The defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-04) on Tuesday night by Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein in the GOP primary was welcome news for conservatives who had grown tired of Massie’s attention-seeking antics and theatrics, and his frequent breaks with President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans on America First policies.
Those antics, as we reported, continued right on into Primary Day, with Massie and his campaign texting an “endorsement” from Trump to voters in the 4th Congressional District, making it look like it happened this election cycle when it was actually from 2022.
When a furious Trump called him out on it, Massie just doubled down and continued to make it look like it was a recent endorsement, most likely out of desperation from knowing he was about to lose.
READ MORE: Desperation? Thomas Massie Pulls a Last Minute Primary Stunt That Has Trump Fuming
In the aftermath, the hot takes were fast and flowing among the Usual Suspects who were speculating as to why Massie went down in defeat.
The consensus among Democrats and Marjorie Taylor Greene types on the right, of course, was that it was because of Massie’s push for the release of the full Epstein files, and how the MAGA faithful in his district didn’t appreciate it.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) was among the many who pushed this theory:
So there you have it. If you lead a campaign against powerful pedophiles, you get drummed out of the Republican Party. https://t.co/u4AWK9Fz0v
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) May 20, 2026
The problem with this hot take is that it ignores the timeline of Massie’s sudden rush of concern about whether the full files would be released. It all started after the Trump administration made clear they hoped this would be Massie’s last term in Congress:
The chronology:
11 days before Massie voted against Trump’s taxcut & immigration bill, the WH’s political director said he was a marked man
Only after he was targeted did Massie spearhead the Epstein Files fight https://t.co/0jqZIreNQU
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 20, 2026
In other words, it wasn’t sincere, and everyone knew it.
Further, there was the incovenient-to-the-left’s-narratives issue of how often Massie voted against his party (and Trump) in 2025 alone – including on issues like border security and tax cuts, as RedState previously reported:
Then there is Massie’s habit of casting crucial anti-Republican Party-line House votes. In that chamber, the GOP has a razor-thin margin, and an analysis of voting patterns in the 119th Congress by Fox News found Massie sided against his party “on 73 occasions, or 22.3 percent of the time.” This includes votes against the One Big Beautiful Bill and for Democrat war resolutions against the Iran conflict.
Let us also not forget what some have characterized as an antisemitic tone to some of Massie’s Israel criticisms:
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. Just as bad, he’s been one of the prominent voices bolstering the smear that the crimes of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were somehow linked to Israeli intelligence…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.
As if to prove the point, here’s the disgusting way Massie chose to begin his concession speech Tuesday night:
Thomas Massie chose to end his career with this despicable line about Congressman-elect Ed Gallrein: “I had to find him in Tel Aviv.”
Rather than exit with dignity, Massie just proved President Trump was right to send him into early retirement. pic.twitter.com/7KH7ojGV3u
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 20, 2026
Gee, buddy, thanks for saying the quiet part out loud – and for proving the point in the process.
It was time for Massie to go, not because of the Epstein files but because a majority of GOP voters who voted in the Tuesday primary wanted someone who actually was a conservative Republican instead of someone who cosplayed one only when it was convenient to his ambitions. This X user summed it up well:
Massie’s last-ditch effort of using a four year old Trump endorsement (deliberately blocking out the date by the way) perfectly summarizes just how vile and deceitful of a person he is.
It also demonstrates Trump’s continued dominance of the Republican Party.
Massie has been calling Trump a pedophile for over a year. Epstein Administration, Epstein Class, pedo protector, all of these slanderous titles he used to attack Trump. Regardless, when it came time to save his seat, he lies right to his voters’ faces and claims to be a loyal Trump supporter.
He did this every time he was in his district speaking to voters face to face. He put pictures of himself with Trump in campaign ads. Despite being an anti-Trump lunatic to his online, third world fanbase, he’s smart enough to know that actual voters, actual AMERICANS, love Trump.
Perhaps no one in history has been more deserving of a crushing, humiliating defeat than Thomas Massie. Good riddance to this piece of garbage.
If you come at the king, you best not miss.
Massie’s last-ditch effort of using a four year old Trump endorsement (deliberately blocking out the date by the way) perfectly summarizes just how vile and deceitful of a person he is.
It also demonstrates Trump’s continued dominance of the Republican Party.
Massie has been… https://t.co/rPX5a33R9w
— Blake Kresses (@BlakeKresses) May 20, 2026
He missed. Big time.
Relatedly, Chris Murphy knows we’ll take lectures from Democrats on the Epstein files on like the 4th of Never, right?
For heaven’s sake Bill Clinton spoke in prime time at the last Dem convention less than two years ago and he was far cozier with Epstein.
Stop pretending you care about this. Because you don’t. https://t.co/AhGiwev6GB
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 20, 2026
Yeah.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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