During Trump’s second presidency, Republican Representative Thomas Massie has frequently come under fire from members of his own party, despite being one of the most conservative members of congress. Although Massie holds a similar view with most of his Republican colleagues on abortion, gun control, and illegal immigration, his stance on other issues have caused President Trump to endorse his challenger in the upcoming Kentucky primary election. Massie’s “no” vote on the Big Beautiful Bill, his efforts to release the Epstein files, and non-interventionist stance on foreign policy issues have been the main reasons for attacks on him by fellow republicans. But these attacks will only backfire and damage the Republican party’s reputation as the defender of conservative values and liberties of American citizens.

The GOP claims that its conservatism is as fiscal as it is social. But its record on deficit spending has shown a weaker fiscal record than one would expect. The administrations of Reagan, both Bushes’, and Trump all delivered massive tax cuts without proportional decreases in government spending, often with approval of Republicans in congress, keeping or increasing deficits of hundreds of billions of dollars. Meanwhile, the last budget surplus period was during President Clinton’s second term, and the Obama administration delivered a steady decline in the deficit despite weaker tax revenues in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Republicans in congress have repeatedly voted against expensive proposals such as Biden’s Build-Back-Better plan and Obamacare, but expressed little concern over Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill that will add trillions to the national debt over the next 10 years. Furthermore, with the Wars on Terror, 2026 Iran war, and massive increases to Pentagon budgets that have been supported in large part by Republicans in congress, they can forget about being fiscally responsible with spending too. Massie has even worn a “National Debt Clock” on his lapel for years to increase awareness of the unsustainability of federal spending, regardless of which party controls the White House.

Trump’s cover up of the Epstein files has alienated much of his voter base, and congressional Republicans have repeatedly resisted Massie’s efforts to release them. He has not been afraid to work with progressive democrats, such as Ro Khanna of California, to expose Epstein’s network of clients who molested children for years and continue to go unprosecuted. Trump’s many meetings with Epstein have fueled great suspicion that Trump’s cover up was motivated by his participation in the sex trafficking rings, after his supporters had floated similar theories about Hillary Clinton, Pizzagate, and Qanon for years against the Democrats. Not surprisingly, the released Epstein files show numerous accounts of victims mentioning Trump over the span of many years.

Lastly, and most importantly, Massie’s desire to keep America out of involvement in expensive, unwinnable foreign wars is the ultimate certification of his America-first adherence. He was widely praised for this position by Republicans during the Ukraine War under Biden’s administration, and called for the United States to withdraw from NATO. But his stance against Israel has generated very different reactions. He has called out the role of AIPAC in “babysitting” countless members of congress from both parties, and has criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza that have left tens of thousands of innocent civilians dead. Massie has noted that these wars have added trillions of dollars to the national debt, and are often unsuccessful, whether in Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.  Massie has always been a fighter against government overreach. During the Covid pandemic, he asserted that vaccine mandates were unconstitutional, and voted against the CARES Act in 2020 that essentially funded Covid lockdowns, killing numerous small businesses and American jobs. He also supports eliminating Federal Income Taxes and the Federal Reserve Bank system, returning to a model of laissez-faire capitalism and minimal government regulation. His commitment to the values that America was founded upon should be rewarded by conservatives, even 250 years after the Declaration of Independence.

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