Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with host Kristen Welker, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) declared that he hasn’t ruled out running for president in 2028, a ludicrous notion considering that the soon-to-be former congressman couldn’t even manage to win another Congressional election in a heavily Republican district he has long represented.
As background, Thomas Massie made himself an enemy of President Trump and much of MAGA by refusing to go along with important bills and policies of the president, particularly regarding issues like the big ICE funding bill. He insists that he was only deposed because of his skepticism of America’s foreign policy adventures and the American relationship with Israel, but in reality he had been a thorn in MAGA’s side long before then.
In any case, his commentary about becoming president came when Welker noted that the crowd at the rally in which he had admitted defeat, chanted “president” after he lost, saying, “Some of your supporters were chanting, ‘president, president,’ as you delivered your speech on Tuesday night. Are you considering a run for president in 2028?”
Responding, Rep. Massie refused to rule out running for president, though he noted that he likes his farm life, saying, “I will not rule out anything. And right now, I’m not going to rule in anything. Look, I’ve spent the last five days on my farm with my grandkids and my cattle and my peach trees, and it’s a pretty nice life. I don’t know if I want to screw that up again.”
Continuing, he added that he will have to take some time to decide what to do, saying, “I’ve been in Congress for 14 years, fighting. Every hour that passes, I get decompressed a little bit more. It’s like coming up from the bottom of the ocean, and I’ll take some time and decide what’s next. But I think I will stay engaged in some way or shape. Maybe it’s from the outside. I’ve been exposing what’s going on in Washington, D.C. for years, and I’ll keep doing it.”
Welker then asked a more critical question, which was, indirectly, what party he sees himself as being a member of, namely whether he still thinks that he would run as a Republican. He said, “Congressman, I hear you’re not ruling out a potential run for president. Now. Would you run as a Republican?”
He refused to give an answer, and instead rambled about local office and how he liked being involved in his county. Doing so, Rep. Massie said, “I won’t rule anything out. I won’t rule out a run for county commissioner. I used to be the county judge executive here. That was probably the best job I ever had in politics.
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Continuing, he then spoke vaguely about change without answering the question, saying, “I would encourage people watching this show to act locally and to run for local offices. We can make a difference. There are 3,000 counties in this country running for one of those offices. We got to change it at the grassroots first.”
Watch him here: