On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump endorsed libertarian-leaning Republican Congressman Thomas Massie in his campaign to keep his congressional seat in Kentucky’s 4th District.
That’s right: The same Massie that Trump once wanted thrown out of the Republican Party.
Breaking: President Donald J. Trump endorses Thomas Massie in #KY04! https://t.co/dkgG44m4RM
— Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) May 10, 2022
Calling Massie a “conservative warrior,” Trump’s Save America PAC backed the congressman by saying he is a “first rate defender of the Constitution” a protector of the First and Second Amendments and is willing to fight the “radical Left.”
“Thomas Massie has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump said through his PAC.
This has not always been the case.
A staunch fiscal conservative, in March of 2020, Massie demanded a roll call vote before Congress passed a $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill. The entire political establishment in Washington, including his own party–including Republican President Trump–eviscerated Massie in the press for holding up the spending package
Trump said Massie should be ousted from the GOP.
Massie’s concern at the time was that the money not go to the proper recipients and that it would be ripe for abuse.
It took only three weeks for Massie to be proven right. As I wrote at the Washington Examiner in April 2020, “The tragedy of this bill is it’s a massive wealth transfer from the middle class to the moneyed class,’ Massie warned on March 30. As many citizens received their stimulus payments this week, many also noticed that aspects of this aid looked rotten.”
I observed at the time, “For starters, while mom-and-pop restaurants battled to get their pieces of the $350 billion ‘Payback Protection Program,’ large chain restaurants got them first. While small businesses of all types, from salons to bars to auto shops, waited for relief, some hedge funds had applied ahead of them for a loan. So many big businesses and others applied that by Thursday, the money ran out.”
“Many little guys are still desperately waiting. Still, the rich got theirs,” I noted.
Massie was right and the entire political establishment had been proven wrong. He was one of very few to stand up for fiscal sanity at a time when virtually every other Washington leader was in a crazed state of Covid panic.
The libertarian-leaning Republican has developed a reputation for often being ahead of the curve.
Two years ago I voted against policies I said would cause inflation. Today we have inflation.
Now I’m voting against policies that will draw us into a war with Russia. Let’s hope this turns out differently.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 3, 2022
On May 4th, the Northern Kentucky Tribune reported that Massie had a big lead over his primary opponents according to his campaign’s internal polling, garnering 66% support compared to the next challenger who only received 9%.
The poll was conducted before Trump’s endorsement.
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