This week, Donald Trump announced the launch of his new super PAC, “MAGA Kentucky”. The goal of this PAC is to successfully primary Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie. While Massie is considered one of the most principled conservatives in congress (he was the least likely member to vote for a Biden bill), he has recently earned the President’s ire because of his opposition to the Big Beautiful Bill on the basis that it does not cut spending enough, and his sharp criticism of Trump’s involvement in the Iran-Israel War, where Massie has even went so far as to propose a resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to use military force on Iran without congressional approval. Massies criticisms of US involvement in Iran and the Big Beautiful Bill have both proven to be larger pressure points for Trump, where even his most diehard supporters are starting to break from him. In this article, I will delve deeper into both of these hot button issues.
Involvement in Iran:
Recently, Trump made the decision to join the Israel-Iran war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites, which was an unprecedented way to deal with the issue of the nation having Nuclear Weapons. While this move garnered praise from neoconservatives like Senator Lindsay Graham and FOX news commentator Mark Levin, the backlash from conservatives almost seemed to be louder. On the media side, influential conservative podcasters Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson came out heavily against the move, which was most virally seen in a clip where Carlson grilled Texas Senator Ted Cruz on the topic of regime change. There was also noticeable pushback in congress, not just by Thomas Massie, but also from other libertarians like Rand Paul, who was the one GOP senator to vote for the War Power Resolution that would curb Trump’s authority to authorize strikes. Most interestingly, Marjorie Taylor Greene, an outspoken Trump supporting representative from Georgia who was one of the largest propagators of 2020 election denial accused Trump of “bait and switching supporters”. While this situation has seemed to die down for now, due to the chaotic and evolving situation in the middle east, there is no telling when the criticisms will start back up again.
The Big Beautiful Bill:
The conservative discourse over the Big Beautiful Bill (Trump’s massive policy megabill), has to me been one of the most interesting aspects of Trump’s second term. While the original iteration was able to narrowly pass the house (with Republican objections from Massie and Ohio representative Warren Davidson), getting the senate to agree is proving much more difficult. In general, there seems to be three major buckets. The first bucket is made up of rank-and-file GOP senators, who would frankly vote for any bill that Trump supports. The second are relative moderates, who are worried about how cuts, especially to medicare, will impact their constituents (most notably Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who recently was able to secure more federal funding to rural hospitals in the bill). The third are budget hawks, led by the likes of senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, who want even more cuts, and don’t want the debt ceiling to increase. Curating a bill that satisfies all three of these groups has proven to be difficult for GOP congressional leadership, as they rush to meet Trump’s July fourth deadline (which is self imposed).
From both of these situations, we can learn one big thing about Trump’s new Republican party: While it sometimes seems that the GOP is becoming more and more of a cult of personality around Trump, there is still large ideological variation in the party. It seems that for now, the new conservative movement is defined by debates over interventionism versus isolationism, and budget cuts.