The White House will host Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks as they plot to oust GOP rebel Thomas Massie for publicly disagreeing with President Trump, according to a report.
Massie has been persona non grata within MAGA circles after the Kentucky congressman voiced his opposition to Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and his decision to launch airstrikes in Iran. Trump advisers have already launched a super PAC running a series of attack ads against Massie as MAGA tries to undermine him ahead of next year’s Republican primary.
Now, according to Politico, White House officials will meet in the coming weeks with Reed, a retired Navy SEAL who once called Massie one of “America’s greatest congressmen.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Massie, Reed, and the White House for comment.
It comes just days after Trump allies launched MAGA Kentucky, a super PAC dedicated to defeating Massie, with the president reacting to the news by promising to “campaign really hard” in Kentucky to ensure a “wonderful American patriot” unseats the six-time incumbent congressman.
The president and his advisers have also launched an all-out attack on Massie on social media, with Trump telling his MAGA base to dump “LOSER” Massie and “GET THIS ‘BUM’ OUT OF OFFICE,” in a post on Truth Social.
“I think there’s a real opportunity…they’re going to spend upwards of $30 million to defeat Thomas Massie,” a Kentucky GOP operative told Politico last week of the PAC.
Massie, meanwhile, appears unperturbed by the target painted on his back by the GOP establishment, bragging to reporters that he had raised $120,000 in just 24 hours after Trump put out the call to unseat him.
“In 2020 I got my Trump antibodies from a natural infection when he came after me, and I survived,” the congressman told reporters Tuesday. “It will deplete his political capital if he doesn’t succeed, and he knows that. So that’s got to be part of his calculus.”
Massie previously endorsed Reed for state Senate.
The congressman is also still “very popular in Kentucky,” Sen. Rand Paul told Politico before confirming he would support him in the race.
Other Kentucky Republicans also believe that Trump is “overplaying his hand” and underestimating the strength of Massie’s base. The race is also an important one for the president’s credibility—if he throws his support behind Reed only to see him defeated, it may empower more Republicans to speak out against Trump and his MAGA base.
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