Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Sunday gave his two cents on losing his GOP primary to a Donald Trump-backed opponent when asked by “Meet the Press” whether it was “worth it” to break with the president on several issues.
“It was absolutely worth it for me,” he told host Kristen Welker, who pointed to the seven-term congressman’s push to release the Epstein files as well as his opposition to Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill and his unpopular Iran war.
“Now, I don’t think it’s going to be worth it for the party,” he added.
Massie was defeated by Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL, in a Republican primary that became the most expensive House primary in American history.
Massie emphasized that he has seven more months to “keep going against the grain” and vote for “principles” and people over party. And he proceeded to tweak a frequently used insult by the president — “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” or “TDS” — to warn of serious trouble ahead for his party.
“There’s a growing number of people on the right who have a form of ‘TDS’ called ‘Trump Disappointment Syndrome,’” said Massie, repeating phrasing used by ex-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) when she reimagined the so-called syndrome earlier this month.
“And I think what’s going to happen to the party this fall is they’ve disenfranchised a large portion of that constituency that Trump assembled to get us in the White House, in the Senate majority and in the House majority,” he continued.
He went on to accuse Trump and his administration of alienating the Republican base by “kowtowing to the pesticide manufacturers and the pharmaceutical manufacturers,” alienating “fiscal hawks by running ‘DOGE’ out of town” and alienating those who don’t want to fight a war “for other countries.”
“So I’m worried that in November this is going to cost the party a lot. But for me, it was completely worth it,” he said.
Moments earlier, Massie told Welker that he thinks the “biggest crime” he committed against “the swamp” in the nation’s capital was spearheading an effort with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to force the Justice Department to release its files on late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“[I] was showing the American people that somebody on the right could join somebody on the left and get something done, which is releasing the Epstein files that everybody knew needed to be done,” he said.