Soon, the Republican Party will hold a critical primary that could demonstrate the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement. On May 19, Republicans in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District will decide whether they want Rep. Thomas Massie—who frequently bucks the party line—to remain in Congress. Massie, a Republican with a stubborn libertarian streak, was one of just two House Republicans to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last July, arguing it would increase the deficit.  Instead of doing a livestream for https://t.co/r10M5btnhD tonight, I went on statewide Public television @PubAffairsKET to debate Woke Eddie… but he chickened out! After fielding a dozen or so questions, I explained to the moderator why Eddie won’t debate. Watch: pic.twitter.com/pMUzCrhGVh— Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) May 5, 2026 Additionally, Massie introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation that compelled the Department of Justice to release millions of documents on the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump was initially opposed to releasing the files before ultimately supporting the passage of the legislation. Massie has also voted repeatedly to restrain the president’s war powers, criticizing his intervention against Venezuela and Iran. In a statement to The Daily Signal, Massie said, “I will win this race because my constituents know I am consistently America First. I backed the SAVE Act, voted to secure the border by funding the wall and [the Department of Homeland Security], and I will never stop fighting to drain the Swamp. … I don’t hide from my record, I show up, I explain my votes, and I answer directly to the people I represent.” Facing up against Massie is Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL who carries Trump’s endorsement and has accused Massie of siding with Democrats. The expensive primary will be a major test for Massie, who has been in Congress since 2012. ED GALLREIN FOR KY@EdGallrein: “You are loved and admired for your courageous leadership of our great nation…I hope the fake news gets this. Tom Massie stands with the ladies of The View. Mr. President, we stand with you. Fight, fight, fight! USA!”@POTUS pic.twitter.com/qYG86LWRmr— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) March 11, 2026 Trump’s endorsement proved extremely effective in recent Indiana state Senate Republican primaries, in which five lawmakers who opposed a Trump-backed redistricting push were ousted. Massie, however, emphasizes his areas of agreement with Trump in campaign spots and accuses Gallrein of being disloyal to the president, highlighting the fact that Gallrein changed his registration from Republican to independent in 2016. Massie has continued to appear publicly with heterodox figures in the conservative orbit, rallying with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and recently appearing on Tucker Carlson’s online show. Gallrein appeared at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky, with Trump on March 11. Gallrein senior adviser Tim Murtaugh told The Daily Signal in a statement, “President Trump has given Ed Gallrein his strongest endorsement in this race while Thomas Massie has made it his business to stick his finger in the president’s eye at every opportunity. Massie has aggressively tried to derail the America First agenda, voted against major legislative priorities of the administration, speaks about Iran like he wants the mullahs to win, and has become The New York Times’ favorite Republican.” Murtaugh added, “It is far too late for Massie to try to return to the fold now and it’s a pity that he’s chosen to end his career this way. Ed Gallrein is an America First conservative who will stand with President Trump and go to work for the people of Kentucky’s 4th District. The only person Thomas Massie serves is Thomas Massie.” Massie told The Daily Signal in a statement, “My opponent, Ed Gallrein, refuses to explain to Kentucky voters why he abandoned the Republican Party twice, once just days after President Trump secured the nomination in 2016.” He continued: “He won’t explain why nearly 80% of his max donors also bankrolled Democrats like Kamala Harris, Hakeem Jeffries, and Joe Biden. And he refuses to answer for chairing a business that taught companies how to implement woke DEI programs.” Related PostsSen. Banks Poured Millions to Unseat Republicans Who Struck Down Redistricting EffortRepublican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana directed $3 million from his 501(c)(4) organization, Hoosier Leadership for America, to primary challengers of GOP state senators who opposed a redistricting plan supported by President Donald Trump that could have netted the GOP two additional House seats. On Tuesday night, at least five of those seven senators were…Trump Sends Warning to RINOS via the Indiana State SenateLast night, President Donald Trump sent a warning to RINOs across the country: If you are against the party, you are out. Trump went to war with the Indiana Senate after it refused to pass an all‑red map last December. Six of the seven candidates Trump endorsed against incumbent state senators won by a landslide….Trump’s Endorsements Are Put to the Test in Indiana, Offers a Second Shot at RedistrictingA number of Indiana state senators who voted against President Donald Trump’s redistricting effort last December are in jeopardy of being beaten in primaries Tuesday night by Trump-endorsed candidates. Trump endorsed primary challengers against seven of the candidates who voted against his all-red congressional map. “Anybody that votes against redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the…

