Trump Allies Spend Millions Against Republicans as GOP Infighting Escalates Over Redistricting, Spending, and Iran

Let’s talk about how much money is getting spent by the Republicans against a Republican. Guys, this is what I talked about with the Senate races here. It’s the disingenuous nature of all of it. And so much of what Trump does, it feels like more about revenge than better public policy. Look, I’m not crying any tears for these incumbents that went down. We’ve talked about this at length. I loathe these people. Many of them have done immense harm to our state. But I’m also not going to lie to you and pretend like them going down was about better public policy in Indiana. It wasn’t. It was revenge. It was an act of revenge, revenge tour for Trump. And it was facilitated by people who are super subservient with Trump. People who fancy themselves the president of the United States some day, people like Jim Banks. The issues weren’t, I mean, how the hell do you let the gas tax be what it was for nine years, and then all of a sudden, Jim Buck voted against the gas tax. No kidding. That would have been very helpful nine years ago when we were trying to stop the gas tax from getting enacted. No one said a word about it until they wanted to punish the guy for his vote in redistricting. Jim Buck’s rotten. Glad he’s gone, but the person who won hasn’t been held to any sort of account or obligation once they’re in office. I have no idea what Tracie Powell’s going to do. None. Neither do you. That’s not a good thing.

Republican Primary Spending Raises Questions About Motives Behind Redistricting Battles

And if it was actually about redistricting, wouldn’t it have been better, or getting more seats in Congress, wouldn’t it have been better to spend all of that money winning the First Congressional District, which we’ve been told by Republicans for years is in play? It’s a swing district. It’s not. But they lie and say that to get money. So if you really believe that, why wouldn’t you spend the $13.5 million up there getting a good candidate to run and winning that race? The answer is they can’t win that race because they haven’t governed well enough to win that district. So they said, well, we’ll just change the map. It’s like one of the great two strike hitters in the history of baseball was Wade Boggs. Wade Boggs played for the Boston Red Sox. He played for the New York Yankees. Hall of Famer, third baseman, World Series champion, one of the great, probably one of the top three third basemen, along with Mike Schmidt and George Brett in the history of baseball. Wade Boggs was a phenomenal two strike hitter. His batting average with two strikes was astronomical. Normally when a guy gets two strikes, their batting average goes way down. But Wade Boggs, you had to get three strikes on him. That’s why he was such a tough out. Hey, he’s going to see as many pitches as he can, and he knows he can get two strikes on himself because he’s got a third strike, and he wants to see that pitcher throw as many pitches as he can.

Critics Say GOP Candidates Are Winning Without Clear Policy Accountability

It’d be like in the middle of the at bat, the pitcher goes, screw it. I can’t get the third strike on Boggs. He keeps fouling these pitches off. I can’t get him out. Let’s just change the rule to say it’s two strikes now. Boggs, you’re out of here. Well, you’re not going to do, that’s what the Republicans proposed doing. We’ve drawn these districts. We told everyone they were fair because they were. They actually are a very good representation of the state of Indiana. But we can’t win this First Congressional District because we haven’t governed effectively enough, both in our own state and in Washington, that people want to cross over and vote for us. We haven’t put policies in place that make people want to be a part of us, independents, the Democrats necessary to get it done. So we’ll just do the equivalent of with two strikes telling Wade Boggs he’s out because we can’t get him out. I’m not okay with that. I believe you win elections by governing, by records, by campaigning. It’s why I’m so frustrated with all of this. These candidates who won, do any of you have any idea what they’re going to do when they get in there? The answer is no. We do know Ron Alting now has flip flopped on redistricting. That’s what we know so far. That’s not set up for success for us. That’s not set up for betterment of us.

