WhatsappThe anti-Trump congressman from Kentucky is blaming his primary woes on Israel and Zionist billionaires. And the liberal press and Jew-haters everywhere are cheering for him.
No matter the outcome of the Republican primary being held on May 19 in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, antisemitic conspiracy-mongers will make a meal of it.
The race has seven-term incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) pitted against challenger Ed Gallrein, a relative political newcomer. Under normal circumstances, it would take an earthquake to topple someone seeking their eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. But in this case, all it took to make the race competitive was an announcement from President Donald Trump that he’d like Gallrein to defeat his least favorite Republican congressman.
But rather than blaming Trump, Massie is telling the world that the primary is “a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”
Running against Israel
It’s true that much hangs on the outcome of this primary.
But contrary to the narrative about a plucky independent defying Trump, the significance of the contest lies elsewhere. Other Republicans, including senators like Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins, have stood up to Trump and lived to tell the tale. What would be different about Massie is that no other Republican has done so by running against Israel—delegitimizing not only the U.S.-Israel alliance, but the right of Jewish citizens and other supporters of the Jewish state to make their voices heard in American politics.
That is why Massie is not only getting the full-throated backing of antisemitic conspiracy theorists like podcasters Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. He is also getting sympathetic coverage in liberal publications like The New York Times, which has also engaged in spreading blood libels about Jews.
Massie’s eccentricity goes beyond his radical libertarianism. An inventor and electrical engineer educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he lives off the grid on a cattle ranch and is an ardent advocate for the consumption of raw milk. The more salient aspect of his politics is his fervent opposition to government. Fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul used to be just as rigid in this respect. But lately, he has become somewhat more centrist in recent years in order to stay in sync with the president.
But not Massie.
He still opposes government spending on pretty much anything across the board. Yet he’s become a particularly virulent critic of Trump, which makes him an outlier in the GOP. On top of that, he has become a congressional drumbeater for the same sort of obsessions about Israel that characterize far-right commentary by Carlson and Owens.
The left’s favorite Republican
The congressman not only opposes the war on Iran but also blames the Jewish state for the conflict. Massie engages in demonization of Israel’s supporters and the AIPAC lobby that makes him sound like an honorary member of the left-wing progressive “Squad” led by antisemites like Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). In fact, Massie has gotten vocal support from congressional Democrats like “Squad” ringleader Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
And that is why the Times has not only run the sort of puffy praise for Massie in its opinion section, which is generally reserved for left-wingers, but also had its news section laud him as “an independent thinker” rather than an extremist and crackpot conspiracy monger. Others on the left, including The Atlantic, Mother Jones magazine and the Islamist propaganda outlet Al Jazeera, have chimed in with flattering articles.
All of them are hoping that he will break Trump’s winning streak when it comes to taking down GOP critics in the primary. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, was added to that lengthy list this past weekend. They are counting on a Massie victory to inspire other Republicans eager for the “strange new respect” accorded conservatives who do the bidding of the left generally get to join him in defying the president on a host of issues, including the conflict with Iran.
Most Democrats, including those who once claimed to be pro-Israel, now repeat the mantra about refusing donations from AIPAC. But the GOP caucuses in the House and Senate are almost unanimous in being proud supporters of the Jewish state. So, the left is hoping that Massie’s survival will help spread the rot of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist ideology that now dominates the Democratic Party on the right.
That is why the Kentucky primary has become the most expensive in American political history, with both sides spending a reported $25.6 million on TV and digital ads targeting voters in the district that stretches across the northern section of the state. And, predictably, liberal outlets like Politico are blaming it all on the pro-Israel community. Groups like AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition are not shying away from involvement in the race. But Massie is far from outgunned, outraising Gallrein in reported direct contributions by a whopping $5.8 million to $2.6 million, a better than 2-1 advantage.
Heading toward Election Day, the polls published this month are split on the outcome, with one showing the race tied and two reporting Gallrein in the lead.
