During a speech in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2019, [Donald Trump](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/donald-trump/) searched the crowd for one of the state’s congressmen who he had just seen on TV.
“He’s so good. You can do television for me anytime you want,” Mr Trump said, peering off the stage. “Congressman Thomas Massie. Where’s Thomas?”
The Kentucky representative, who endorsed Mr Trump’s 2016 Make America Great Again campaign, was at one time mooted for a possible cabinet role during the president’s term.
But recently, Mr Trump has heaped scorn on the man he once called a “great warrior”.
In a tirade on Truth Social in January, he described Mr Massie as a “lightweight,” “a totally ineffective LOSER,” and “the Worst “Republican” Congressman we have had in many years”.
The Libertarian and anti-interventionist Mr Massie has emerged as one of the harshest critics of the administration from within Mr Trump’s own party.
Their feud began within just a matter of months of that speech in Louisville in 2019. Mr Massie forced Congress back to Washington in the midst of the pandemic over a vote on a $2tn (£1.6tn) coronavirus rescue package that he opposed. At the time, Mr Trump said he should be thrown out of the GOP, describing him as a “third rate Grandstander”.
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***The Telegraph reports:***
During a speech in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2019, [Donald Trump](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/donald-trump/) searched the crowd for one of the state’s congressmen who he had just seen on TV.
“He’s so good. You can do television for me anytime you want,” Mr Trump said, peering off the stage. “Congressman Thomas Massie. Where’s Thomas?”
The Kentucky representative, who endorsed Mr Trump’s 2016 Make America Great Again campaign, was at one time mooted for a possible cabinet role during the president’s term.
But recently, Mr Trump has heaped scorn on the man he once called a “great warrior”.
In a tirade on Truth Social in January, he described Mr Massie as a “lightweight,” “a totally ineffective LOSER,” and “the Worst “Republican” Congressman we have had in many years”.
The Libertarian and anti-interventionist Mr Massie has emerged as one of the harshest critics of the administration from within Mr Trump’s own party.
Their feud began within just a matter of months of that speech in Louisville in 2019. Mr Massie forced Congress back to Washington in the midst of the pandemic over a vote on a $2tn (£1.6tn) coronavirus rescue package that he opposed. At the time, Mr Trump said he should be thrown out of the GOP, describing him as a “third rate Grandstander”.
Since the start of Mr Trump’s second term, Mr Massie has challenged the president over his [military intervention in Venezuela](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/03/donald-trump-us-troops-captured-nicolas-maduro-venezuela/) and his reluctance to release the Epstein files. “Wake up MAGA,” he posted to X after the Trump administration captured Nicolas Maduro in January. “This is not what we voted for.”
Facing a re-election battle in Kentucky against a candidate endorsed by Mr Trump, Mr Massie is showing no signs of backing off.
**Read more:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/02/10/thomas-massie-epstein-files-trump-hate/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/02/10/thomas-massie-epstein-files-trump-hate/)