Trump vs. Massie May Be the Year’s Most Important Primary

Donald Trump got whooped by Joe Biden in 2020. He was investigated and indicted by Jack Smith (twice), Fani Willis, and Letitia James, who made him a felon. Jerome Powell didn’t lower interests enough for him. Seventeen Republicans either voted to impeach or convict him. Barack Obama is black and joked about him. And that’s only the top of the iceberg that is the president’s long enemies list. But it isn’t the tip.

That honor belongs to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who was part of a group of Republicans who stated following the 2020 election that they were “outraged at the significant abuses in our election system resulting from the reckless adoption of mail-in ballots and the lack of safeguards maintained to guarantee that only legitimate votes are cast and counted.”

He also condemned the indictment related to Trump’s hoarding of classified documents.

“A sitting president arresting his political opponent is the ultimate weaponization of government,” he stated at the time. “Joe Biden’s administration has shamefully crossed into waters charted only by banana republics.”

Massie did not vote to impeach Trump and he wants to abolish the Federal Reserve Act.

In many ways, he is more of a Republican than anybody else serving in Congress… or at least what Republicans claim to be.

So why is he Trump’s enemy number one? Why is the president constantly posting messages about Massie (including twice on Monday), some of which are targeting his wife? Why have his allies made the primary in the lawmaker’s district, which he won unopposed in 2024, the most expensive in US history (although, to be fair, pro-Israel Republicans had plenty to do with that)? And why did he dispatch former Fox News morning show host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to Massie’s district on the eve of the primary to campaign against him.

The answer, of course, is Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie was the driving force behind mandating the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release almost all of the files it has on Trump’s former pal.

While the president maintains that he was not aware of his erstwhile friend’s crimes, he certainly knew about Epstein liking his women “on the younger side.”

For what it’s worth, the American people aren’t buying it. A majority of them believes that Trump was involved and that he is now trying to cover this up.

In light of all of the things the president has been accused of, indicted for, admitted to, convicted of, found liable for, i.e., sexual assault, sexual abuse, attempting a coup, stealing classified documents, obstruction of justice, fraud, falsification of business records, and many more, it is really telling that the “Epstein hoax,” as he calls it, seems to trouble Trump above all.

In a way, he is fortunate that his mishandling of the war against Iran and the subsequent cost explosion has pushed the Epstein story off the front pages.

If it hadn’t, maybe Massie’s primary wouldn’t be as much of a nail biter.

But it is.

Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and a farmer who is Trump’s hand-picked challenger, surpassed Massie as the favorite in the betting markets on the homestretch of the campaign, which would be a huge victory for the president.

It would show that, in spite of his deep unpopularity, his grip on the GOP has not waned and that he can squash any dissenter, no matter the cost.

And that can have an impact on the midterms that goes beyond Tuesday’s race.

Whoever wins the primary in Kentucky’s fourth congressional district will get (re)elected to Congress in the fall. There is no doubt about that.

But forcing Republicans to blindly follow Trump into any ditch and off any cliff will be bad for GOP candidates in more competitive races.

Of course, the president doesn’t care about that. To Trump, only unconditional loyalty to himself personally matters.

We would be hard-pressed to answer the question whether he’d rather have the Democrats control a House of Representatives without Massie in it or maintain the status quo. We suspect it would be the former.

Regardless of the outcome, Trump’s targeting of Massie shows that it is important to keep the pressure up on DOJ to release the Epstein files that it has (illegally) withheld and/or (illegally) redacted. There is clearly more to be discovered.

Win or lose, we imagine that Massie will continue to do just that.