House Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked if he’d back Rep. Thomas Massie’s reelection bid, responded Tuesday with a traditional, three-word Southern insult.
“Bless his heart,” the Louisiana Republican said.
Massie, R-Ky., has drawn fire from President Donald Trump and other Republicans for his stances against U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and refusing to vote for the “one big, beautiful bill,” among other issues championed by the president, reports The Hill.
The phrase, “bless your heart,” is often used in Southern parlance sarcastically or as an insult, not as a true wish for a blessing.
Massie, in recent days, has angered Johnson by pushing for a discharge petition to force a vote to call for the release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have accumulated several cosponsors, including 10 Republicans who back the discharge petition.
Johnson on Tuesday questioned the timing of the discharge petition, asking why the move wasn’t made to release the files while former President Joe Biden was in office.
“Thomas Massie could have brought his discharge petition any time over the last four and a half years,” said Johnson. “And now he’s clamoring as if there’s some sort of timeline on it. It’s interesting to me that he chose the election of President Trump to bring this, to team up with the Democrats and bring this discharge petition.”
The speaker added that as his party’s leader, he would typically “lead the incumbent protection program” to get Republicans to return to their offices, but said Massie, in particular, “just gives me lots of consternation.”
“I go all around the country, I travel endlessly, incessantly — I’ve raised over $300 million to do that, and we want everybody to come back,” said Johnson.
There are some lawmakers, he said, that he tries to “protect them from themselves.”
“They kick and scream and bite their own colleagues,” said Johnson. “Some people seem to enjoy trying to inflict political pain on their own teammates.”
And with Massie, Johnson said he doesn’t understand the Kentucky lawmaker’s motivation.
“I don’t know how his mind works. I don’t know what he’s thinking,” said Johnson.
The Kentucky Republican doesn’t yet have a primary challenger for his reelection bid, but Trump’s allies are pouring money into efforts to oust the seven-term representative, who the president on Monday slammed as being the “worst Republican Congressman,” and an “Embarrassment to Kentucky. “
“He’s lazy, slow-moving, and totally disingenuous – A real loser!” said Trump on Truth Social. “Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can endorse and vigorously campaign for!”
The House will break for its August recess on Wednesday, one day earlier than had been planned, after the House Rules Committee entered a standstill on the Epstein matter. Democrats are vowing to force votes on amendments so they can bring the Massie-Khanna resolution to a vote.
Meanwhile, Johnson said that he tries to follow late President Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment: ‘Never speak evil of another Republican.'”
“My gosh, it’s hard to do sometimes around here,” he said. “I also try to follow the Scripture, you know, it says, ‘Bless those who persecute you.’ So let me just say about Thomas Massie — could you just accept my Southern — bless his heart, OK. I don’t know what else to say about it. We’re for maximum transparency, we’re engaging in that right now, and we don’t need political games.”
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