Massie’s out
In Kentucky’s Fourth District:
Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein defeated longtime Rep. Thomas Massie in what turned out to be the most expensive House primary in U.S. history, one which pitted some prominent Republican figures against each other. …
Gallrein, who served as a Navy SEAL for 30 years and who is a 5th-generation farmer, had a simple yet effective message from the start of his campaign, entering the race in October with Trump’s endorsement already in hand:
“This is Trump country. It’s time we had a congressman who acts like it.”
Glad to see Massie gone. Who would have thought that surrounding yourself with neo-Nazi Trump haters in the last days of your campaign wouldn’t be the best strategy? Massie pretends to be principled but he is just a grandstanding self-righteous doofus.
It really won’t take very many.
Cassidy, Massie, and next . . . Cornyn?
Over $500 spent on Gallrein’s behalf for every vote he got. “The Big Lie” still works as a campaign strategy.
This November will mark only the second time I will not be voting for the Republican candidate in my district.
You won’t be missed Dwaz if you are mourning Massie.
Over $500 spent on Gallrein’s behalf for every vote he got. “The Big Lie” still works as a campaign strategy.
==
Mr. Massie’s committee collected $5.5 million and he won 47,000 votes. Mr. Gallrein’s collected $3.2 million and he won 57,000 votes.
==
I don’t care for these fratricidal dustups. There are, however, Republicans begging to be bounced from office, among them the last two Republican Senate bosses. The worst thing that ever happened to the GOP in Congress was Addison Mitchell McConnell and it’s a pity he wasn’t knocked off in a primary 12 years ago (since the Senate GOP caucus never had the gumption to get rid of him, which doesn’t speak well of them, to be sure).
Dwaz, are you sure you are at the right Blog?
NEO does welcome everyone though.
“Mr. Massie’s committee collected $5.5 million and he won 47,000 votes. Mr. Gallrein’s collected $3.2 million and he won 57,000 votes.”
Oh, and only their committees were spending? I said “on Gallrein’s behalf” for a reason.
I stopped voting for McConnell in the primary several elections ago. Believe it or not he was a big improvement over what we had when he was first elected.
@ Dwaz > ” Believe it or not he was a big improvement over what we had when he was first elected.”
Wow. Who (or what) did he replace?
Wikipedia is okay on basic facts: “Addison Mitchell McConnell III[1] …; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. ”
Power corrupts, and longevity in power increases corruption.
Not criminal corruption, no one has ever accused him of that AFAIK, but the degradation of focus and priorities.
Thus becoming out of step with the political times, and the changes that have happened in the voters and leaders in both parties
There comes a point at which The Electeds consider the office “theirs” and not “ours;” I’m confident McConnell passed that point a number of terms ago, as have so many in Congress, various statehouses, and several governor’s mansions.
That said, one thing the Democrats are much, much better at than the Republicans is developing and maintaining “bench depth.” Their bench may leave a lot to be desired in the respect given to the Constitution and propriety, but they have no shortage of challengers capable of winning a race and furthering their agenda.
Were that Republicans also as capable; it appears some progress is being made under Trump, and one might hope that such attitude and determination persists beyond his term.
The honorable Mr. Massie does not seem like a well man.
One wonders how he was able to achieve such a high office…for so long.
Could it be that Kentucky is a rather complicated state? Taking pride in its contrarians? (Perhaps it’s a Civil War thing…)
I suppose, though, that it’s to his credit that he let us all witness the bizarro universe that he inhabits and in which he flails. His deepest, darkest secrets….
So points for honesty…but also for the abysmal lies he believed he had to tell—no doubt to express a HIGHER Truth. (Unless, that is, he was becoming increasingly desperate…or maybe he even took joy in it… Who knows?)
File under: Massie Agonistes
There are more Aaron Burrs than George Washingtons in government. It is a sad fact of human nature. The Founders, God bless ’em did yeoman’s work in crafting a Constitution that strove to limit the ability of the Burrs to damage the nation, but perfection is a goal that is unattainable. Government, particularly the overreaching variety we seem to have today naturally attracts people whose nature is inclined to… overreaching. That would explain, at least to some degree the large number of communists/socialists currently running the democrat party. If you simply listen to the “no bad ideas” blather recently spewed by the execrable Mrs. Emhoff, you will find ample evidence to support my proposition. Lord Acton was entirely correct about the corrupting nature of power and although it is usually interpreted to be a “bug” in the system, the democrats have clearly made the attainment of power for power’s sake a “feature” of their party.
Well Thomas can launch his podcaster influencer career for reals now. I’m sure with that goofy Kentucky twang it will be a yuge success. Good riddance to a narcissist flake.
But first he’s going to need to do an interview with Tucker Carlson to figure out what really went wrong….
