Trump attacks Massie as Republican critic describes ‘desperate’ attempts to oust him from primary

With two days to go before the next big test of Donald Trump ’s iron grip over his party, the president went head-to-head on Sunday with his nemesis, Thomas Massie the Kentucky congressman who is in a fight for his political life in Tuesday’s Republican primary. Over an eight-hour period starting in the early hours of Sunday, Trump took to his bully pulpit on Truth Social to taunt Massie, one of very few senior Republicans who has dared to defy him . Massie is the “worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country”, the rant began, followed by a mid-morning exhortation to Kentucky voters to “vote the bum out on Tuesday”. Massie has been a consistent thorn in Trump’s side, voting against his signature tax and spending cuts bill, helping to force the justice department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, and insisting on congressional oversight over the military actions in Venezuela and Iran . Now he faces a bruising primary against his Trump-endorsed challenger, Ed Gallrein . Undeterred by Trump’s lurid attacks, Massie put on a brave face on the Sunday political show This Week on ABC News. “I’m the only one they haven’t been able to bully,” he said, adding: “I’m ahead in the polls, and they’re desperate … That’s why the president’s losing sleep and tweeting about this.” In fact, Massie’s position is not as comfortable as he made out. …