Can a Republican defy Donald Trump and survive? Kentucky voters will decide

Congressman Thomas Massie, chastized by the US president as a ‘lowlife’, will soon face the ballot box – setting up a crucial test of Trump’s political strength At Pee Wee’s Place, a bar and restaurant in Crescent Springs, northern Kentucky, biscuits and gravy go for $6 and liver and onions for $14.75. The walls are adorned with US flags, sports memorabilia, amusement machines, a TV showing Fox News and a poster that proclaims: “Let the gays get married. Let the rednecks have their guns. Let the atheists be atheists. Let the Christians be Christians. America is about FREEDOM.” Sitting at the bar, John Johnson, 78, and his son Lance, 47, are discussing an upcoming election in which Thomas Massie, a maverick congressman, is aiming to prove that a Republican can defy Donald Trump and survive. “I’m leaning to Massie because I like his attitude when it comes to being straight up on issues,” says John, a contractor who voted for Trump in 2024. “Him and Trump beat off each other every now and then, but he’s a constitutionalist, he speaks his piece and he’s right a lot of times.” Kentucky’s fourth congressional district wends its way from Louisville’s outer suburbs north towards the commut