Speaking of woopsies…
“Based on this manifesto, it seems entirely possible the San Diego shooters intended to target a Jewish synagogue and ended up at a mosque…”
https://instapundit.com/797908/
Guess we should let the 72-hour rule kick in here before we persuade ourselves that we know the whole story.
+ Bonus woopsie:
Aieeee!
“Instead, Claude Just Made Up More Stuff.”—
https://instapundit.com/797892/
Probably should just rebrand it as “Clod”…either that or just write it from scratch.
Massie opened his concession speech with, “I would’ve come out sooner, but had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.” Stay classy, Massie.
Oh, and only their committees were spending?
==
Supposedly a lot of SuperPac spending, not yet collated and reported. Campaign spending is subject to diminishing returns like other production inputs.
==
I wish DJT was not motivated by personal pique, but some of these characters are asking for it. Trouble is, that the worst of the bunch is none other than Glitch McConnell, who will leave under his own steam in 7.5 months if another stroke doesn’t take him out first.
==
In one country after another in the occidental world, the putatively starboard party is a study in failure theatre. The British Conservative Party may be the most catastrophic example, but Glitch McConnell has been working to see to it that the Republicans keep up the pace. Into this mix comes Thomas Massie, who presents a different version of failure theatre.
Not sure why AIPAC took such an interest in this race.
Steve,
The Founders one big error was not having term limits for Senators and Reps. I understand the culture they were working within where they assumed such people would do their service and then leave office. They took the appropriate jaundiced view of human nature in everything else while crafting the Constitution, but missed on this one.
Art Deco:
Not sure? It’s not difficult to determine: See this and this.
All it takes to be an antisemite these days is to question why we give Israel so much money.
Keith:
Ah, that would be no.
Unless of course you are only interested in “asking questions” about the Jews and Israel.
Wink, wink, nod, nod.
well the kingdom of saudi arabia, spends 15 times much as a aipac, china spends 10 times, (i know the former is sometimes on our side, then again sometimes it isn’t) massie followed the goose egg of the epstein files, right off the cliff, with ro khanna who was cited by the last shooter (the fact we have to annotate the last shooter)
the Founders operated under the old frameworks before progressives installed the 16th and 17th amendments, the one an open invitation to loot the treasure, the second, de linked the Senate from the people of their state,
one could blame nixon for getting off the Gold standard, theres not enough bullion on earth to support the Leviathan, but the warfare and welfare state combo proved too strong, and ironically a loss on
both fronts, neither poverty nor the north vietnamese proxies for the Sovietsn were defeated,
sadly we made the same mistake in the South Asia and Levant expedtions two generations later, with the taliban emirate newly empowered (although it apppears it’s ambitions have been curtailed by pakistan’s Marshak
Munir, another strongman in the mold of Musharaf
This might help understand the unfathomable mystery. (Or maybe not…)
“By the time Massie got to tonight, he’d ticked off… “
https://instapundit.com/797965/
Keith and dwaz are the cheapest kind of troll. There used to be much better ones.
How to prove a point without really trying. Israel firsters are in the room. And your wrong ,we should not give any money to any country. If Israel can have free education and health care, they can pay their own way. ,,flame away
Kentuckian here. Massie isn’t my guy but the district is next door.
For another view, Rossman had a reaction I found thought provoking.
https://youtu.be/ChHMyyRwAcs?si=ELD0y5_EKxkAFo2k
In my opinion this all goes to prove the challenge of principles vs practicality. Something Mollie Hemingway has said SCOTUS judge Alito has really mastered. I respected Massie’s commitment to his principles. Was often annoyed by when he would ignore practical concerns. Would that we had more like him in Congress to keep us all honest. But of course if nothing gets done, nothing changes, what good were your principles? Now he’s gone. Here’s hoping his replacement can play the game with principle.
I didn’t know anything about Massie before the current kerfuffle, but my first impression was that he lacked principles, he reminded me of Schumer. So I find it odd that folks are talking about how principled he was.
— physicsguy
No, they didn’t. Congressional/Senatorial term limits are a terrible idea.
The thing is that if you term limit the legislature, the practical result will be to transfer even more power and influence to the permanent administrative apparat, or the ‘deep state’ if you prefer.
If a bureaucrat knows that the current chairman of the Whatever Committee will be gone in a term or two, he can simply wait out any opposition or check on his plans. The new guy will have to depend on him for information and advice, and about the time the new guys learns the ropes…he’s gone.
Iron Triangles are bad, but at least that keeps some power and influence in the elected assembly. Term limit them, and the most likely result is that Congress becomes a figurehead body with all its real powers flowing over to either the judiciary or (mostly) the executive bureaucracy.
I’d like to see more turnover in Congress, but term limits are not the answer.
