Trump’s Massie feud exposes a growing GOP problem

President Trump is on a political 'jihad' to get rid of Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie.

He's mad at him and has turned the MAGA base against him because Massie dared to vote against the "Big Beautiful Bill" and fought for the full release of the Epstein files.

The "BBB" certainly included some very positive tax cuts, such as raising the cap on state and local taxes, exempting tips from tax up to a limit, and offering other benefits to small businesses and other taxpayers.

To be clear, President Trump needed to be returned to the White House.

He closed the border, cleaned up the streets in many of our cities and let's not forget MAHA.

So, mostly great.

However, his handling of the Epstein files, his support for some very liberal GOP senators (who also oppose him on critical bills like the SAVE ACT), and his retribution tour trying to destroy strong liberty-minded, common-sense leaders in Congress, like Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert and Rand Paul, show a very reckless and emotional side of the president.

This could lead to a split and, in the worst case, a collapse of the Republican Party.

Younger voters are breaking from Trump-style politics

The challenge is that Trump has become a 'cult-like' figure, telling supporters what to think, and many of the MAGA followers have shown they are willing to discard what they have known and believed for years or even decades to follow the leader in hating people they would have otherwise loved.

It's unsettling to watch it happen in real time.

Over the weekend, in a Saturday election in Louisiana, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy came in third behind a Trump-endorsed congresswoman and the current state treasurer.

Trump's endorsement wasn't strong enough to get his candidate over 50%, so now two pro-Trump candidates will face off in a runoff election next month.

Clearly, many voters are willing to vote against a Trump-backed candidate and make a decision based on the quality of the actual people running.

Let's be clear, Cassidy was DOA in the primary after he voted to convict the President following the Democratic sham of "January 6th."

This was more about a senator openly attacking the president, which raised the ire of most GOP voters in Louisiana, and had very little to do with his endorsement of the challenger.

The MAGA blind loyalty is showing that it really breaks along age lines, as seen in Kentucky, where Congressman Massie holds an insurmountable lead among voters younger than 45

Among voters aged 35 and younger, the incumbent songressman is ahead 72% to 16.2%.

Young voters have a label, they're called the future.

President Trump's launching another war, coupled with the continuation of billions of dollars in funding for the war in Ukraine and the Israeli war in Gaza (however justified after the horrific attack from Hamas on Oct. 7) has clearly soured many young voters.

It doesn't help that gas prices are at record highs and the cost of basic living expenses, rent, energy and insurance is out of reach for many young working families.

Trump's dismissal of those concerns was a real slap in the face.

Affordability is becoming the issue Republicans can’t ignore

It also doesn't help that Trump negotiated/kowtowed to the Chinese communists by seemingly ignoring what many have called spy stations around the United States, kept the student visas for half a million Chinese nationals and accepted the CCP-related companies buying up our farmland.

Many younger voters are seeing no viable option with the Republicans ignoring the most important issue: affordability. As a result, they have turned to a very dangerous prospect: electing actual socialists to deliver what they expect.

The Mamdani win in New York City should have sent a strong message to the man occupying the Oval Office but the president chose to double down and go on a rampage to remove anyone who dares oppose him.

Look at New York City and state: the GOP couldn't muster a serious challenger to the Democrats. Trump, for his part, tanked any chances the GOP nominee would have had by his panicked support of the former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Donald Trump's tone-deafness in the NYC race and the false bravado of threatening to "cut off funding" if Mamdani won was never taken seriously and defiant voters elected a near-communist instead of kowtowing to Trump's bully tactics.

I called this out on my show and got hammered by the MAGA keyboard warriors for not following Trump's lead and supporting a Democrat over the Republicans, crazy.

Many of those same warriors took to social media to blast me for pushing back on the President during COVID and opposing "Warp Speed."

How'd that work out for you?

Even as recently as the 2025 New Jersey governor's race, Trump-aligned PACs and others spent millions of dollars lying about my record as a Trump supporter, using my smart and justified questions and pushback during his first term as the reason to support the other candidate.

It worked. I lost and the guy who won was defeated in the general election because voters, even Trump voters, clearly didn't want a Trump yes-man who was only posing as a Trump supporter.

Yes, hundreds of thousands of 2024 Trump voters stayed home, independents broke for her and young voters went 2 to 1 for the Democrat.

The weak, unorganized and unprincipled NJGOP handed Sherrill the election by making the race about a silly issue of her not walking at graduation or ratting on her fellow midshipmen.

