Escalating his feud with Rep. Thomas Massie, President Donald Trump on Wednesday will hit the pause button on overseeing the Iran war with a swing through the rebellious Kentuckian’s district amid Massie's primary battle. Trump ostensibly will be in Ohio and the neighboring Bluegrass State to push his administration’s efforts to lower prices. But he rarely opts against slipping in a verbal jab against Massie, the remaining House Republican most willing to criticize the president and buck his whims. Speaking at a House Republican policy retreat Monday in Miami, Trump started by telling the lawmakers he wanted to “congratulate you” because “the Republican Party has fantastic spirit.” “[A] level I don't think has been seen before. I really don't. We have to get a couple of people on board which, you know, at least one case is virtually impossible,” he said, appearing to refer to Massie. “I wonder who that might be? Sick person.” To that end, Massie voted with Trump last year 77.6 percent of the time when the president’s stance on a bill was known, and defied him 22.4 percent of the time, according to a CQ Roll Call vote studies analysis. Among House Republicans eligible for all floor votes, only Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick (67.1 percent in support and 32.9 percent opposed) had a lower presidential support score. Most recently, Massie has drawn the president's anger by pushing hard for the Justice Department to release all files related to deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, something Trump long resisted. The visit will showcase Trump’s midterms high-wire act, pitting his quest for political revenge against his desire to retain the House — and avoid two years of intense investigations by Democrats. Trump and his allies argue that the Kentucky Republican’s signature independent streak has jeopardized the “Make America Great” agenda. The president has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL officer, as he attempts in the May 19 primary to oust Massie, a seven-term incumbent while holding the 4th District seat. The president used part of his remarks at the Feb. 5 National Prayer Breakfast to rip into Massie. “We have one that doesn't get there. We have one guy, he's an automatic no, no matter what. If we did welfare reform, if we did the greatest thing in history for religion, no matter what we did, no matter how good it is, greatest tax cuts in, we just did the greatest tax cuts in history. He voted against,” he said. “No matter what we do, this moron, no matter what it is. We could put them all together. … We'll put them in one bill and we'll put them before, we'll get 100 percent vote, except for this guy named Thomas Massie. There's something wrong with him. “We call him Rand Paul Jr. You know, it's like they just vote no. They love voting no,” Trump said that morning. “They think it's good politically. The guy's polling at about 9 percent. It's not good.” Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said getting a sense of where primaries for House seats stand typically is very tough. Still, he said Massie could be among the rare GOP members who prove immune to Trump’s ire. “One generally does not want to be on the opposite side of Trump in a Republican primary, but Trump's endorsement is also not always the be-all and end-all of GOP primaries,” Kondik said Tuesday. “There have been incumbents who have survived being on the wrong side of Trump.” Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman, on Tuesday said the boss “will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.” But even while U.S. military aircraft and warships continue bombarding targets inside Iran, Trump has focused, at times, on his campaigner in chief role. He claimed during his talk to House Republicans on Monday that he has a perfect record in GOP primaries so far this cycle. And he made clear he is betting his endorsement of candidates including Gallrein will keep that alleged streak alive. “Once I became president, I never contributed any money because the greatest thing about being president is I no longer have to contribute. Nobody ever asks me for money,” he said with a chuckle. “They asked me for my endorsement. I've endorsed just about everybody in the room, but keep winning, right? … 124 wins, no losses — is that good?”
