Trump touts cutting drug prices, slams fellow Republican Rep. Massie during stops in Ohio, Kentucky

HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday touted lowering prescription drug prices in Ohio and campaigned in the Kentucky district of Rep. Thomas Massie, calling his fellow Republican a “nutjob” he said should lose their party's upcoming primary.

It was a full day on the road as Trump attempted to project economic and political strength even as war in Iran has scrambled financial markets and hurt his poll numbers.

Massie is one of the few remaining Republicans who has dared defy Trump in Congress, and the president took the unusual step of holding a rally in Massie's northern Kentucky district. He gleefully told the crowd, “I just can't stand this guy,” and called him “stupid” and a “disaster.”

“We’ve got to get rid of this loser,” said Trump, who has endorsed Massie’s challenger, Ed Gallrein, in Kentucky's primary on May 19.

The event felt like vintage Trump from his reelection bid in 2024 — so much so that he briefly called Gallrein, a farmer, business owner and retired Navy SEAL, to the stage. There, Gallrein declared, “Tom Massie stands with the ladies of ‘The View.’ Mr. President, we stand with you!”

The trip was a test of Trump’s ability to cleanse his party of those who oppose him, but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

Polls show that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump’s handling of the economy even before the conflict began, and fighting there has derailed Trump’s messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.

Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls — which the White House had previously hailed as “blockbuster.”

Trump's swing began with a tour of Thermo Fisher Scientific in suburban Cincinnati. There, he discussed his administration's efforts to persuade major manufacturers to lower prescription medication prices so that they are closer to what is charged abroad.

“I used some very strong negotiating talent to get every single country to almost immediately approve,” he told reporters.

But the president also told reporters that what was happening in Iran was “an excursion that will keep us out of a war.” He added of Tehran, “for them, it’s a war. For us, it’s turned out to be easier than we thought.”

Later, at the Kentucky rally, Trump suggested the conflict wasn't about to end, saying, “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job.”

He said that Iran was on the verge of rebuilding its nuclear capabilities, saying that fighting needed to continue so, “We don’t want to go back every two years.”

That contradicts many previous Trump claims and justifications for the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran — not the least of which was Trump saying U.S. strikes last summer had obliterated that country's nuclear capabilities.

Also Wednesday, Trump did an interview with Cincinnati’s WKRC-TV CBS and said he planned to tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to bring down gasoline prices.

“Right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” Trump said, without providing details.

That interview followed the president acknowledging during the tour of the drug factory that stock markets had been volatile as gas prices have risen, saying, “I figured we’d be hit a little bit. But, we were hit probably less than I thought.”

“We’ll be back on track in a pretty short while,” Trump said. “Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down.”

At the rally, the president stressed the importance of Republicans winning the midterms, ticking off his administration’s accomplishments while telling the crowd, “The midterms are going to be very, very important to keep it going.”

But that doesn't extend to Massie, who Trump called “the worst.”

Massie is an outspoken Trump critic who opposed the White House-backed tax and spending measure and bucked Trump by pushing to have files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein released.

He’s also criticized the U.S. strike on Venezuela that toppled then-President Nicolás Maduro and, most recently, the war in Iran.

Massie told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Trump’s endorsement is “all my opponent has going for him.” adding that Gallrein “has promised to be a rubber stamp when he gets to Washington D.C. and I don’t think people here want a rubber stamp.”

Wednesday's swing was part of a tour the White House said would see Trump travel the country and attempt to show that he’s taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous about still-rising prices and economic growth. It followed Democrats pushing the message that the everyday cost of living remained too high and winning the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races in November.

Since then, the president has made stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas — though his speeches have sometimes been more focused on his own political grievances than on his plans to help lower everyday costs across the country.

Even in Kentucky, Trump spent long stretches mocking his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, and slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for publicly talking about his dyslexia, saying “I don’t want the president of the United States to have a cognitive deficiency.”

Then, while flying back to Washington, Trump took to his social media website to again criticize Newsom on dyslexia, which is a learning disability. Trump called the governor “a Cognitive Mess.”

This story has been updated to fix the name of the local Ohio newspaper. It is The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Weissert contributed from Washington. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington.

President Donald Trump speaks as he visits Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump poses for a photo during a visit to Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Miami International Airport in Miami. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Taylor Frankie Paul, a reality TV star from “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and the father of her 2-year-old son appeared in a Utah courtroom Thursday afternoon to present dueling petitions for protective orders against each other in a case that could determine who gets custody of their child.

Both Paul and her former partner, Dakota Mortensen, have asked a Utah court to turn short-term protective orders into long-term arrangements as the two have accused each other of domestic violence. Both of their families were also in the courtroom, but no other cast members from the Hulu reality show were present.

The hearing started with Mortensen's attorney Brent Salazar-Hall reviewing for Third District Court Commissioner Russell Minas the evidence submitted in the case, including recordings of fights the couple has had in the past.

Minas said at an April 7 hearing that he had “concerns going both ways” about the competing allegations. For now, Paul cannot spend unsupervised time with her son because of a history of volatile behavior directed at Mortensen while kids were present, Minas ruled at that hearing.

Paul and Mortensen, whose tumultuous relationship was featured heavily on the show, had been ordered to stay at least 100 feet (30 meters) away from each other before Thursday's hearing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of domestic violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-7233 in the U.S.

Eleven fights between the exes were under examination in their protective order requests. A recently leaked video of one fight from 2023 prompted ABC to make the unprecedented move last month of shelving an already-filmed season of “The Bachelorette” starring Paul. Hulu also paused production of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and resumed filming last week.

In the video, Paul appeared to punch, kick and throw chairs at Mortensen while her daughter watched and cried. Paul was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. The police body camera footage of her arrest was featured in the first season of the Hulu series.

Paul pleaded guilty to an assault charge, which will be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor if she stays out of legal trouble for a three-year probationary period that ends in August. The other counts were dismissed.

Earlier this month, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office declined to file new charges against Paul in recent fights with Mortensen. Any new charges would have violated Paul's probation from the 2023 assault.

The lack of prosecution could help Paul and her attorneys make her case to the court commissioner as she fights to regain custody of her son.

A protective order in Utah can restrict or eliminate a parent’s ability to see their child. When one parent receives a protective order against the other, a court commissioner may also decide it is in the child's best interest give that parent custody. If both parents have protective orders against each other, the court relies heavily on the recommendations of an attorney appointed to investigate the child's best interests.

Paul and Mortensen's son, Ever, had a court-appointed attorney present at Thursday’s hearing to help the commissioner determine the safest arrangement for the boy.

The lawyer, Michael McDonald, said on April 7 that he had concerns about Paul’s tendency to fight with Mortensen in front of their son.

Eric Swinyard, a lawyer for Paul, has argued that Mortensen is the aggressor in the relationship. He showed photos in court of Paul's bruises after a fight in a truck in which Paul alleges Mortensen slammed her head into the dashboard.

Daniela Diaz, a lawyer for Mortensen, has described other altercations between the pair and argued that Paul uses their son “as a pawn to start fights.”

FILE - Taylor Frankie Paul appears at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)