Meanwhile, the Democrats cornered the conversation on affordability and energy, so now New Jersey must suffer another four years of Democratic rule.

Trump's bullying and fear-mongering aren't working

For all the good that the president has done, he seems set on undoing it as we head into the midterm elections.

If the Supreme Court hadn't smartly struck down the racist district lines drawn by morally bankrupt Democrats, the GOP would be headed into a double-digit seat loss. Instead, they might squeak out more wins than expected because of new districts drawn to suit RED voters.

The real challenge is that the MAGA base is becoming the party of older voters, alienating younger Americans, a strategy we might call "less-than-sustainable."

We see this playing out in Kentucky District 4, where voters aged 66 and older support the hand-picked Trump 'Yes-Man" by a 2 to 1 margin.

Here's the challenge: Donald Trump's bullying and fear-mongering aren't working.

Gas, energy, insurance, food and housing are out of reach for many working-class families in every state. People in blue states are working two and three jobs to make ends meet.

People in the gig economy are under assault by corrupt union bosses who are bullying Democratic lawmakers to fill their diminishing ranks.

And of course, the lawmakers are happy to participate in another money grab on the backs of the middle class.

This is what Donald Trump should be fighting for and advocating every day. Instead, he punches down on late-night hosts on social media and threatens to ruin anyone who stands in his way.

He is truly making the Democrats sound smart (really hard to do) with their claims that he acts like a "king."

No political leader should be beyond questioning, challenging and being held accountable.

We shouldn't need Democrats, who have created nearly every crisis we are currently dealing with, to tell us that the GOP should have room for debate and discourse when our own leaders need refocusing.

China, immigration and foreign policy frustrations keep growing

The president is justifiably seeing backlash from those of us who think the H1B1 program should end so those jobs can go to qualified American students. Hundreds of thousands are kept out of the market because of Chinese and Indian nationals, and their champion in the White House, hardly an America First policy.

We are right to push back on the Chinese land grab, especially since our enemy is buying up hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural and farmland, much of which is adjacent to US military bases.

We are right to push back on extending student visas to more than half a million Chinese nationals, many of whom likely have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Either way, they are taking up seats in schools that should also go to American students.

The president campaigned on speaking for America, and instead, we're getting his NYC-style wheeling and dealing with our enemies as Americans struggle to deal with the spiking cost of living for basic needs.

Meanwhile, those of us who supported ending the terror-sponsoring regime in Tehran now have to question why it is taking so long to bring them down.

The president talked about freeing the Iranian people from tyranny and slavery, but has so far failed to deliver. The war continues; the Strait of Hormuz blockades, which are on again and off again, have disrupted oil supplies and are a major cause of spiking prices for Americans.

If the only issue was preventing Iran from enriching enough uranium to send a missile hurtling toward Manhattan, haven't we already accomplished that?

Why aren't we supplying small arms to the resistance and employing a transitional leader, like the Crown Prince, to end the war and create a U.S. ally?

We have certainly done as much in other nations.

Trump’s legacy fight could reshape the Republican Party

Instead of empowering Americans, Trump seems focused only on his legacy.

The MAGA cult following, especially older voters, is falling right in line.

Remember this: Donald Trump is a lame-duck President.

We will have to pick up the pieces when he leaves office in January 2029. That means today we must build and support the leaders for the future by empowering those who want a return to the Reagan legacy of defeating our enemies and reducing the size and scope of government.

Congressman Thomas Massie is one of only a handful of patriots with the courage, principles and tenacity to challenge the groupthink that is destroying the GOP, and serving as a welcome mat for the socialist Democrats to seize power.

We need more Tom Massies who truly put America first.

If he loses his primary to a man who lacks political courage and was 'bought and paid for' by lobbyists, the ramifications will be felt across the nation.

Blue and Red state candidates and current representatives will likely be too timid to stand up to Trump.

I can hear it now, "I can't oppose him, or he'll target me!" And, "I can't help my constituents if I'm out of office."

The excuses from these weak Republicans (most of the House and Senate) will flow at the same pace as young voters leaving the Grand Old Party in droves.

Donald Trump, who campaigned and governed at the start as a true patriotic populist, may actually have his legacy cemented as the guy who brought down an institution that has somehow survived for one hundred and seventy-two years.

We'll have to see when the polls close in that small district in Kentucky on Tuesday night.

Good luck.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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