Fox News’ Karl Rove and Bill Hemmer argued that the primary race between Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ed Gallrein, his Trump-endorsed opponent, is a referendum on the president during Tuesday’s edition of America’s Newsroom.

Their discussion came just hours before vote tallies were set to begin rolling in:

HEMMER: Bill McGurn writes this about it in the [Wall Street] Journal today, “If Mr. Massie prevails, the victory will be treated as a sign of Mr. Trump’s waning influence in his own party. But if Mr. Massie is defeated, it will be taken as a warning to all Republicans that you mess with the president at your own peril.” I see this race every bit as much about President Trump, as Massie and Gallrein.

ROVE: Oh yeah, sure. In fact, it’s that’s what it’s about. I suspect most people are-, can’t even pronounce Gallrein’s last name. It’s like, okay, he’s the not-Trump guy-, he’s the Trump guy and the other guy is the not-Trump guy. But, you know, there is a risk to this for the president — there are two risks, actually. One is it expends a lot of resources in battle inside the party that could be spent on the general election. And second of all, you know, there gets to be a point where people say, “You know, Mr. President, I don’t need to be with you 100% of the time.” Look, there were people who voted against the Bush agenda. One of them was an Indiana congressman who voted against the prescription drug benefit. His name was Mike Pence. But we would no more have thought about going after Mike Pence on that than the man on the moon, because you’re going to need that vote another day. And we saw this earlier this year, Thom Tillis in the Senate for example, said, “OK, I’m not running for reelection the president made it clear that if I did he wasn’t gonna be for me so I’m free. And what I’m gonna do is give him a heartburn on the issue of the Federal Reserve chairman.”

Trump has devoted considerable time and energy to the goal of involuntarily retiring Masie.

“Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won big SIX TIMES, including all Primaries, must be thrown out of office, ASAP!” wrote Trump in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

The president added: “He is the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in History, voting against Tax Cuts, the Wall, Law Enforcement, and in favor of the Transgender Mutilization of our Children, Men playing in Women’s Sports, and so many more horrible things. The incredible people of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District gave us a mandate to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and the person that will help us do that is Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Fifth Generation Kentucky Farmer, Captain Ed Gallrein, a true America First Patriot.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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