In 1921, Woodrow Wilson, the first of America’s four transformative progressive presidents, became the first president to remain in Washington and make the nation’s capital his permanent home after leaving office. In very mild defense of the man who did more than any other to establish the administrative state and thus pervert America’s carefully constructed constitutional design, Wilson had suffered a debilitating stroke two years prior that left him partially paralyzed and nearly blind. He died just a few years later, in 1924. Former President Barack Obama, the nation’s fourth transformative progressive president (following Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson), had no such excuse when he and his wife, Michelle, decided, like Wilson, to similarly make the District of Columbia’s tony Kalorama neighborhood their permanent home after leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Surely, the physical proximity to the White House was one factor in the Obamas’ decision; the 44th president officially visited his former vice president there at least once, with perhaps other unofficial visits as well. But convenience of his physical proximity to the White House aside, Obama’s residential decision has proven to be even more symbolically potent. The 44th president has declared that he is still here and he is not going anywhere. Some recent presidents, such as George W. Bush, have decided to ride off into the sunset and enjoy peaceful, private retirements after leaving the Oval Office. Bush even took up painting as a hobby. Obama is a golfer, but he seems to enjoy politicking and punditry more than the links. Unfortunately, the American people are suffering the consequences of Obama’s insatiable desire to insert himself into the national conversation. He has been vocal in criticizing the Trump-era GOP and boosting Democrats on the campaign trail ever since making the 2-mile trek from the White House to Kalorama. Obama soared to the top of political world after his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech vowed there was not a liberal America and a conservative America, but a singular United States of America. It’s a poignant sentiment. But once in power, Obama ruled as divider-in-chief. All these years later, he’s still acting the same way. In March, Obama released a video endorsing Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s aggressive Old Dominion redistricting effort, which would change the state’s 11-seat congressional delegation from a 6-5 likely Democrat advantage to a 10-1 likely Democrat advantage. The redistricting referendum narrowly passed among Virginia voters, although it is now being challenged on procedural grounds at the Supreme Court of Virginia. There is no more blatantly and intrinsically partisan issue in all of American public life than redistricting, but Obama still said Spanberger’s effort was necessary to “level the playing field.” The irony was astounding: Obama himself was a longtime foe of gerrymandering, tweeting in 2020 that the practice “contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government.” But anything, it seems, to give his party a new advantage. He might as well have invoked former Peruvian autocrat Oscar R. Benavides: “For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.” Even more maddening was Obama’s interview this week with Stephen Colbert of “The Late Show.” Among other whoppers, Obama excoriated Republicans for not respecting judicial independence and vitiating the rule of law, and criticized President Donald Trump for his Justice Department’s alleged prosecution of political enemies. But it was the one-time constitutional law lecturer who, while the Supreme Court was considering the legality of his health care law, delivered a Rose Garden address claiming it would be “unprecedented” and “extraordinary” for the court to do its most basic job: judicial review. It was Obama who, channeling Wilson’s vision for administration, claimed he just needs a pen and a phone to enact his transformative agenda. And it was Obama who willfully ignored the (actually) unprecedented Biden-era Justice Department prosecutions of Trump, despite his physical and symbolic closeness to the White House. The hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness is galling. But even more than that, we must ask: Why is Obama doing this? He apparently admitted that his politicking is causing “genuine tension” in their marriage. It hardly seems like Obama’s antics are helping his party, either. For starters, the Virginia redistricting referendum was a nail-biter—decided by a far narrower margin (roughly 3%) than comparable recent statewide elections. And the brand problem runs far deeper than that. Obama emerged as the top Harris-Walz presidential campaign surrogate two years ago following the Democrats’ bloodless July 2024 coup of incumbent Joe Biden—and the Harris-Walz ticket proceeded to lose every single swing state. Obamaism, an ur-wokeism of sorts, was emphatically rejected by the American people. So once again: Why? I’ve given the question some thought. For more than a decade, Obama lectured at my alma mater, the University of Chicago Law School. A portrait of him teaching still hangs outside one of the classrooms. Once while there, I asked a senior, decadeslong member of the faculty what Obama was like as a colleague. The professor didn’t mince words, telling me Obama was cold, aloof, and generally disliked by the faculty because he preferred to immerse himself in his own musings rather than engage with his colleagues or contribute to an atmosphere of collegiality by exchanging ideas. In other words, constitutional law lecturer Obama exuded arrogance and harbored a thinly veiled disdain for competing viewpoints. That’s how he governed as president: “I won,” as he infamously rubbed it in congressional Republicans’ face just days after taking the oath of office. That’s how he’s still acting today. Pride goes before destruction, we know from Proverbs. So it is, and so it has always been. Perhaps Obama will open the Good Book and learn that lesson before