President Donald Trump on Wednesday traveled to the home district of his longtime political target, Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, where he spoke on the economy and the Iran war but also spent much of his speech attacking Massie as "disloyal" while endorsing his GOP primary opponent.
"We got to get rid of this loser. This guy is bad," Trump said in Hebron, Kentucky. "He's disloyal to the Republican Party. He's disloyal to the people of Kentucky. And most importantly, he is disloyal to the United States of America."
Massie was one of two House Republicans who last week bucked party leaders and voted in favor of an Iran war powers resolution aimed at reining in Trump's power to take unilateral military action.
Earlier Wednesday, in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Massie said his constituents have raised concerns about the war and its impact on their cost of living.
"The first few days they the war was popular, but then, as we saw gasoline and diesel prices go up, people started to talk about, you know, 'what are the goals?' 'How long is this going to go on?'" Massie said, who added that, the longer the war goes, "the public sentiment among Republicans will turn against it."
Last week, Trump said the war with Iran could take four to five weeks. Days later, he warned Iran that the U.S. had "virtually unlimited supply" of munitions and that it could fight a war "forever."
Massie told ABC News that the fallout -- and the war's impact on the global fertilizer trade -- will hit farmers in his district and ultimately consumers at the grocery store.
"What we're seeing in Kentucky is farmers are getting ready to plant crops, and they've got to purchase their fertilize. They have held off on that, hoping the price would go down, and now the price is skyrocketing on fertilizer. We're going to see the price of delivering food go up. So there's going to be a triple whammy here," he said, adding that prices for groceries will increase "very soon."
A recent poll from Ipsos found that 43% of Americans disapprove of the U.S. strikes on Iran, 29% approve, and 26% are unsure.
Support for the war is higher among Republicans than the general public or any other group: 66% of Republicans approve of the U.S. strikes, 11% disapprove, and 31% are unsure.
Some prominent conservatives and media personalities, including podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 election, have criticized the U.S. operation.
Trump's visit to Kentucky came amid an ongoing, bitter feud between Massie and Trump-endorsed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein -- and just two months ahead of the GOP primary -- one of the party’s few significant MAGA proxy battles this year.
The race is also one of the most expensive House GOP primaries of the 2026 cycle.
Gallrein briefly joined Trump on stage, telling the crowd, "you deserve an authentic, true Republican conservative that stands shoulder to shoulder with our president and the Republican Party and against the Democrats who are trying to destroy our nation."
Massie has long been the subject of Trump’s ire, but it has ramped up this cycle with Massie's unwavering push for the release of the files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as his opposition to significant legislation championed by the president, including his chief domestic policy package.
Trump has called Massie the "worst" Republican in Congress, and a "moron" after he led the push to release the Epstein files. Trump has endorsed Gallrein after the president, in October, said Massie "SHOULD BE PRIMARIED" and that he would "lead the charge against him."
Massie laughed off Trump's attacks and argued that with the Epstein files and pushing back on the Iran war, he is staying true to some of the campaign promises Trump ran on in 2024.
"He campaigned on releasing [the Epstein files]," Massie said.
The president’s rhetoric toward Massie is not new -- in 2020, Trump called on the GOP to "throw Massie out of Republican party" following the congressman’s opposition to a coronavirus relief bill. Still, Massie won his primary by 62 points. In 2022, Trump endorsed Massie for reelection, calling him a "conservative warrior." Massie won by nearly 60 points that year.
But with Massie on the outs with Trump once again, Kentucky’s primary election -- which will take place on May 19 -- is expected to remain contentious.