{"id":25315,"date":"2024-03-26T23:49:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T04:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=25315"},"modified":"2024-03-26T23:49:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T04:49:22","slug":"massie-blasts-trumps-ridiculous-bullying-tactics-in-trying-to-primary-florida-republican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=25315","title":{"rendered":"Massie blasts Trump\u2019s \u2018ridiculous bullying tactics\u2019 in trying to primary Florida Republican"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rep. Thomas Massie\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Ky.) on Monday slammed former President Trump\u2002<\/u><\/a>for encouraging a primary challenge against a Florida Republican, saying he was employing \u201cridiculous bullying tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Sunday took aim at Rep. Laurel Lee\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Fla.), the only member of the Florida House delegation to endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2002<\/u><\/a>over Trump in the GOP presidential primary. She ultimately endorsed Trump after DeSantis ended his campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny great MAGA Republicans looking to run against Laurel Lee in Florida\u2019s 15th Congressional District? IF SO, PLEASE STEP FORWARD!\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massie, who also initially endorsed DeSantis, shot back at Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is unhelpful and unwarranted,\u201d Massie wrote on social media<\/u><\/a>. \u201c@RepLaurelLee is a conservative thoughtful member of the judiciary committee. She endorsed DeSantis for President but then endorsed Trump when DeSantis got out of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore of my colleagues should call out these ridiculous bullying tactics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Chip Roy\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Texas), who also initially backed DeSantis over Trump in the GOP presidential primary, signaled he agreed with Massie\u2019s sentiment, writing, \u201cCo-sponsor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for Lee declined to comment for the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee, who served as Florida\u2019s secretary of state during the 2020 election, resisted calls to conduct an audit in the aftermath of the election, as voters became more animated by the false claims that the election was rigged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee repeatedly reminded<\/u><\/a> Floridians that pre- and post-election audits had already been conducted, as required by state law in Florida, and insisted the election was \u201caccurate,\u201d and that \u201cWe are confident in the security and integrity of our 2020 election results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went on to endorse DeSantis in April 2023, before he had even formally launched his presidential bid, and then ultimately backed Trump in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massie\u2019s jab at Trump is also not the first time the libertarian-leaning legislator has found himself at odds with the former president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump called for Massie to be kicked out<\/u><\/a> of the Republican Party over his opposition to a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package that the then-president was pushing Republicans to pass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress,\u201d Trump posted at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!\u201d Trump said in another social media post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, however, eventually came back<\/u><\/a> around to endorsing Massie\u2019s 2022 reelection campaign, in which Massie had been expected to win in a landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Thomas Massie\u2002(R-Ky.) on Monday slammed former President Trump\u2002for encouraging a primary challenge against a Florida Republican, saying he was employing \u201cridiculous bullying tactics.\u201d Trump on Sunday took aim at Rep. Laurel Lee\u2002(R-Fla.), the only member of the Florida House delegation to endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2002over Trump in the GOP presidential primary. She ultimately endorsed Trump after DeSantis ended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1637,4366,1437,27422,23838,1230],"class_list":["post-25315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-campaign","tag-condemnation","tag-florida","tag-massie","tag-strategy","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25321,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25315\/revisions\/25321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}