WASHINGTON – Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) endorsed Ron DeSantis for president Wednesday, even though the Florida governor has not announced his candidacy.
Massie’s endorsement landed a day after the arraignment of former President Donald Trump on criminal charges in New York, an event many Republicans said would bolster Trump’s position in the party.
“America needs leaders who are assertive, respect the Constitution, understand policy, put family first, and lead by inspiring,” Massie said in a statement out by a political action committee supporting the Florida governor. “That’s why I’m endorsing Ron DeSantis for President.”
Massie is a gun-loving Republican with libertarian leanings who often serves as a party leader, but he is not a member of the House Freedom Caucus and has not been a Trump supporter.
The Kentucky Republican’s endorsement comes as no surprise given his recent vocal support for DeSantis and his ties to Trump, who once called for Massie’s ouster from the GOP but later endorsed him for re-election in 2022.
Massie is angry with Trump — and most members of the House of Representatives — when in 2020, because of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, he is trying to force a recorded vote on a pandemic relief bill that increases unemployment benefits, sends stimulus checks to most households, and creates unprecedented business subsidies known as the Program Paycheck Protection. Massie’s move will force lawmakers, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable to serious illnesses, to find their way to DC even as health authorities tell other Americans to stay home.
Former ambassador and current US climate envoy John Kerry said at the time that Massie “tested positive for being a rascal” and “must be quarantined to prevent the massive spread of his stupidity.”
Economists acknowledge that the bill and others passed by Congress prevented the pandemic from causing a severe recession, even though the spending also led to high inflation. This week, Mr called the March 2020 vote “The moment he ruined America.”
Last month Massie confronted Rep. Jamaal Bowman when New York Democrats shouted at Republicans to leave the House floor for not responding to school shootings. The video of the encounter went viral.
“They blocked one out and just tried to put on a show and use the other 434 members as props in front of a lot of cameras,” Massie told HuffPost afterward. “They say we are cowards and don’t have solutions. It turns out they are too afraid to debate solutions.
Massie said he supports arming some teachers.
“I said, you’re surrounded by guns – give them the same protection as the kids here,” Massie said.
Massie praised DeSantis for signing a bill last week allowing Floridians to carry guns without a permit.
“Ron knows that putting America first means putting America first, not corporations,” Massie said in the endorsement, “and he’s never backed down from a fight with the big guys in pharma, agriculture, and technology.”