Will be dangerous for Trump: Thomas Massie.Image: keystone
analysis
If Thomas Massie wins the Kentucky primary, it will be a very bad omen for the president and his Grand Old Party.
May 18, 2026, 8:20 p.mMay 18, 2026, 8:38 p.m
Thomas Massie is pretty much the opposite of a progressive. The Republican representative from the state of Kentucky is not conservative, he is bordering on libertarian. In more than 90 percent of all votes in the House of Representatives, he and his colleagues from the Grand Old Party (GOP) voted in favor of Donald Trump.
Nevertheless, the president showers him with hate messages and nasty insults. He was a “fool” and a “complete and total disaster,” said Trump. What’s more: Trump even flew to Massie’s district specifically to beat the drum in the primaries for his opponent Ed Gallrein, a former Navy Seal. What did Massie do to earn the president’s wrath?
Thomas Massie with Epstein victims in front of the Capitol.Image: keystone
Two things: First, he was the driving force behind the forced release of the Epstein Files, along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna. For a long time, Trump wanted to prevent this at all costs. Second, Massie had the audacity to vote against Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. He did this out of conviction, because the resulting increase in the already glaring national deficit contradicts his deepest convictions.
In other words: Trump rages against Massie because he is a dying breed. The 55-year-old engineer with an MIT degree is a conservative Republican who allows himself to have his own opinions.
In addition, Massie has committed another deadly sin: he wants to deny military aid to Israel and Ukraine because he fundamentally believes that this money is needed in his own country. As a result, his opponent’s campaign is widely supported by the Israel lobby.
Miriam Adelson, the widow of former casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, and financiers Paul Singer and John Paulson have donated millions of dollars to Gallrein’s campaign. AIPAC, the Israeli lobbying organization, has also dug deep into its wallet. The result is the most expensive primary campaign of all time. In total, more than $32 million was spent on advertising; $18.6 million for Gallrein, $13.5 million for Massie. The majority of this money comes from small donations.
Billionaire and Trump fan: Miriam Adelson.Image: keystone
This shows the importance that this area code has. It takes place tomorrow and the outcome could be tight. Currently, Massie has a small lead in most polls.
What speaks for Trump? As mentioned, Massie is supposed to be flattened with a money roller. To do this, he also has to be able to cope with blows deep below the belt. A short-term girlfriend – his wife has died – was also called up by the opponents, who claims that Massie paid her so that she would not reveal that he treated his employees badly. “It’s getting ugly,” explains Dave Fischer, who is responsible for the election, in the “Wall Street Journal”. “Very ugly.”
Trump can also point out that at the weekend Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from the state of Louisiana, lost the primary elections to an opponent who supported Trump. Cassidy had spoken out in favor of convicting the president in the second impeachment trial. In the state of Indiana, GOP representatives who did not agree to gerrymandering – an arbitrary manipulation of electoral districts – demanded by Trump were defeated at the local level.
Ultimately, Trump can count on a secure base in Kentucky. In 2024 he won the elections very clearly in this conservative state.
Which speaks for Massie
But Massie is also popular. And the mood has recently turned significantly against Trump. The president is sinking deeper and deeper into a poll hole. There are various reasons for this:
Trump voters in particular are suffering more and more from the affordability crisis, and it is only getting worse. Wages can no longer keep up with inflation. What’s more, the president has made a potentially fatal mistake. “I don’t care about the financial situation of Americans,” he answered when asked about the skyrocketing cost of living for the middle class because of the Iran war. This quote is likely to fly around his ears for a long time and be recycled in an endless loop by the Democrats before the midterm elections.
Trump is obviously suffering from a loss of touch with reality. He feels that he won’t live forever and cares almost exclusively about his inheritance. That’s why he wants a ballroom, a triumphal arch, that’s why he has the pond in front of the Lincoln Monument painted blue and the White House paved with gold. It’s just stupid that even the majority of his voters don’t want that.
Likes to be bribed: Trump and the Swiss delegation in the Oval Office.Image: MSC; ROLEX; PARTNERS GROUP; MERC
The corruption of the Trump clan has now reached industrial proportions. The president and his sons are now said to have illegally pocketed around six billion dollars. The president doesn’t just allow himself to be bribed by the oil sheikhs of the Persian Gulf. He also coldly rips off his own MAGA base. The Trump Organization pocketed around $60 million in down payments for a smartphone that should have been delivered long ago and that, if at all, will not be produced in America as promised, but in China.
The Israel issue could also prove to be a boomerang. Gaza and the Iran war have meant that the majority of Americans no longer feel any sympathy for Netanyahu & Co.
In addition to his vanity projects, Trump mainly thinks about revenge. That’s why he supports candidates in the primaries who could fall by the wayside in the actual elections against Democratic opponents. He’s already cleared Senator Bill Cassidy. Susan Collins in Maine, Joni Ernst in Iowa and John Cornyn in Texas could be the next victims.
This could end badly for the GOP come November. The conservative Wall Street Journal also fears this. It states:
“If the Republicans lose the House of Representatives, the president will no longer be able to pass laws. If they lose the Senate, it will no longer be able to appoint conservative judges. Instead, he will then have to deal with two years of investigations launched by the Democrats against himself and his family.