White House Spox Roasts Thomas Massie, Urges GOP Primary Challenge
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the two GOP congressmen who voted against the “Big, Beautiful” budget bill early Thursday and called for them to face Republican primary challenges.
During her press briefing on Thursday afternoon, Leavitt ripped Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) for voting against the spending package — which passed the House by just one vote.
“I’d love to stand here and tell the American people, we can cut your taxes and we can increase spending and everything’s going to be just fine,” Massie said on the House floor early Thursday. “But I can’t do that because I’m here to deliver a dose of reality. This bill dramatically increases deficits in the near term, but promises our government will be fiscally responsible five years from now. Where have we heard that before? How do you bind a future Congress to these promises? This bill is a debt bomb ticking.”
Newsmax’s Mike Carter asked Leavitt about Massie and Davidson’s opposition.
“Does the president think that they should be primaried?” Carter asked.
“I believe he does,” Leavitt replied. “And I don’t think he likes to see grandstanders in Congress. What’s the alternative, I would ask those members of Congress? Did they want to see a tax hike? Did they wanna see our country go bankrupt? That’s the alternative by them trying to vote no. And the president believes the Republican party needs to be unified, and a vast majority of Republicans clearly are — and are listening to the president. They are trusting in President Trump as they should because there’s a reason he’s sitting in this Oval Office.”
Notably, in the past, White House press secretaries have rarely commented on political campaigns from the podium in order to avoid running foul of the Hatch Act — which restricts Federal employees from getting involved in partisan political activity.
Leavitt added that Trump “knows how to deliver, and Republicans like Thomas Massey and others should take note.”
A second reporter in the briefing asked about Davidson — who posted his reasons for opposing the bill on X.
“While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending,” Davidson wrote. “Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now. The only Congress we can control is the one we’re in. Consequently, I cannot support this big deficit plan. NO.”
“This bill saves $1.6 trillion for the American taxpayer,” Leavitt claimed, in response. “It saves more than any bill that has ever passed Capitol Hill has.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
