Thomas Massie’s political career deserved a far more dignified ending than the one it got Tuesday night. For north of a decade, Rep. Massie (R-KY) was one of only a handful of members of Congress willing to consistently challenge both parties on spending, surveillance, executive overreach, and the growth of the administrative state. When most Republicans buried their heads in the sand, Massie warned about deficit spending, the national debt, and Congress surrendering its legislative authority to unelected bureaucrats.
The COVID pandemic audited every elected official who claimed to oppose tyranny. When the vast majority of Congress and beyond failed this test miserably, Massie passed with flying colors. The congressman was right about lockdowns, school closures, vaccine mandates, and the dangerous expansion of emergency government power. Massie was one of the only members of Congress who opposed the inflation-causing COVID bailouts.
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Massie, the principled, eccentric MIT grad who built an off-the-grid home on his cattle ranch in Garrison, Kentucky, had gone toe to toe with President Donald Trump and Republican leadership several times before. GOP leaders excoriated Massie for opposing Trump’s COVID policies but primary challenges never got off the ground until now.
When Trump-backed, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein defeated Massie by 10 points on Tuesday, the explanation given by the too-online Right was predictable: Israel controls U.S. politics, AIPAC bought the election, and Massie was only targeted for his opposition to foreign aid.
There is a shred of truth buried in this narrative. The race was the most expensive House primary in history and AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups donated a whopping $9 million to Gallrein-affiliated PACs. On the flip side, 96% of Massie’s donations came from out of state. Only 401 of the congressman’s 20,665 first-quarter donors live in Kentucky’s 4th District. This election was certainly nationalized, and outside money made up the lion’s share of funding for both campaigns.
If Israel is to blame for his defeat, why wouldn’t the Jewish state have gone all-in against Massie when he repeatedly voted against Israel aid, including Iron Dome funding? If Israel controlled U.S. politics, how would Trump have the authority to force Israeli jets to abort a bombing campaign over Iran in mid-air last June? It seems far likelier that Trump’s focus on defeating Massie has more to do with a man with an ego large enough to build golden skyscrapers with his name on them being accused, without evidence, of raping children, than loyalty to a foreign government.
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Massie lost because X is not a congressional district. In the last year or so, Rep. Massie broke from his long history of telling uncomfortable truths backed by hard evidence, in favor of wild conspiracism and online populist talking points. The only contribution made by Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on the Epstein front was to defame six innocent men on the House floor. Palling around with Tucker Carlson’s online third-worldist cartel is a great way to ingratiate yourself with a loud, albeit smaller than advertised, populist audience. But again, we are talking about Kentucky’s 4th here. Social media, X in particular, creates the illusion that issues that gain traction online actually translate at the ballot box. How many Kentuckians believe that Israel and Jeffrey Epstein are the cause of their problems?
Massie’s congressional career was not a failure, far from it. Congress desperately needs leaders willing to stand up to the excesses of both parties. I hope more libertarian-leaning members take up that mantle. In the end, Thomas Massie decided that he was more interested in becoming an avatar for the terminally online New Right than representing his district, and Kentucky Republicans rejected that career move.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a writer, musician, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.