Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who describes himself as a representative of “the base of the MAGA party that got [President Donald] Trump elected,” on Sunday slammed the president and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the administration’s escalation of war with Iran.Speaking with CNN’s Manu Raju, Massie urged the president to “go back and look at the first Iraq War, where the president came to Congress and we debated and voted before they waged war.”“The notion that this isn’t an act of war, I find ludicrous,” Massie argued. “This is a hot war. There are two nations, Israel and Iran, trading volleys of missiles every night. Every day. And we’re a co-belligerent now in this war.”READ MORE: ‘I know that better than you’: Marco Rubio spars with CBS’ Margaret Brennan in heated exchangeMassie added he’s concerned “this could turn into a protracted, prolonged engagement.”“I’m here to represent the, you know, the base of the MAGA party that got Trump elected,” Massie said. “Most of us were tired of the wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and we were promised that we wouldn’t be engaging in another one. Yet here we see this happening, and there’s a, you know, the president and the administration say, ‘Oh, we’re done. We’ve had our little bombing, and now this is over.’ But what happens if this drags on between Israel and Tel Aviv gets pummeled by Iran, is President Trump going to say ‘We’re going to sit by and not do anything’ in that instance?”“I’m just, I’m leery of this, given everything that’s happened before,” Massie explained.Raju asked Massie “about how the speaker of the House has handled this military escalation,” asking if he agrees with former Rep. Justin Amash that Speaker Johnson should “step down or be immediately removed because he has completely abrogated his responsibilities under the Constitution.”READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Pathetic little hypocrite’“Well, I think there’s a conundrum there with the speaker’s assertion that there was an imminent threat,” Massie said. “If there was an imminent threat, [why] not call us back from our recess? We were on recess last week, and I went to special effort to offer a War Powers Resolution while everybody was on vacation.”“In reality, if Speaker Johnson thought that America was in danger imminently, he should have brought us all back to Congress,” Massie argued. “Yet he did not.”Asked if Johnson should step down, Massie said he’s “not a fan of the speaker,” but “he’s the speaker as long as Trump wants him to be the speaker.”“If Trump gets tired of Speaker Johnson, he better clean out his desk because that’s how he’s speaker,” Massie said. “He’s just hanging on by doing whatever Trump wants. And in this case, it’s an abrogation of our responsibility to debate matters of war. that’s what Trump wants, and that’s what Mike Johnson gave him. That is wrong.”READ MORE: ‘America First’ buckles under ‘transactional’ Trump: ‘Key question is whether MAGA continues after 2029’“The Constitution requires Congress to weigh in on this,” Massie added.“There’s some argument that, ‘Oh, there was an imminent threat, so the president can act for 60 days without a vote of Congress,’” Massie explained. “But here’s the reality: After 60 days, he has to stop unless there is a vote. So at some point, I think we’re going to be able to force a vote unless Speaker Johnson pulls some shenanigans with the rules committee.”Asked if the attack on Iran will “alienate [Trump] from the base,” Massie noted the president “doesn’t have to run for reelection.”“But it will, I think, fragment our party, this action that he’s taken,” Massie said. “And it’s going to hurt us in the midterms. We could lose the majority over this one issue.”READ MORE: ‘It’s supposed to be America First’: Trump backers revolt as US strikes spark MAGA infighting“I think this was a bad move politically, but it’s also just a bad move legally and constitutionally and policy wise,” he argued.Asked if Trump broke a campaign promise by striking Iran, Massie said “absolutely.”“He broke a campaign promise, and there are a lot of the base will say that, although not too many of my Republican colleagues will say that,” Massie explained. “They’re frankly afraid of him and they’re also afraid of the Israel lobby in Congress that’s given millions and millions of dollars to so many of my colleagues.”Watch the video below via CNN, or at this link. READ MORE: How an escalating crisis exposes Trump’s fear of ‘accountability’: conservative
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