks Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary description: Speaking in Massie's district, Trump accused the congressman—who has broken with him on multiple issues—of being "disloyal" to the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-03-11T22:56:21.811Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-19T07:44:54.207Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Attacks Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary og:description: Speaking in Massie's district, Trump accused the congressman—who has broken with him on multiple issues—of being "disloyal" to the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b771fdcb3ac75a2/69b1e68b785ca0aef0cd7db7/trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Attacks Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary twitter:description: Speaking in Massie's district, Trump accused the congressman—who has broken with him on multiple issues—of being "disloyal" to the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b771fdcb3ac75a2/69b1e68b785ca0aef0cd7db7/trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Escalates Attacks on Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary: ‘Disloyal to the United States of America’ by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Mar 11, 2026 10:56 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks at Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky, on March 11, 2026. President Donald Trump speaks at Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky, on March 11, 2026.Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Mar 11, 2026 10:56 PM UTC President Donald Trump ramped up his verbal attacks against [Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky](https://time.com/7296692/thomas-massie-trump-mr-no-contrarian-obbb-iran-primary-campaign/) on Wednesday, calling him a “loser” and accusing him of being “disloyal to the United States of America” at an event in his district, just a couple months before the lawmaker will face off against his Trump-endorsed opponent in a primary election. “We got to get rid of this loser. This guy is bad,” Trump said at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky. “He’s disloyal to the Republican Party. He’s disloyal to the people of Kentucky, and most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America. And he’s got to be voted out of office as soon as possible.” The President’s remarks come ahead of the [Republican primary race for Massie’s congressional seat](https://time.com/7358546/trump-midterms-republicans-primaries/), which will take place on May 19\. And his comments follow months of tension between him and the Kentucky lawmaker, who has broken with Trump on multiple issues. Massie last year drew Trump’s ire with his vocal opposition to the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill. And more recently, Massie co-wrote and helped lead the push for the [Epstein Files Transparency Act](https://time.com/7334230/epstein-files-vote-thomas-massie/), which mandated that the Department of Justice release all the documents related to the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump long [opposed](https://time.com/7333455/epstein-trump-boebert-situation-room/) releasing the so-called “Epstein files,” but ultimately [signed](https://time.com/7335230/trump-signs-epstein-files-bill/) the bill after the measure [passed](https://time.com/7334902/epstein-files-released-house-vote/) both chambers of Congress in November. In January, Trump [labeled](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115963236796090298) Massie “the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman we have had in many years” and “a Weak and Pathetic RINO” (Republican in name only). He has endorsed Massie’s opponent in the upcoming Republican primary, Ed Gallrein, who he has called “a true Patriot.” Trump continued hurling barbs at Massie on Wednesday, starting with a [Truth Social post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116210369394250268) that morning, in which he said that he hopes Massie will “lose BIG” in the primary. “I predict that ‘Representative’ Thomas Massie will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress,” Trump said in his post. Massie responded to the President’s jab in a [post on X](https://x.com/MassieforKY/status/2031719109671485718), writing, “I predict ‘President’ DJT will begrudgingly sign my beautiful Epstein Files Transparency Act, causing beleaguered princes and ambassadors and prime ministers and CEOs around the world to be arrested or resign in total shame. Oh wait, that already happened.” He then included a link to donate to his campaign. At the rally in Kentucky later that day, the President slammed Massie for voting against legislation that Trump had supported, including the Big Beautiful Bill. “He only votes no,” Trump said of Massie. “There’s something wrong with him.” “He’s got one thing going: He went to a good college,” the President continued. “But I know a lot of stupid people that went to a good college.” Trump went on to praise Gallrein, saying that the Republican had his “complete and total endorsement.” At one point, he invited Gallrein to the podium. Gallrein thanked the President for the endorsement, saying that his support has since “skyrocketed.” Then he addressed 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,” Gallrein said. “That is the greatest candidate,” Trump said after Gallrein spoke to the crowd. “Just elect him. You’re going to have no problems with him.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/"},"headline":"Trump Escalates Attacks on Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary: ‘Disloyal to the United States of America’","datePublished":"2026-03-11T22:56:21.811Z","dateModified":"2026-05-19T07:44:54.207Z","description":"Speaking in Massie's district, Trump accused the congressman—who has broken with him on multiple issues—of being \"disloyal\" to the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/","keywords":["elections","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b771fdcb3ac75a2/69b1e68b785ca0aef0cd7db7/trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b771fdcb3ac75a2/69b1e68b785ca0aef0cd7db7/trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-massie-kentucky-primary-election.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/elections/","name":"elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/11/trump-massie-republican-primary-kentucky-midterms/","name":"Trump Escalates Attacks on Republican Rep. Massie Ahead of Primary: ‘Disloyal to the United States of America’"}}]}] ```