OPINION:
The media have been covering Donald J. Trump, the politician, for nearly 11 years now — since he came down the golden escalator in June 2015 — and they still don’t quite get it.
As this week’s primary elections in Indiana were approaching back in April, Politico went to check on the efforts of President Trump’s team to unseat eight Republican state senators. These were the ones who opposed the congressional redistricting Mr. Trump had demanded to compensate for Democratic states nationwide that have engaged in rampant gerrymandering, both historically and recently.
Politico went looking for bad news for Mr. Trump, and it made sure to find it.
“Trump’s redistricting revenge tour in Indiana isn’t going so well,” declared their headline on April 23.
Less than two weeks later, this Tuesday, at least five of those eight senators went down to defeat in their primaries. They lost to Trump-backed candidates selected specifically to beat them.
The entirety of the media had no choice but to acknowledge the painful truth to themselves: Mr. Trump’s hold and influence on the Republican Party is as strong as ever.
If you are Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which partially borders Indiana as well as Ohio, you would take this as a flashing red warning sign, if you had any sense at all.
Mr. Massie is in a similar circumstance to those Hoosier State senators, but for different reasons. He has fed his ego with frequent attempts to needle Mr. Trump and obstruct his agenda, which happens to be the policy blueprint on which the president and the Republican Congress were elected.
Instead of pulling in the same direction, Mr. Massie has sided with radical leftist Democrats against the signature legislative achievements of the administration.
He opposed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave the largest tax cut in American history and eliminated taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.
He opposed permanently increasing the child tax credit and making loan interest on an American-made car deductible.
He opposed expanding domestic energy production, securing the border and hiring more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.
Mr. Massie voted against all these things and, on top of all that, increasingly talks today as if he is on the side of Iran in the current conflict with the United States.
Though he originally tricked voters into thinking he supported a three-term limit on House members, he is now seeking his eighth term in Congress, and voters are thinking they have had enough of his act.
Mr. Massie already had problems with Republicans in his district because of his many breaks with the president, but his situation has become far more urgent. His main concern now is Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and multiple Bronze Star recipient, whose new mission is to defeat Mr. Massie. Mr. Trump has endorsed Mr. Gallrein in the May 19 primary.
Mr. Gallrein, a client of my public affairs firm, served multiple tours with legendary SEAL Team 6 during a 30-year Navy career, during which he also qualified as an Army Ranger. After his service, he returned to his family farm, where the Gallreins have been working the land for a century.
He enjoys the wholehearted endorsement of Mr. Trump and is a solidly conservative Republican — duty, honor, country — which is a far better fit for the district than a grandstanding contrarian who enjoys being CNN’s darling because he is constantly sticking a finger in Mr. Trump’s eye.
You can tell that Mr. Massie understands that his back is against the wall because one of his minions recently “discovered” some opposition research and tried to use it against Mr. Gallrein. Using an undisclosed document as a source, a radio and podcast host implied that there was something untoward about the former SEAL’s Veterans Affairs disability rating, even though it is widely known that veterans have no control over that assessment.
To say it backfired on Mr. Massie is like saying Kamala Harris was only slightly awful as a presidential candidate.
“Massie ally sparks backlash after accusing Trump-backed challenger of abusing VA benefits,” screamed the headline on FoxNews.com.
Inside the story, Mark Lucas, the founder and president of the advocacy group Veteran Action, said the Massie attack was not going over well in the veteran community.
“I think it’s disgraceful that any type of campaign would try to use a VA disability rating against somebody,” Mr. Lucas said.
There are bound to be more such attacks as Mr. Massie runs out of time.
Even though the national news media may not often get it, someone who has been in Congress as long as Mr. Massie should see the signs.
Because if Mr. Gallrein does indeed triumph in this Kentucky Republican primary, then it shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows what happened in Indiana.
• Tim Murtaugh is a Washington Times columnist and founder of Line Drive Public Affairs. He served as a senior adviser on the 2024 Trump campaign and as communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign.
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