Drama as Trump's pick to unseat rebel Republican turns out to have a MAGA-hating past

President Donald Trump has a deep grudge against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a renegade Republican who sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and whose staunch libertarian streak leads him to frequently oppose Trump and House GOP leadership on key votes. He's campaigning on behalf of Eddie Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL who is challenging Massie in the Republican primary.

But Massie is now fighting back with some dirt: it turns out that Gallrein is only a recent convert to MAGA, and actually left the Republican Party in 2016 over his opposition to Trump, only re-registering as a Republican once he left office in 2021.

"Ed wants you to be believe he is 'Republican. Full Stop,'" wrote Massie on X, posting his new attack ad. "The truth: He abandoned President Trump and left the Republican Party in disgust just days after @realdonaldtrump won the nomination in 2016. Betraying Trump and the GOP. Pushing the woke agenda." The ad repeatedly called him "Woke Eddie" and accused him of "dereliction of his MAGA duty."

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has often argued the current MAGA movement has lost its way, chimed in as well.

"My. Oh. My. Chris LaCivita was so desperate for a candidate to run against Massie, the only one he could find was Eddie Gallrein, who hated Trump so much he left the party after Trump won the primary in ‘16!" wrote Greene, posting an image of Gallrein's party registration as an independent. "And tomorrow Trump is going to KY to endorse a true Never Trumper."

Gallrein isn't unique, as many of the Trump faithful this time around were initially opposed to him. One of the most prominent examples is Vice President JD Vance, who went so far as to suggest Trump could become "America's Hitler" when he first ran.