“Israeli Lobby” Spends $10 Million to Defeat Massie

A House primary race that is threatening to become the most expensive in Kentucky history has become a battle between neocon megadonors and an emerging right-wing/libertarian coalition.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie told podcaster Tucker Carlson this week that his race has tightened up significantly. “It’s a single-point lead for me,” said Massie. “They’ve spent $10 million against me. … It’s going to be close.”

Betting markets had Massie up by 10 points just a few weeks back. Since then, ads for his opponent, a former Navy SEAL-turned-farmer named Ed Gallrein, have exploded on social media as well as traditional media.

But one place Kentuckians have yet to see Gallrein is the debate stage. He has avoided numerous requests to tangle in the arena of ideas, including from friendly local radio hosts, as we previously reported. Massie told Carlson his opponent won’t debate because he doesn’t hold any genuine positions. He reminded listeners of President Donald Trump’s previous comment, that in Gallrein, he wanted a “warm body to beat Massie.”

Israeli Lobby Backing Opponent

Carlson reiterated that, unlike past races in which Massie won by large margins, this one is close only because of “the money poured into this race from outside of Kentucky.” In Massie’s words, “The real reason that this race is a serious race and I may lose is because a foreign lobby has fully funded — to the extent that they’ve never done in any Republican race ever before — my opponent.”

“Where did that money come from?” Carlson asked.

“It’s come from billionaires. At least 95 percent has come from the Israeli lobby,” Massie said. He named the Republican Jewish Coalition, AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), and a super PAC called MAGA KY that is funded by megadonors Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson. Massie noted that MAGA KY is “neither MAGA nor Kentucky.” What these people are doing, essentially, is “trying to buy a congressional seat in Kentucky.”

According to Massie, another group that is working against him is Christians United for Israel. “Their position is more war, it’s more strife, it’s more bombs, it’s send more foreign aid — and those are the things I’ve been voting against.”

Federal Election Commission filings do not reflect updated fundraising and spending for either Massie or Gallrein.

Opposition to Foreign Aid

The congressman said his worst sin, what really triggered the ire of the neocons, has been his opposition to foreign aid. “It turns out that I’ve never voted for foreign aid … for Israel, for Egypt, for Ukraine….”

Massie’s voting record, a rare feat of constitutional adherence, corroborates this claim. Moreover, he was among the few Republicans to oppose Trump’s decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites last summer and to take the country to war this year.

Other dissident positions Massie has taken that have triggered the wrath of Trump and the neocon lobby are his votes against bloated government funding packages and his push for Jeffrey Epstein transparency.

Massie said he has raised about $5 million from thousands of donations that average $94. He added that he too has a super PAC that supports him. Usually, he added, he raises no more than $400,000 for these races. But this one is obviously different.

According to Massie, polling metrics shows that he’s doing well with every age group except the 60-and-over crowd. This aligns with other trends suggesting the baby boomers are propping up the neocon apparatus. To make matters worse, he said, Fox News, the outlet Republican baby boomers watch, has been avoiding him. Whereas he’s appeared on multiple Fox shows in the past, he’s had no luck this time. He posited the reason is because Fox wants to maintain their favorable standing with the White House, and having Massie on would endanger that.

AI-generated Lie

On a semi-related note, Carlson and Massie discussed an AI-generated opposition ad that portrays him holding hands and dining with U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) before entering a hotel. “This is worse than adultery,” the narrator says. “It’s a complete and total betrayal of President Trump and Kentucky conservatives.”

The video includes a disclaimer saying it’s AI, but the point of the ad is obvious. As Massie commented, “They’re hoping the older generation won’t realize it’s an AI generated lie.”

The primary election is May 19. If Massie loses, the entire country loses.