Trump and Pro-Israel Groups Pour Millions Into Effort to Defeat Thomas Massie

And the First Congressional District, they’ve not recruited a good candidate. There’s not going to be money flowing. They’re going to lose the seat. Well, they can’t lose the seat. They’re not going to win the seat. And now the same thing’s happening again in Kentucky, where Trump is more interested in going after Republicans than he is getting more Republicans. Now in this case, he’s going after the best Republican in the entire Congress, Thomas Massie, U.S. Representative, Kentucky. And he hates Massie because Massie votes against all the spending, votes against stuff that isn’t paid for. Massie believes, like many of you, the government should pay its bills. You want to spend a bunch of money, tax people for it. If you’re not going to tax them for it, don’t spend as much. Debt, deficits are future taxes. Guys like Massie don’t believe that people who don’t have a vote should get saddled with future taxes. And by the way, of course, debt also drives inflation, which makes everything more expensive. Trump hates Massie not because Massie has done anything wrong, but because Massie has the audacity to govern the way Republicans put on paper on their party platforms that they’re for governing. Massie says okay, words have meaning. Let’s do it. Well, we didn’t really mean that. But it says, no, we didn’t mean that. No, we’re just kidding. LOL JK. And so there has now been more than 25, according to Axios. Axios has a big write up on this this morning. There has now been more than $25.6 million in ad spending in Massie’s House district in his primary election, making it the most expensive U.S. House primary in American history already. Most of it is coming from the pro-Israel lobby and Trump. The pro-Israel people are mad because Massie is against the Iran war, because it is being done to serve Israel. Well, that’s what he believes. And many of us also believe that. I mean, guys, we’re going on 11 weeks into this Israel deal. And do you know why we did it? Well, Iran gas for Israel. Thank you. Thank you, Producer Jason. Yeah, we’re 11 weeks into this Iran deal. Maybe there was a Freudian slip, right? Do you know why we’re doing it? Well, Iran can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Okay. Didn’t we hear that same thing about Saddam Hussein? And somebody pointed out the other day and they’re right, if it’s all about somebody not having a nuclear weapon, well, why aren’t we in North Korea? Because they got one. They got several of them now. Why Iran? Why now? And Massie has said you should go to the Congress. I mean, we’re well past the 60 days at this point, and they’re getting fast and loose with that to say, well, there’s a pause, there’s a pause. It’s not engaged conflict. There’s a cease fire. Everyone should be outraged that the Trump administration is using that as an excuse not to get permission from Congress. I don’t care whether you’re the biggest Trump fan or not. That is pathetic.

Growing Republican Divide Emerges Over Spending, Iran Policy, and Government Debt

And so Massie said, I’m not voting for spending on Iran. I’m critical of this war with Iran. I don’t see a benefit for us doing this with Iran. And certainly every time we go to the gas pump, we’re seeing the detriment of doing it. Isn’t it weird that they’ve never made the case of what Iran was doing that was any different from the first year Trump was in office, or when Biden was in office, or when Trump was in office the first time? What did these people suddenly do that necessitated this engagement? Has anybody heard that? Has anybody heard any sort of specifics? And that has made the pro-Israel lobby big mad. And any time you dare say anything that isn’t 100% whatever Israel wants, whenever they want it, they spend a gajillion dollars against you. That’s the way it works in this country. Either you have absolute subserviency to the people of Israel, and you give them whatever they want, or they spend a zillion dollars against you. According to Axios, the Republican Jewish Coalition has spent $4 million on ads supporting Massie’s opponent with AIPAC super PAC United Democracy Project, spending another 2.6 million, according to AdImpact. That’s $6.6 million against the best, most rock solid, consistent, true conservative we have in the U.S. House of Representatives because he has the audacity to say, hey, if you’re going to go to war, declare war. If you’re going to do this, if you’re going to ruin our, if you’re going to make things more expensive back here at home, if you’re going to make it harder to live back here at home, you need to have a reason for it. You need to sell it to the American people. The second biggest spender, Trump aligned group MAGA Kentucky, $5.6 million. Put those two together, what is that, $12.2 million amongst those three groups. $12.2 million coming out against somebody who says we should pay our bills. The Republicans, by the way, Massie has been outspent by almost $4 million so far in the race collectively. Massie and his pro groups versus groups against Massie. Guys, this is the Republican Party now. You want to know why I am the way I am about the Republicans? Because this is who they are. Now, if you’re consistent, if you’re conservative, if you believe in paying our bills, if you believe in not spending more than we bring in, if you believe in not adding to our $39 trillion national debt, if you believe in better, leaner, more efficient government, Trump will come at you. He will take you out. He will.