President Donald Trump is escalating his retribution drive after felling yet another Republican critic in a campaign that he finds deeply satisfying but that comes with widening political risks for his party.
Trump destroyed the reelection hopes of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy in the state’s GOP primary Saturday, and will on Monday send Pete Hegseth to Kentucky as part of an effort to doom Rep. Thomas Massie — a rare and controversial foray for a defense secretary in wartime.
Massie, who co-authored a law requiring the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and who opposes the Iran war, faces voters on Tuesday. But he said Sunday he’s not worried by Trump’s attacks. “You can tell that I’m ahead in the polls and they’re desperate,” he told ABC News’ “This Week.”
Trump also this weekend threatened to withdraw his endorsement of GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado after she campaigned for Massie.
Cassidy’s defeat, five years after he voted to convict Trump in a Senate impeachment trial over the January 6 Capitol riot, lengthens the list of GOP grandees, including Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney, already elbowed out of top party positions for standing up to a strongman president.
