Donald Trump’s political enemy, Rep. Thomas Massie, got an unexpected boost after the president went scorched earth against him during a visit to his Kentucky district.
In an embarrassing development for the president, Massie actually saw a jump in the likelihood of him winning his primary in the Kalshi prediction market after Trump rallied with his opponent in the state.
On Wednesday, the betting market had a just over 53 percent chance of him winning the primary over challenger Ed Gallrein at just under 47 percent. On Thursday, after the president’s visit, the markets had Massie up 66 percent to Gallrein’s 38 percent in the Kentucky 4th congressional district GOP primary.
While betting markets are not often the most accurate indicator of an election outcome, they do provide a strong read on how people currently view a race.
Massie reacted in a post on X that “nobody fell for the sad attempt to breathe life into his stale campaign.”
At his rally in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, Trump went on a more than eight-minute rant about Massie. He called him a “nut job” and a “disaster” and accused him of voting against “everything.”
The president noted that Massie, an MIT graduate, went to a “good college” but then rambled about how he had an uncle who was a longtime professor at MIT, so it meant he had “much better blood if you go by that.”
It was noticeable that Trump did not mention how Massie had been the key lawmaker behind the effort to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, which the president has railed fiercely against, instead accusing Massie of being “disloyal to the United States of America.”
Trump first claimed at the event that he just needed a “warm body to beat Massie” before praising Gallrein as out of central casting. But when he called Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and farmer, to join him, Gallrein’s brief speech was quickly ridiculed online.
“Tom Massie stands with the ladies of The View. Mr. President, we stand with you. Fight! Fight! Fight!” Gallrein shouted, his voice cracking.
Earlier in the day, Trump twisted himself in knots to explain why he was backing a candidate who once exited the Republican party when he first rose to power.
“The Republican Party’s Worst ‘Congressman,’ EVER, Thomas Massie, is attacking GREAT Navy Seal Hero, Ed Gallrein, who is running against him in the Primary, saying that Ed became an Independent for a period of time, long ago,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The fact is, many people do that, but Ed still supported me, and strongly, which is far more than Massie ever did, or does.”
The president went on to say that Gallrein “came back into the Party after he saw the Strength and ‘Wisdom’ that I displayed. Many people have joined, and rejoined, our Party, but Massie did not, because he only votes, ‘NO!’”
The president later repeated his defense of Gallrein from the podium while in the district.
The Kentucky congressman has backed many of Trump’s priorities, but he has split with Trump on the release of the Epstein files and tariffs. More recently, he has also been a vocal critic of the war in Iran.
Last summer, he also voted against Trump’s so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill Act despite supporting some of the included provisions because he opposed further raising the deficit. However, Massie did vote in support of the SAVE America Act, Trump’s current top priority, last year.
That has not stopped the president’s ranting against him. He went on his post to slam the congressman as a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER as a Congressman, and a Human Being.”
“He is disloyal to the Republican Party, the People of Kentucky and, most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America! He is a MISFIT, who should be voted out of Office, ASAP,” Trump ranted.
The president’s post came after Massie launched an ad this week attacking “woke” Gallrein for leaving the Republican Party right after Trump became its presidential nominee in 2016. It also highlighted that he only rejoined the party when Trump left office in 2021, blasting Gallrein as “not just a Trump hater, a Trump traitor.”
But the president downplayed it as he kept attacking his GOP political foe in a series of attacks ahead of visiting his district.
In another post earlier on Wednesday, Trump predicted “‘Representative’ Thomas Massie will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress, even worse than Crazy Liz Chaney, Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger, and Marjorie “Traitor” Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown under stress!)," he wrote.
“They are all misfits and losers, but Massie, who is running against a great American Patriot in the Kentucky Primary, will hopefully lose BIG,” Trump added.
Last month, Trump went on an ugly attack against the Kentucky lawmaker by suggesting his wife was part of the “radical left.”
Last fall, the president also appeared to mock Massie’s remarriage, more than a year after his wife of more than 35 years and high school sweetheart died in 2023.
Gallrein celebrated Trump’s work in Washington before joining him on his visit to the state. The GOP challenger has been quick to tout the president’s endorsement and share his recent posts attacking Massie.
The Kentucky primary is May 19.