It’s also getting nasty. Trump has been decrying Massie on Truth Social as a “moron” and “The Worst Republican Congressman in History.” The congressman has been chirping about “a foreign country” (Israel) “buying” his seat. He’s also been running ads depicting Gallrein supporter Paul Singer, a hedge-fund supporter of Israel and many conservative causes and candidates, as being overshadowed by a rainbow-colored Star of David. The point of that is to depict his Navy SEAL veteran opponent as linked to the gay community in the deep red district.
A deep dive into Massie’s record illustrates that while he has always been a hard-core libertarian, his opposition to big government seems invariably to lead him to oppose not just spending, but any expression of support for Israel’s existence or opposition to antisemitism. Indeed, in 2022, Massie was the sole member of Congress to vote against a purely symbolic resolution condemning Jew-hatred that even the “Squad” felt impelled to support. He’s followed that up by opposing a host of other efforts to express solidarity with the Jews during the unprecedented surge of antisemitism. In each case, libertarian principles would not have been offended by voting “yes.” It’s just that Massie seems unwilling to condemn Jew hatred.
Antisemitic tropes
Far from merely a cranky opponent of all foreign entanglements, alliances and wars, Massie has been doubling down on the antisemitic trope about Israel dragging Trump and America into conflicts and doing their dirty work. He deliberately mischaracterizes aid to Israel—almost all of which is spent in the United States, bolstering vital domestic arms manufacturers—as having no benefit to Americans. He ignores or lies about the fact that America derives enormous benefits from the alliance with the Jewish state in terms of intelligence and weapons development. And, like Carlson, he pretends Iran has not been at war with the United States since the Islamist regime seized power there in 1979.
He also seems to think there is something illegitimate about millions of Americans, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who understand that a close relationship with Israel is not only an expression of common democratic values. It is also one that embodies the joint defense of Western civilization that is under attack from the red-green alliance of Marxists and Islamists who hate America and who seek to falsely depict it as an irredeemably racist nation.
According to the Times, that makes him a “Jeffersonian agrarian” worthy of praise. But what it really means is that he is the best ally the political left has on the GOP side of the congressional aisle and a right-wing mouthpiece for Jew-hatred that makes common cause with left-wing antisemites. He doesn’t support limits on campaign spending as a matter of principled support of free speech and welcomes help from those who share his backing for gun rights and other libertarian positions. Yet he seems willing to wrongly single out those who band together to support pro-Israel candidates as an illegitimate foreign intervention in American politics.
In this manner, he seems to be following in the footsteps of Rand Paul’s father—former Rep. Ron Paul, the leading extremist libertarian of his generation—who trafficked in antisemitic conspiracies in his newsletters in the pre-internet era.
If Massie loses, we know what will become inevitable, other than Trump gaining a reliable supporter in a deep red district that Republicans will easily win in November.
It will guarantee a new flood of antisemitic commentary about Israel and the Jews “buying” congressional seats. It will ignore the fact that AIPAC is a relatively small lobby outspent by a large margin by most other such entities, including those that seek to influence Congress on issues relating to the oil and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the billions spent in the United States by Islamist governments like that of Qatar.
Indeed, Rand Paul’s son (and Ron’s grandson) said the quiet part out loud last week when he accosted the non-Jewish pro-Israel Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) in a drunken rant. He claimed that “you Jews” would be responsible for Massie’s defeat, something for which he has since apologized.
If Massie wins, we can expect much of the same, only this time accompanied by the delight of Jew-haters who will claim that they have defeated the mighty “Israel lobby.”
A primary defeat could see him relegated to the ranks of clickbait podcasters, along with other Jew-haters. A victory will send him back to Congress, where he will double down on his efforts to undermine Trump and the U.S.-Israel alliance.
Either way, he is a living illustration of the toxic shift toward antisemitism among a minority of American conservatives. Even if it provides conspiracy theorists with more fodder for their deluded view of the world, it is vital that conservatives and people of goodwill—wherever they are on the political spectrum—do what they can to end his political career.
