He makes the demands.

Trump’s in charge, ladies and gentlemen of the Republican Party. Get in line, get out of the way, or you will get gone. You push back on his agenda, and you are gone.

U.S. Republican Rep Thomas Massie (KY-4) is the latest to learn this lesson too late. He could talk about “his principles” all day long, but what did he accomplish?

He went along with Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy in January 2023. In exchange for Massie’s support, McCarthy gave him a coveted spot on the House Rules committee.

In May 2023, McCarthy was pushing through another porkulus spending debt-ceiling increase. Fiscal conservatives were clamoring for its failure to happen. It came before the must-pass House Rules Committee, where it squeaked by to the floor on a 7-6 vote. Thomas Massie, Mr. “National Debt Alarm Clock,” principled libertarian conservative, was the tie-breaking vote.

At that point, I realized that Massie was all talk and no walk. There were no principles he was willing to fight for if it meant losing a seat on a key committee or not being able to grandstand against President Trump.

The same President Trump had endorsed him in 2020, even though Massie had made him mad by calling for a voice vote on the COVID-19 pandemic spending. The same President Trump backed him in 2024, as well.

When 2025 rolled in, with Trump at the helm and Republicans running both chambers of Congress, Massie just threw a fit and stalled the Speakership vote. Instead of incumbent Speaker Mike Johnson, Massie nominated Tom Emmer. The Minnesota Congressman had withdrawn his name from consideration two years ago because he was too liberal, more liberal than Johnson!

And yet, “principled conservative libertarian,” Massie chose the liberal Minnesotan.

Massie was a grandstander, a virtue-signaling grifter throughout the Second Trump Administration. He voted against immigration enforcement. He voted........

© Townhall