Keith:
“Springtime for Hitler and Germany. Platner is running in Maine. ….”
Is that the tune in your head?
Why don’t you run along down to the tattoo parlour, Totenkopfs are sick. We won’t tell your mom.
Keith:
The song continues
“Springtime for Hitler and Germany.
Platner is running in Maine.
Jewish space lasers in outer space.
Incels will soon be the master race.”
The tune in your head.
The thing is that if you term limit the legislature, the practical result will be to transfer even more power and influence to the permanent administrative apparat, or the ‘deep state’ if you prefer.
==
No, it won’t. The iron triangles exist between perpetual legislators, public agencies, and lobbies. You want to break the iron triangles, you begin removing those elements.
All it takes to be an antisemite these days is to question why we give Israel so much money.
==
In an ordinary year, we give Israel a sum of money about equal to 1.2% of their gross national income. It is given in the form of credits to buy equipment from American manufacturers. It accounts for about 10% of the foreign aid budget. If you think we should discontinue the aid, you can make the case for that. I run into types like you routinely and have yet to see one of them attempt to do that. Because the complaint is an excuse, not a reason.
@ Art Deco (& others ) >”The iron triangles exist between perpetual legislators, public agencies, and lobbies. You want to break the iron triangles, you begin removing those elements.”
(1) How about “term limits” for the bureaucrats above just-plain-secretaries, IOW anyone who can make (or break) policies, and who constitute the Deep Administrative State; include all Intelligence agencies and legislative staffers (who often “go with the office” if the new occupant is of the same party) as well.
Add a salary limit oo: the Fauci & Grady total was obscene (see my comment linked below).
(2) Hard retirement age for all elected and appointed officials, including Justices and judges, preferably under 80. And none of this “judge emeritus making important decisions” nonsense. Go plant flowers.
(3) Zero government funds for NGOs: if you call yourself non-governmental, then BE NON-governmental.
(4) End IRS rules favoring non-profits, which don’t make a “profit” in the same way movies never make a “profit” despite huge income vs expenses: because they pay out all their money to their executives (not always their staff), and fund other entities, not always in the purview of their mission statements. And other shenanigans in the movie and music industries..
(5) Actually enforce the current laws limiting the “revolving door” of government to lobby to media to think-tank to NGO to non-profit to political party. Add some more restrictions as well.
And mandate that all married or significantly-partnered couples in the above entities disclose the relationship EVERY TIME THEIR NAME IS MENTIONED, even if they aren’t currently directly connected to each other operationally (or “helping” on the sly.
Quoting myself from here; also see the link to DataRepublican.
I forgot to mention all the married couples involved in the Fake Russian Collusion scandal.
https://thenewneo.com/2026/05/19/our-brilliant-and-knowledgeable-journalists/#comment-2851978
https://datarepublican.substack.com/p/the-shadow-cabinet-of-soros
@ Nate and Charles: My favorite quip, usually attributed to Groucho Marx: “These are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/09/groucho-principles/
@ Richard Cook > “— the cheapest kind of troll. There used to be much better ones.”
Without commenting on any particular nom, perhaps the trolls are even better now, and thus harder to identify with certainty.
Some of the commenters at Turley’s blog are clearly either fully or partially AI.
Sarah Hoyt has one in particular recently that has raised my suspicions.
The best trolls IMO are actual humans who have enough AI support to be “instantly knowledgeable” about any topic (most of us got our ignorance reduced through long experience or lots of news reading). Trimming rhetorical sails with the wind of replies is a tell, I think.
The best answer for them here at Neo’s is generally the same as answering a genuinely contrarian* person: set them straight with facts, evidence, and links. The trolls will ignore all of that, but other readers could be persuaded.
However, I do enjoy a good Turtler tirade from time to time.
*Even though we have few commenters who agree 100% with others, there is a general consensus on the ideology and principles of the Neophiles. Drive-by trolls won’t know this. Paid or professional trolls will study the zeitgeist so they can blend in with the orchestra, while playing on a few topics contrary to that consensus.
Just because someone disagrees with others doesn’t make them a troll.
The Bee has an amusing take:
Massie Blames Defeat On Jews Of Rural Kentucky
AesopFan, some variant of everything you’ve suggested I’d sign onto, but limit the rotation-in-office requirement for federal civilian employees to those above a certain rank.
Well there’s always this…
(…keeping in mind that the reasoning may be a little too convoluted for some…):
https://instapundit.com/798160/
Key reasoning:
No doubt the Zionists—especially AIPAC—made him do it
Keith is a bot, Keith is a bot!
He blamed rural Jews.
Mom’s family was from West Virginia. Yes! We did it! We totally did it!
Good Shabbos, and Yeeehaw!