Controversial anti-Trump Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has lost his primary race.

 

Thomas Massie. New York Post. 

Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie has lost the primary race for Kentucky's 4th district. New York Post. In what turned out to be the most expensive Republican primary race in US history, Massie faced challenger Ed Gallrein, a former Navy Seal and farmer. Gallrien won the race comfortably according to the Associated Press, with an almost 10 point lead when the race was called. Massie was a seven term incumbent but had angered President Donald Trump and many of his supporters for many reasons. Massie voted against key legislation, including the One Beautiful Bill act, which accomplished many of Trump's legislative priorities. Massie often clashed with Trump over spending, often voting with Democrats to stop legislation he did not like. But Massie also angered Jewish groups for not supporting Israel, leading to massive spending from Jewish groups. Massie's defeat comes on the heels of Senator Bill Cassidy losing his seat in Louisiana and President Trump endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn.  

My Comment:

President Donald Trump continues to assert his authority over the Republican Party. Massie came at the king and missed and now he's out on the street, or at least he will be after the midterms. But this is a lot bigger than a single primary in a safe Republican seat in Kentucky. It's a major victory in the battle for the ideological center of the Republican Party. 

Massie was an ideologue to be sure. He often voted against popular bills like the OBB act because he had some kind of issue with the spending levels. He absolutely cared more about whatever pet issue he had of the day than actually scoring victories for his party. 

President Trump is the exact opposite. Trump is absolutely not an ideologue. He's a deal maker and what he actually wants is to win. In this way, Trump is a much smarter man than Massie ever could be and it's been the main inter-party war since Trump walked down the steps. Trump and MAGA are the pragmatists, they want real wins and want the party to be something other than the Washington Generals to the Democrats. Massie couldn't care less about that and instead wanted to make perfect the enemy of good. 

Personally, I despised Massie but not so much for being an ideologue. Rand Paul is one as well, and I certainly don't hate him. But Massie lost all credibility with me with his Jeffrey Epstein stunts. Massie pedaled conspiracy theories and nonsense about Epstein and even indicated that Trump himself might be a pedophile, or at least a pedophile supporter. And his efforts to hurt Trump with these insane remarks also backfired when he was unable to deliver a single person that the justice department could go after. 

I've researched Epstein since 2015 and it's been very clear for awhile now that Epstein was a fixer, who also happened to be a pimp. His role in human trafficking was a lot more limited than folks realize and Massie either didn't know this or didn't care. There was never going to be any further charges in the Epstein case as most of the players were dead, much of the evidence was lost because of his mishandled 1st arrest under the Bush Administration. 

But Massie, again, made perfect the enemy of good. It wasn't enough that a lot of people that weren't prosecuted were at least convicted in the court of public opinion, he wanted everyone who had anything to do with Epstein, even some that were totally innocent, to go to prison, presumably without the protections of due process. It was all insanity and I am glad he got punished for it. 

Israel was also a major factor in this as well. The antisemitic right generally latches onto anyone who is remotely critical of Israel and Massie was certainly that. However, they don't actually have all that much power and apparently, they don't actually vote either. Massie was laser focused on Israel and even said that his opponent was busy at APIAC headquarters so he couldn't concede to him. It just goes to show that a few loud voices on X don't actually amount to anything. 

Speaking of those voices, they have been absolutely insufferable and I am glad they are eating crow. Some of them are saying they will vote for Democrats or Libertarians in the midterms, but I am not scared because, like I said above, they don't actually vote. I'm going to enjoy a nice beer tonight thinking about that. 

As for President Trump, it's pretty clear he's cleaning house. Bill Cassidy is out, Thomas Massie is out and John Cornyn is next. And the Post mentioned that even Lauren Boebert could be next. And it shows a level of confidence that gives lie to the media narrative that the GOP is going to get wiped out in 2026. Indeed, if that was the case, I don't see Trump purging his enemies. Had the VRA Surpreme Court ruling gone a different way, along with the Virginia redistricting, perhaps things would be different, but is sure seems like Trump is confident that he will keep the House and the Senate in 2026. Could that be hubris? Sure, we all know the midterms are bad for incumbency rule, but I think it's a lot more likely than most folks think.