In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) blamed the Israeli lobby for his inability to gain polling separation from his 2026 primary opponent. But in reality, the only one to blame is himself for playing the villain role in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Massie is not in the driver’s seat in the Republican Party — that would be Trump. The president is wildly popular among MAGA Republicans, while Massie doesn’t even pretend to represent more than “half” of that voting bloc.
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His repeated opposition to the president’s agenda is getting old quickly, and he knows this. In late April, he put out a campaign ad doing a 180 on Trump, pandering to the MAGA vote by wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and touting his record where it aligns with the president. When I first saw the ad, I thought it was an AI-generated joke.
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He went from claiming the country is being run by the “Epstein administration” to saying “President Trump and I have a whole lot more to get done together,” just in time for his May 19 primary against Ed Gallrein — the candidate actually endorsed by Trump.
Of course, Massie left out his attempts to create congressional “defectors” and “co-conspirators” to oppose Trump’s agenda, his opposition to Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, tariffs, COVID-19 relief, Venezuela intervention, Iran war, and other policies. That’s odd, because he’s run ads bragging about his opposition to Trump in the past.
Massie told Carlson on Wednesday night that he’s only leading Gallrein by a “single point.” In nearly a decade of congressional elections, he’s never won a primary by fewer than 59.5 points. Here are the main factors dragging Massie down: Trump won Kentucky by over 30 points in 2024; the president has a 100% approval rating among MAGA Republicans, according to CNN; Trump endorsed Massie’s primary opponent; Massie has been an obstacle in the way of carrying out the GOP’s agenda; and the Israel-obsessed congressman has been extremely combative toward Trump.
That is a recipe for underperformance, if not outright failure. Blaming Israel is lazy, when the president is far more popular than Israel in a state with just 0.4% of its population identifying as Jewish.
The Democrats understand how to come together to enact their agenda and wield power while they control Congress. Because of people like Massie, who makes his living off of being a contrarian, Republicans have been far less effective. We saw earlier this week what happened to the Indiana redistricting rebels whose opponents received endorsements from Trump — they were ousted. Few agree with Trump on everything he says and does, but Republicans are fed up with the lack of results produced by a party where a few “co-conspirators,” as Massie calls them, can hold everyone else hostage.
Does Massie’s Israel opposition factor into the equation? Very little, if at all. Everybody knows he’s been anti-Israel for nearly a decade. Since 2019, he has often been the only Republican to vote against resolutions condemning efforts to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel, honor the U.S.’s relationship with the country, affirm its right to exist, stand with Israel in its war against Hamas, condemn support for terrorist groups, and condemn antisemitism. He has also voted against sanctions on terrorist groups and Iran, as well as funding Israel’s Iron Dome, which saves millions of lives.
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Massie’s anti-Israel ways haven’t changed. What did change is his attempt to hijack MAGA and wrestle it away from its founder. To quote the 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story: “Bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for ’em.”
“I may lose,” Massie admitted to Carlson on Wednesday night. Indeed, he may, and to discover why, he should simply look in the mirror.