it’s too late—for his marriage just as much as for his party’s fortunes this November. COPYRIGHT 2026 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Happy Ma’s Day! Really, I don’t think I ever called the woman who bore me “Mother” or “Mom.” But what I would call her is one of a kind.Like so many moms, Helen borrowed heavily from the “Official Book of Motherly Mantras.” For example, I stood perpetually accused of “Air Conditioning All of Oxon Hill” when I’d leave a door open during summer. My room was also routinely compared to a “Pig Sty”—though I’m fairly confident that Dad’s Jersey Girl never set foot on a farm. And, of course, all debate was quelched with a stern “Because I Said So.” However, Ma had a way of speaking all her own, still retaining her Jersey attitude even 40, 50, 60 years after moving to the warm gentility of Southern Maryland. She scribed her own Book of Ma. Ma on Gifts and Holidays Ma had little use for gifts. She was minimalist before minimalist was cool. Ma cleared the house of trinkets and items with the efficiency of the U.S. Army clearing out Venezuelan soldiers. Try asking her what she wanted for her birthday, Christmas, or Mother’s Day, and she’d make a face. “Nuthin’. Every Day’s the Same as the Next.” You’d push. “C’mon. You gotta want something.” Another face. Another mantra: “If I Can’t Eat It, Wear It, or Spend It, I Don’t Want It.” Ma on Booze In her later years, my nephew cracked the code that would get Ma to come to … and stay … at family functions. Have a martini ready when she arrived, plus a promise from my brother-in-law to take her home the minute she wanted to go. Me? I wasn’t into alcohol. I was into soda. A Cokehead, you might say. I could gulp down half a gallon a day, which would infuriate my mother when she’d have a rare craving for Coke and find the fridge and pantry empty. In response, Ma took to hiding soda in her bedroom closet. My form of youthful rebellion? Sneaking some of that soda, like a thief siphoning off gasoline. Responded my Ma, “Why Don’t You Drink Beer Like Other Kids?!” One day, years after I’d switched to drinking diet soda, was buying soda any time I wanted, and lived 3,000 miles away, I came home for a visit. Ma asked me to get something out of her closet. I went. Tucked deep in the corner was a 2-liter bottle of Coke.“Ma, what are you doing? I don’t drink Coke anymore.”“Not Taking Any Chances.” Ma on Dating Ma was clear and blunt when it came to any topic under the sun … except for some reason, my dating habits. For example, she never expressed how much she adored and respected my college girlfriend and hoped we would be married. (Well, until about a week before she married someone else. “Now you tell me?!”) I eventually learned Ma’s love language was cooking. If she urged someone to have dinner, that was the sign I’d picked a winner.However, I also learned her not-so-love language. I’d introduce her to some new woman, then later ask, “How’d you like her?”  She’d respond with the mantra, “I Never Judge on First Impressions.”This, I eventually came to understand, meant, “My first impression is … LOSER.” There was one exception to the rule. She absolutely did not like that I was close to a particular woman from the neighborhood. Let’s call her Wendy. Ma calls me one day in California and offers to pay to fly me home for a visit. “Sure!” I say.“Only one condition. You don’t see Wendy.”“What if I pay half and see her once?” I joked.My mother turned into Tommy Lee Jones from “The Fugitive.”“I Don’t Bargain.” Ma on Children When it came to children, my mother would act the curmudgeon. I say “act” because one suspects even after decades it was hard for Ma to experience grandchildren and great-grandchildren without my father being there with her. When asked why she wasn’t the typical cooing, doting, “Please let me babysit”-type grandmother, she’d say, “I Raised My Kids.” Not that she didn’t love her grandkids and great-grandkids and was proud of them. She just put it in her own way in another of her mantras: “Anyone Can Procreate. But Getting a Degree is a Real Accomplishment.” Toward the end of her life, Ma greatly warmed up to her growing number of great-grandchildren. She lit up talking about one newcomer so brightly she nearly burnt my retinas.Which is why I believe this Ma’s Day she’d be tickled to know her first great-grandchild—she’s got a nursing degree, Ma—just gave birth my mother’s first great-great-grandchild.The generations roll on. Emily is now a mother herself, on her way to becoming a “ma.” She will quote from the same Official Book of Motherly Mantras and eventually craft her own Book of Ma. Meanwhile within little baby Addie is the blood of my mother. In fact, in an adorable picture posted for her one-month birthday, I swear I can see Ma’s eyes in that precious and beautiful round face. A look that says, “Be warned: I’m gonna do things my way … and I’m not gonna suffer fools.”And that’s my prayer this Ma’s Day: that Ma’s newest descendant will have the same strength, honesty, heart, and humor as that smart mouth from Jersey.  Oh, and won’t steal soda. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

