发布时间：2026年2月7日，美国东部时间凌晨5:00 | 作者：劳伦·福克斯、莎拉·费里斯
肯塔基州可能是美国唯一一个你可以作为强硬右翼共和党人挑战总统唐纳德·特朗普，并且在国会拥有共和党投票卡的地方。至少目前是这样。
一对来自肯塔基州的“川普叛逆者”——众议员托马斯·马西和参议员兰德·保罗——正联手支持马西，以捍卫他在政治生涯中面临的最大战役。特朗普正加大力度在明年将这位七任期共和党人逐出华盛顿。
马西在肯塔基州东北部的一场激烈共和党初选中，正面临特朗普政治机器的全力打压。MAGA世界已投入数百万美元支持总统青睐的候选人——前海军海豹突击队员埃德·加尔雷恩。马西及其盟友认为，这并非一场普通的竞选——而是试图压制国会中总统剩余的批评者。
“我认为这就是他们攻击我并在我的竞选中投入大量资金的原因之一，是为了让其他议员听话，到目前为止，这一招似乎奏效了，”马西在最近接受美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）采访时表示，“我只是觉得来自总统及其周围人的政治压力太大，他们无法承受。”
自众议院多数席位缩减至仅一票以来，总统的攻击愈发猛烈——这使得马西在这个难以驾驭的议院中拥有了超乎寻常的影响力。上周，特朗普亲自用粗鄙的言论攻击马西最近的婚姻，甚至在国家祈祷早餐会上暗讽他是“白痴”。（保罗的回应是：“这听起来对我来说并不怎么慈善。”）
到目前为止，保罗似乎是唯一一位在国会中努力帮助马西挺过难关的共和党议员。有人认为，这是特朗普之前的茶党财政紧缩和有限政府理念的最后残余。肯塔基州参议员告诉CNN，他计划在今年春天的5月初选前与马西一起竞选数日，此前两人在去年秋天有过几次联合活动。马西告诉CNN，他在竞选活动中得到的唯一其他帮助来自前众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林，她在上个月特朗普多次抨击她后离开了国会。
就连议长迈克·约翰逊也告诉CNN，他不承诺支持马西，这对一位现任党内领袖来说是一个惊人的举动。
“我通常负责现任议员保护计划，但这必须是双方合作。我得和托马斯谈谈，看看他是否想加入我们的团队，”约翰逊在被问及是否会在初选中支持马西时告诉CNN，“请持续关注此事。”
在如今的共和党中，支持马西已成为一种政治试金石。这一点在肯塔基州激烈的三人制参议院初选中尤为明显，其中一位候选人——共和党众议员安迪·巴尔，正式支持马西的对手，以争取特朗普对其自身竞选的支持。（巴尔的一位对手内特·莫里斯迅速跟进。）
上周，特朗普还在佐治亚州的一场特别选举中支持了一位反对MAGA强硬派的候选人，而这位候选人一直支持马西。
但马西仍然坚定不移。他和保罗都不愿像许多同事那样展开MAGA世界的“道歉之旅”以挽救自己的政治生涯。保罗告诉CNN，他认为特朗普的一些攻击——包括针对马西的妻子（前保罗工作人员）——会在初选中适得其反。（马西于2024年年中丧偶，最近再婚。）
“我认为很多家乡的人都认为攻击托马斯·马西的妻子是不合适的，”保罗告诉CNN，“人们正团结在他周围，因为（对手）谈论他仓促的婚礼，‘哦，她比他年轻得多’……我认为他们的反应会与总统预期的相反。”
保罗相信马西能够抵御挑战，他指出马西在选区很受欢迎，但补充道：“让自己党内的总统对自己发动攻击并不容易。”
特朗普及其盟友威胁要在这场斗争中投入数千万美元。尽管如此，即使是华盛顿的一些资深共和党人也怀疑特朗普的机器能否击败马西。
马西的选区从路易斯维尔郊区的外围延伸至辛辛那提郊区，一直到阿巴拉契亚山脉的边缘，包括大片农田和具有自由意志主义倾向的选民。特朗普在2024年以67%的得票率赢得该选区，而马西在大选中毫无竞争地胜出。
马西的盟友、州众议员史蒂夫·多恩告诉CNN，他相信马西仍然会获胜。
“我总是把这场竞选比作父母吵架。我们爱特朗普，也爱托马斯。这是一场华盛顿的争斗，不是肯塔基州的争斗，”多恩说，
“要让这个选区中一贯投票支持特朗普和马西的选民相信，一个在乌克兰继续支持对外援助、救助和浪费性支出的林赛·格雷厄姆捐赠者会比托马斯·马西更适合在华盛顿特区，这真的很难，”他继续说道。
加尔雷恩竞选团队反驳称，马西是“反特朗普”的，在关键问题上与民主党人投票一致，而他们的候选人得到了总统的支持。
“埃德·加尔雷恩得到了总统的支持，总统在该选区以35个百分点的优势获胜。仅此一点就表明托马斯·马西远不符合肯塔基州第4选区的主流。”竞选发言人兰斯·特罗弗表示。
至于马西，他在最近几周仅针对总统进行反击，支持对杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的调查（特朗普试图阻止这一调查），同时支持民主党限制总统海外权力的措施。
除了保罗，没有其他共和党人如此频繁且公开地投票反对特朗普的优先事项。
马西和保罗都在政府资金等问题上公开批评特朗普，上个月投票反对国会的大规模支出法案。他们反对特朗普在伊朗和委内瑞拉的行动，并且是去年为数不多的几位在大规模减税和移民执法法案上投反对票的共和党议员。（唯一另一位反对特朗普大规模政策法案的共和党人是温和派众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克，他代表众议院中最蓝的席位之一。）
马西的对手加尔雷恩也是一位当地农民，他明确将自己的竞选活动定位为对特朗普忠诚的公投。在他最近的广告中，加尔雷恩将自己描绘成“特朗普精心挑选的人选”。
然而，尽管马西的独立形象在第4选区备受推崇，但在华盛顿，他所在国会代表团的成员承认，马西的反对立场正在给党内领导人带来麻烦。
“我认为让肯塔基州的共和党人对马西感到沮丧的是，他总是在推特上发表对其他共和党人的负面言论，而不仅仅是针对特朗普。……我们都在努力合作帮助州政府和总统取得成功，但我们从马西的推特追随者那里受到了很多抨击，”另一位肯塔基州共和党议员、强大的众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科默表示。
同州的众议员布雷特·加思里哀叹道，问题不在于议员们必须屈从于总统的每一个心血来潮，而在于马西很少被指望支持特朗普的任何优先事项。
“我认为人们有不同意见……但托马斯几乎在所有事情上都持反对态度，”加思里说。
自约翰逊的多数席位降至历史最低以来，马西的独立倾向变得更加明显。
上周，在一次政府资金投票中，约翰逊已经无法承受再失去一名共和党议员在程序性规则投票中的支持，但领导层却表现得好像他们不可能失去任何人，因为他们知道马西肯定会反对。
