WASHINGTON, May 25, 2026 — President Donald Trump lumped Rep. Thomas Massie in with his Iran deal critics Sunday, calling the newly defeated Kentucky congressman “a major sleazebag” who showed “tremendous disloyalty to his Party and Country” — and celebrating his primary loss as well-deserved punishment for a pattern of opposition that included Massie’s resistance to Trump’s military campaign against Iran.
“Really bad Congressman Thomas Massie, a major sleazebag who lost in a landslide to a great American Patriot (Endorsed by ‘TRUMP’) after showing tremendous disloyalty to his Party and Country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Sunday morning.
Massie as Iran Critic
Trump’s grouping of Massie alongside Iran deal critics was not incidental — Massie was one of the most vocal congressional opponents of Trump’s military campaign against Iran and the emerging nuclear framework. In June 2025, days after Trump authorized U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites in Operation Midnight Hammer, Massie co-sponsored a bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to prohibit U.S. armed forces from conducting further unauthorized hostilities against Iran without congressional approval.
Massie called the airstrikes unconstitutional and went on CBS News’ Face the Nation to argue Congress had not authorized war with Iran. Trump responded immediately, calling Massie “not MAGA,” a “grandstander,” and announcing he would back a primary challenger. The Iran opposition became the final break in a relationship already strained by Massie’s votes against the One Big Beautiful Bill and years of fiscal independence from the Republican mainstream.
The Primary Result
Massie, a seven-term incumbent who had won his previous three primaries with at least 75 percent of the vote, lost to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein on May 19 — falling 54.4 percent to 45.6 percent, a margin of 10,280 votes out of 105,361 cast, according to official results from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office. The Associated Press called the race for Gallrein approximately two hours after polls closed.
Trump’s characterization of the result as “a landslide” overstates the margin — a roughly 9-point spread in a primary with record turnout is a significant defeat but not a traditional landslide. What is not in dispute is that Massie’s loss was decisive and came against a heavily funded challenge in a district Trump carried by more than 83 percent in 2024.
Gallrein — a retired Navy SEAL Captain, SEAL Team Six veteran, and Army Ranger School graduate who earned four Bronze Stars over three decades of military service — was recruited personally by Trump at a White House meeting in October 2025 and entered the race four days after Trump posted “RUN, ED, RUN” on Truth Social.
The Most Expensive House Primary in History
The race became the most expensive U.S. House primary in American history, with ad spending surpassing $25.6 million — fueled by the Kentucky MAGA super PAC run by Trump senior political advisers Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita, as well as contributions from pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and donors Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Kentucky the day before the primary to campaign for Gallrein at a rally in Hebron — an appearance that came, Trump later revealed, just hours before the U.S. had expected to launch a new military assault on Iran, an operation that was subsequently postponed.
‘Tremendous Disloyalty’
Trump’s Sunday post tied Massie’s defeat explicitly to what he described as disloyalty — not just on Iran, but across a pattern of votes that bucked the Republican leadership. Massie was one of only two House Republicans to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature legislative package that passed 218-214. He voted against multiple government funding bills, co-sponsored discharge petitions with Democrats, and helped lead the effort to compel the release of Jeffrey Epstein files — an effort that put him on a collision course with Trump’s Justice Department and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Massie also opposed Trump’s Iran airstrikes, called them unconstitutional, and introduced legislation to limit the president’s war powers — a move Trump cited repeatedly in his campaign against the incumbent. “He voted against our Military and Law Enforcement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month. “The Worst Republican Congressman in History.”
Cassidy as the Other Example
In the same Sunday post, Trump also referenced Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. — who voted to convict Trump in the 2021 Senate impeachment trial and was blocked from advancing in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary runoff last week, becoming the first sitting U.S. senator in modern history to fail to advance in his own party’s primary.
“These people should go home and rest,” Trump wrote of his critics broadly. “They do nothing but create division and loss. In other words, they are losers!”