Brittany Baldwin, executive director of the White House Task Force 250, previewed an upcoming event designed to tell the story “of God’s hand in America throughout 250 years, and to rededicate our nation as one nation under God.” Rededicate250, scheduled for May 17, will feature speeches from politicians and faith leaders reflecting on God’s faithfulness throughout American history. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R‑La., will lead the rededication. “It is a powerful statement that the Trump administration celebrates our Judeo‑Christian roots and the fact that that has enabled our society to flourish in a plethora of ways, including respecting religious liberty of Americans of all religions,” Baldwin said. The event will include video messages from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as a talk from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on George Washington as a leader and man of God. Asked what viewers can expect from Trump’s video, Baldwin said he will likely discuss the role religion has played throughout the country’s history and the importance of Americans of faith continuing to strengthen the nation. “I think he’ll most likely talk about how religion has always played an important role in our country, and how we need Americans of faith to continue to strengthen and sustain our country, and that under his leadership they’re no longer being persecuted, but instead are being embraced and strengthened,” she said. The event will also feature musical performances by various choirs and individual artists. Participating college choirs include Hillsdale College, Liberty University, and Grand Canyon University. Rededicate250 will recount God’s hand in American history while acknowledging “the miracle still in our midst,” Baldwin said. “You’ll have a couple people testify to personal testimonies of God still working,” she said. “And then the final section will be a new birth of faith and freedom.” The event will conclude with a worship concert by Christian artist Chris Tomlin. Americans will be able to participate both in person and virtually. “First, they can attend the event, and we would welcome their attendance,” Baldwin said. “If they’re not able to attend in person for whatever reason, they can join through their own church or faith community.”

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Trump administration is advancing policies to reduce the burden of child care costs on low-income families, The Daily Signal has learned. The Administration of Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, will issue a combination of new rules and guidance to states in order to empower parents in their children’s day care options.  “We want to address what is a major cost crunch for a lot of families with young children,” a White House official told The Daily Signal. “Child care eats up a pretty significant chunk of a family’s budget. In some cases, it can compete with the cost of rent or a mortgage, student debt. It’s a significant payment.”  The new child care policy package seeks to reduce regulations so providers can run their businesses more efficiently, so they could pass the savings on to American families. For instance, the guidance will eliminate degree and credit-hour requirements for teachers, shifting instead to competency-based standards. Mandatory staff-to-child ratios and group-size limits will be replaced so that parents can make those choices for themselves.  The Trump administration’s goal is to increase parent-directed child care by restoring flexibility to states and encouraging greater use of vouchers. “We want to encourage choice and competition for parents through the promotion of voucherization, and we want to ensure that to the maximum extent possible, faith-based and community neighborhood-based providers, including home-based providers, are able to participate in these programs on equal footing,” the official said. Licensing restrictions can hold back faith-based providers, according to the official. The guidance aims to put faith-based providers on equal footing with larger ones. “[Licensing restrictions] operate as a form of regulatory capture from some of the larger center-based child care providers in ways that can box out faith-based providers that just don’t have access to the same resources, don’t have as much capital, or the same pool of labor to necessarily be able to tap,” the official said.  The notice of proposed rule making will be finalized in the next week. Governors and state legislatures will also receive letters urging them to carry out the reforms in a way that benefits local residents.  While Congress holds the majority of the power to impact child care costs, ACF is able to amend regulations and the administration of federal programs, including Head Start, Child Care and Development Fund, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.  The Trump administration is also working to support stay-at-home parents through the guidance. Currently, the work requirements for married couples under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program are stricter than they are for single parents, making it more difficult for low-income parents to choose to stay home with their kids. Through subregulatory guidance, ACF will clarify for states that married couples can share the work requirements.  “There are a lot of families, particularly low-income families, who may not necessarily want to drop their child off at a center-based child care provider, or any child care provider, and would prefer to stay at home,” the official said. “We’re trying to increase the amount of flexibility that low-income families can receive to have a part- or full-time stay-at-home parent to watch their child within the home.”  The guidance eliminates the 7% co-payment requirement on federal child care programs and encourages states to maximize lawful transfers from TANF and Social Services Block Grants into the Child Care and Development Fund in order to expand access to the fund’s vouchers and reduce waitlists.  “We want to also clarify that federal law does not require states to disadvantage state-law-approved child care models, just so long as basic health, safety, and integrity standards are met,” the official said.  The policy package has been a collaborative effort between the Office of Management and Budget, the White House, and ACF. The president’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposed a set of reform principles for Head Start, and the policy changes are consistent with those, the official said.  Alex Adams, assistant secretary for ACF, told The Daily Signal in April that he has cut 36,000 pages of regulation.