Before we start — for the record I invited Rep. Massie on to my program to discuss these issues and anything else he wants to discuss, but Massie has gone from requesting to come on my program to refusing outright, presumably because the questions may be tough. Kane received this from his comms earlier today:
Rep. Thomas Massie is in a difficult primary fight because Rep. Thomas Massie chose to make his reelection bid difficult. I say this as someone who has known Massie for years, who frequently hosted him on my program (often at his request), and who has generally supported him in the past.
Massie began his carnival of errors not when he criticized Trump, but when he allowed his opposition to Trump overshadow all of the issues that Americans care about. When Trump first targeted Massie’s reelection bid I brushed it off as mere bluster over loyalty. As long as Massie focused on issues and advanced voters’s agenda in D.C. it didn’t matter. People in his district are reliable red voters unlikely to be swayed by people outside of their district.
But Massie couldn’t stay focused. He bought into all of the hype surrounding his dislike of Trump and his focus on the issues slipped into wild territory. The people who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome glommed onto him and promoted every insult, every critique, rewarded every quip with amplification, so he did it more and more. He began leaning heavily into opposing Israel as an American ally and repeating Podcastistan slop about how Jews own Congress:
In a ironically un-Libertarian twist he began attacking the group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs), a domestic group of American citizens, for choosing to spend their own money towards lobbying for support of Israel, even though their lobbying efforts are a fraction of what Qatar and other Arab states spend on Washington lobbying. The additional irony is where some of Massie’s biggest donations originate. For instance, one of his top donors is the Jordanian-born Mahrouq family who just happen to be huge donors of pro-Hamas Democrats:
Mahrouq's contributions to far-left, anti-Israel figures also include $2,100 to Mamdani, $1,500 to anti-police Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, and $500 to Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who covered-up a Nazi tattoo and has promoted anti-Semites. He has also given $1,000 to Anti-Zionist America PAC, $1,750 to Citizens Against AIPAC Corruption, and $3,500 to James Talarico, the Texas Democrat who defeatedJasmine Crockett in a Senate primary on Tuesday.
More:
The Kiani Family Trust, led by Iranian-born Joe Kiani, gave $100k to a Massie super pac:
If Kiani sounds familiar, it’s because Joe Kiani long been active in supporting Democrats:
President Biden is spending a five-day vacation with his family at the $37 million estate of a billionaire donor whose appointment by Biden to a federal advisory board drew ethics concerns — with the White House describing the businessman as a “friend,” indicating he will stay for free.
Biden, 81, traveled to the Santa Ynez, Calif., ranch of Joe Kiani, CEO of medical technology company Masimo, after delivering an emotional, late-night farewell speech Monday at the Democratic National Convention.
Kiani, 59, poured cash into supporting Biden’s political campaigns and family foundation before scoring an appointment in September 2021 to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which advises the executive branch on policy areas involving Kiani’s business.
It’s hypocritical to baselessly accuse others of being bought off by groups like AIPAC and accusing opponents of being “Israel first” while saying nothing about the amount of foreign and/or Islamic money flowing into your campaign coffers. Trump didn’t expose Massie’s hypocrisy on this, he didn’t make Massie do this, Massie did it to himself by getting distracted and playing in the puddle of leftist identity politics instead of staying focused on actual issues.
He falsely accused every member of Congress of having an “AIPAC babysitter.” He only just began heavily focusing on Epstein (per a thorough search of his online posts) within the past year, virtually ignoring it before 2025. He’s going on far-left Islamist Cenk Uygur’s show (but refuses to come back on mine) to discuss the narrative of Israel controlling America. (I’m not getting into the stories that exploded today about Massie’s rumored romantic proclivities with staff or other lawmakers.) He pals around with rabid leftist identity politics worshippers, leftists, and other dregs of the Podcastistan Woke Reich.
My point is that for someone who accuses everyone he disagrees with of being compromised, Massie looks pretty compromised himself. I don’t like writing this about someone I know, have interviewed numerous times, and have sat with at Republican dinner and events around the country. A shame, too, because his congressional record is fairly conservative.
That’s the unforced error in all of this: Massie allowed his opposition to Trump to reframe his entire political identity and recast his lot with the left. He focuses more on Israel than any average voter, in a way that causes the rest of us to ask whether he isn’t actually “Israel-first?”
I don’t know what will happen in his primary tomorrow. Trump and other Kentucky GOP leaders recruited a challenger for the primary and had Massie stayed focused, he wouldn’t be within the margin of error, biting at that opponent’s heels right now:
I’ve warned about the leftist infection of the right for years now — particularly the growing worship of identity politics, manifest most intensely right now over the issue of Israel as an ally in the Middle East. Such rhetoric may play well in the short term for clicks, but tomorrow’s primary will be a real test of how well that works in meatspace.
Thomas Massie, do better.
Disheartening, to say the least. I have always respected him. This shows that the talons of evil can grip even those who have been the most principled for so long.
I have really wanted to like Massie, but I just can’t. I know he typically votes conservative/MAGA, but his shenanigans on the critical bills outweigh his daily grind work.
I also can’t stomach his antisemitic stuff. I hope he loses today, and I don’t want to hear that because I’m not a Kentucky voter it’s not my business. Massie’s voting affects everyone in the US, as does the rest of the House.