By BRUCE SCHREINER
President Donald Trump’s army intervention in Venezuela has emerged as a flash level within the intently watched Republican main marketing campaign between Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a long-running Trump antagonist, and retired Navy SEAL officer Ed Gallrein, who has the president’s backing.
Massie, displaying his non-interventionist leanings, fired off a collection of social media posts criticizing the army operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and eliminated him from the South American nation.
“Get up MAGA,” Massie wrote. “VENEZUELA is just not about medicine; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This isn’t what we voted for.”
The congressman claimed that Trump wrongly circumvented Congress when ordering the assault.
“Within the Structure, the Founders vested warfare making energy in Congress, not the Govt department,” he wrote.
Gallrein responded that Massie had “proven his true colours” by criticizing the army operation.
“This operation sends a transparent message: america is not going to enable rogue regimes to allow prison networks or use oil and different assets to gasoline our international adversaries,” Gallrein mentioned on social media. “Holding dangerous actors accountable is how we restore regulation and order, deter aggression, and shield American households.”
Gallrein added that American intervention “opens the door to a brand new chapter for the individuals of Venezuela — one outlined not by a long time of oppression, however by the potential of peace and prosperity.”
He’s Trump’s alternative to problem Massie, a maverick who has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. The first election in Might will check Trump’s maintain over Republican politics. The sudden emergence of Venezuela as a problem will check the president’s skill to carry collectively his coalition throughout a difficult election yr for Republicans that might be outlined by home considerations like well being care and affordability.
The libertarian-leaning Massie has received reelection by lopsided margins since getting into Congress in 2012 — even when he incurred Trump’s wrath.
The army motion in Venezuela is the newest instance of Massie standing as much as Trump.
The congressman opposed the large tax breaks and spending cuts package deal final yr that Trump calls “stunning” however Massie says will develop the nationwide debt and harm the economic system. Massie mentioned the president lacked authority to assault Iran’s nuclear websites with out congressional approval. And Massie was on the forefront of efforts to drive the general public launch of case recordsdata on the intercourse trafficking probe into the late Jeffrey Epstein.
In his bid to unseat the congressman, Gallrein has the president’s vaunted political operation on his aspect, and a brilliant PAC launched by Trump aides has run adverts attacking Massie. However he’ll confront an entrenched, well-funded incumbent in Massie.
Trump on Monday reiterated his assist for Gallrein on his social media platform and urged different Republicans to remain out of the Might main.
“I’ve heard that there are different Candidates exploring a run for this seat, however I’m asking all MAGA Warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who’s, far and away, greatest positioned to DEFEAT Third Charge Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the gorgeous Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Trump mentioned.
To date, at the least two Democrats have filed to run for the congressional seat stretching throughout northern Kentucky, together with a 3rd Republican apart from Massie and Gallrein. The eventual Republican nominee will likely be closely favored in a district final represented by a Democrat twenty years in the past.