马西本人对总统的攻击毫不退让，他在周四国家祈祷早餐会后发推文称：“美国总统今天早上在国家祈祷早餐会上称我为白痴，因为我仍在为他承诺给美国人民的东西而奋斗。”
当被问及对总统周四通过短信发起的攻击有何回应时，马西只回复道：“我很幸运知道我在特朗普的祈祷中。”
美国有线电视新闻网的卡米拉·德查卢斯对本报道亦有贡献。
A defiant Thomas Massie takes on the MAGA machine in heated Kentucky primary
Published Feb 7, 2026, 5:00 AM ET | By Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris
Kentucky may be the last place in America where you can take on President Donald Trump as a hard-right Republican and carry a GOP voting card in Congress. At least for now.
A pair of twangy Kentucky rebels – Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul – are teaming up to defend Massie in the biggest fight of his political career as Trump intensifies efforts to oust the seven-term Republican from Washington next year.
Massie is facing the full might of Trump’s political operation in a nasty GOP primary in northeast Kentucky, where MAGA world has poured millions to support the president’s preferred candidate, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. And Massie and his allies argue it’s no ordinary race – it’s an attempt to silence the president’s remaining critics in Congress.
“I think that’s one of the reasons they’re attacking me and putting so much money into my race, is to keep the others in line, and so far, it’s working,” Massie told CNN in a recent interview. “I just think there’s so much political pressure from the president and the people surrounding him that they can’t withstand it.”
The attacks from the president have only intensified since the House margins have narrowed to just a single vote – giving Massie outsized power in the fractious chamber. In the last week, Trump personally went after Massie with crass comments about his recent marriage and even made a swipe at the National Prayer Breakfast calling him a “moron.” (Paul’s response? “Doesn’t sound very charitable to me.”)
So far, Paul seems to be the only congressional Republican working to help Massie hang on in what some consider the last vestige of the pre-Trump Tea Party brand of fiscal restraint and hands-off government. The Kentucky senator told CNN he plans to campaign with him for several days this spring ahead of the May primary, after other joint events last fall. Massie told CNN the only other help on the stump he’s been offered is former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who left Congress last month after Trump’s repeated tirades against her.
Even Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that he is not committed to backing Massie, a stunning move for a sitting party leader.
“I generally run the incumbent protection program here. But it’s gotta be a cooperation. I gotta have a conversation with Thomas to see if he wants to be on the team,” Johnson told CNN when asked if he would back Massie in the primary. “Stay tuned on that.”
