The Emperor and The Gladiator
The Trump V. Massie Dustup
I wish I could figure out what the blazes President Donald Trump is trying to do from day to day. One minute I’m cheering him on, and the next I am perplexed, left wondering what the end-game really is.
For example, he recently decided to pick a fight with U.S. House Representative Thomas Massie [R-KY] over the stupid CR. He was quite merciless in his attack, and it was a pointless attack; Trump had already secured the votes he needed for it to pass, yet for some reason he went at it like a bear tearing into an adversary.
With that noted, I don’t think the assault unfolded as he envisioned it would…
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning that he had hauled in $261,000 in campaign donations in recent days since President Donald Trump targeted him for ouster for opposing a government-funding measure.
Considering the fact Trump went so far as to fire up a ‘primary challenge’ threat with his vitriolic attacks, and Average Citizens responded like this? I think it is telling, for while the Trump loyalists were viciously going after Massie… there were also a LOT of those that voted for POTUS who ended up publicly backing the Congressman.
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While I have obviously praised the president when I think it is warranted, I have also called him out when something bothers me. This bothers me, because Massie has been one of the strongest ‘Americans First’ advocates on Capital Hill.
He stood firm against COVID mandates (and pretty much everything COVID-related), and has been one of the few who has not been bought by foreign coin, having publicly spoken out against it. While he has certainly made mistakes here and there (he is still human, after all), he remains one of the most un-politician politicians in DC, the closest thing we have to a true ‘statesman.’
Yet Trump keeps looking for reasons to verbally assault him. Is it because of these stances (the President is still very proud of his little Operation Warp-Speed and the first stimulus package, and is heavily invested in at least one nation overseas, one which Massie has rejected), or is something else at play?
Whatever is the case, this is one of the aspects of our current president I find most unappealing: When he is not getting his absolute way, he’s like a bullying drama-vlogger on TikTok, going after a creator with a much-smaller ‘followers’ list for the tiniest of slights. We have seen this recently unfold a few times with Trump (even with his fellow Republicans), and we saw it again with Massie.
To be honest, I was hesitant to even post this, due to the fact I have been trying to step away from national politics; not only am I no expert, but I almost always lose subscribers when I do, usually (and ironically) from multiple ‘sides.’
To me, this goes well beyond mere ‘politics,’ for it speaks to our president’s overall mindset, and how we can (or should) react to it. It also has the power to adversely affect our daily, local-living lives, thus I feel it is worth the risk to cover it.
You may remember I said I voted for Trump mostly to give us a four-year respite from the incursion of Globalist ideology, and to get a little breathing room so that we can prepare for what is almost certain to come after the next four years are done. Behavior like this, however, from the (allegedly) most powerful man in the world?
Yeah, it bothers me.
If any other man (or woman - no need to be sexist) was in the White House and acting this way, I would be equally bothered; Trump should not get a pass because of his record, past or present. As such, while I still firmly believe Trump is going to take actions which will benefit us?
You might just want to step on the gas a little bit when it comes to getting those preparations polished off. No need to go into ‘panic’ mode just yet, but now I am not 100% confident we are going to get all four of those years to get ‘ready.’
After all, punching down at a man who would otherwise support your policies is not the act of a confident, steady leader, and when such a leader is in place, in a Constitutional Republic? It can and will never end well for the commoners whom said-leader is supposed to be serving.
And in this case? Those commoners… are us.
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Notes…
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As a huge fan of Massie, and a non fan of repeated Continuing Resolutions that do absolutely nothing to curtail spending, borrowing, or the national debt, I share your concern.
One thing I did notice during Trump's first term was that he would quite often talk up some whacked out idea or plan that would get the media and pundits all really focused on that, and then at the same time he'd do something of value when no one was watching, and hence it would be done by the time anyone even noticed. Particularly around regulatory reform. This was, I think, too much of a pattern to be random, so I have to believe that it was planned. As a result, I've never taken the strange pronouncements overly seriously.
That said, I don't think that we elected a fiscal conservative or a budget cutter in Trump. Throughout his first term he spent like a drunken sailor, and I presume that will continue. Rather than cut spending, his idea seems to be to grow beyond the debt. Certainly Congressman Massie holds a wildly divergent view from that, so perhaps that is the cause of the attacks. (Assuming that they are not theater.)
Ultimately, this country will have to move towards Massie's economic ideas, or turn into an economic basket case. We can't just keep expanding the debt load forever.
This could be signs of the fractures in the house festering for some time. In the Tucker Carlson interview, Massie made clear he didn’t agree with Mike Johnson’s sudden reversal on the Ukraine/Israel spending bills. Massie was perplexed Johnson had this “revelation” after a security briefing, of which Massie attended and personally saw no revelations. And he was always against sending more money to either country. To me, Massie seems like an old school fiscal conservative and clearly America first. Johnson does not. That said, Trump is hitched to speaker Johnson’s wagon if he wants anything done. Massie will always point out what he sees as BS, and I doubt Massie was offended at Trumps outburst. Yet, the RINOs will work in the background to leverage any angle they can to push the deep state agenda. Perhaps Trump’s outburst was meant for them as much as Massie.
We have to remember the fractures in congress are massive, and Trump saw this upfront in how quickly they trashed his original pick for AG, Matt Gaetz. Matt he found out the blowback for having a speaker ousted came from the senate. As someone mentioned earlier, the majorities are slim in congress.