In today’s GOP, support for Massie has become its own kind of political litmus test. That includes in Kentucky’s heated three-way Senate primary, where one of those contenders, GOP Rep. Andy Barr, formally endorsed Massie’s opponent in a bid for Trump’s support in his own race. (One of Barr’s opponents, Nate Morris, quickly followed.)
And last week, Trump endorsed against a MAGA hardliner in a special election in Georgia who has been supportive of Massie.
But Massie remains undeterred. Both he and Paul remain unwilling to engage in the kind of MAGA-world apology tour that many of his colleagues have unfurled to save their own political careers. And Paul told CNN that he believed some of Trump’s attacks – including against Massie’s wife, who is a former Paul staffer – would backfire in the primary. (Massie was widowed in mid-2024 and recently remarried.)
“I think a lot of people at home are seeing the attacks on Thomas Massie’s wife as being unseemly,” Paul told CNN. “People are rallying around him because to talk about his hurried wedding, and, ‘Oh, she’s much younger than him.’ … I think they’re going to react the opposite to what the president thinks.”
Paul believes that Massie can fend off the challenge, pointing to his popularity in the district but added: “It’s not easy to have a president of your own party do that.”
Trump and his allies have threatened to spend tens of millions of dollars in the fight. Still, even some senior Republicans in Washington remain doubtful that Trump’s machine can defeat Massie.
Massie’s district – which runs from the outer bands of the Louisville suburbs, up north to the suburbs of Cincinnati all the way to the outskirts of Appalachia – includes vast swaths of farmland and voters with a libertarian streak. Trump won there with 67% of the vote in 2024 and Massie ran in the general uncontested.
State Rep. Steve Doan, an ally of the congressman, told CNN he believed Massie would still prevail.
“I always frame this race as mommy and daddy are fighting. We love Trump and we love Thomas. It is a DC fight. It is not a Kentucky fight,” Doan said.
“It’s going to be really hard to convince the people of this district who have consistently voted for Trump and Massie that a Lindsey Graham donor who is going to continue to vote for foreign aid in Ukraine and bailouts and wasteful spending is going to be a better fit in Washington, DC, than Thomas Massie,” he continued.
The Gallrein campaign shot back that Massie is “anti-Trump” and votes with Democrats on key issues, while their candidate has the president’s endorsement.
“Ed Gallrein is endorsed by President Trump who won the district by 35 points. That alone shows Thomas Massie is nowhere close to in line with KY04,” campaign spokesman Lance Trover said.
For his part, Massie has only dug in against the president in recent weeks, championing the probe into Jeffrey Epstein that Trump sought to kill while supporting Democratic measures to rein in the president’s powers abroad.
No other Republican, besides perhaps Paul, has so often, and so publicly, voted against a Trump priority.
Both Massie and Paul have openly criticized Trump on issues like government funding, voting against Congress’ massive spending package last month. They’ve opposed his actions in Iran and Venezuela and the two were some of the only GOP votes against his massive tax breaks and immigration enforcement package last year. (The only other Republican to oppose Trump’s massive policy bill was centrist Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents one of his party’s bluest seats in the House.)
Massie’s opponent, Gallrein, who is also a local farmer, has explicitly framed his campaign as a referendum on loyalty to Trump. In his most recent ad, Gallrein depicts himself as “Trump’s handpicked choice.”
But as much as Massie’s brand of independence may be revered in the 4th District, in Washington, members of his own congressional delegation acknowledge that Massie’s streak of opposition is creating headaches for party leaders.
“I think the thing that makes the Republicans from Kentucky frustrated with Massie is he is always tweeting like negative stuff about other Republicans, not just Trump. … We are all trying to work together to help the state and help the president be successful and we take a lot of incoming from Massie’s Twitter followers a lot,” said Rep. James Comer, another Kentucky Republican and chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee.
Rep. Brett Guthrie, another Republican in the state, lamented it’s not that lawmakers must adhere to the president’s every whim, but that Massie can seldom be counted on for any of Trump’s priorities.
“I think people have disagreed … but Thomas has disagreed almost a lot,” Guthrie said.
Massie’s adherence to his own libertarian streak has become even more acute since Johnson has seen his majority dwindle to historic lows.
Last week during a vote to fund the government, Johnson couldn’t afford to lose more than a single Republican on a procedural rule vote, but leadership was operating as if they couldn’t lose anyone because they knew they’d already lost Massie.
For his part, Massie makes no apologies about his rigid adherence to his beliefs nor does he back down when challenged by Trump. After the prayer breakfast Thursday, Massie tweeted, “The President of the United States called me a moron at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning because I’m still fighting for what he promised the American people.”
Asked if he had any other comment to the president’s attacks via text Thursday, Massie added only: “I feel blessed to know I’m in Trump’s prayers.”
CNN’s Camila DeChalus contributed to this report.
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