{"id":603343,"date":"2026-05-18T02:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=603343"},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:45:00","slug":"pro-israel-forces-throw-kitchen-sink-at-massie-ahead-of-tuesday-primary-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=603343","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Eleven months after President Trump launched an all-out political war on Rep. Thomas Massie, the Tuesday, May 19 Kentucky GOP primary is almost here. With polls showing the race going down to the wire, <strong>the anti-Massie forces &#8212; whose animus is largely driven by Massie&#8217;s refusal to vote in accordance with the Israel lobby&#8217;s wishes &#8212; have been throwing everything they can at him<\/strong>, from vague 11th-hour allegations of inappropriate conduct with a woman, to AI ads showing Massie entering a hotel room with progressive congresswomen, to a new round of Trump social media rants and enough money to make the contest the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/11\/thomas-massie-ed-gallrein-kentucky-aipac-trump\">most expensive House primary in US history<\/a>.\u00a0Massie&#8217;s challenger is former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In just the past few days, <strong>various anti-Massie PACs have filed disclosures indicating another huge load of cash showering down on the race<\/strong>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/QuiverQuant\/status\/2055779012547371414?s=20\">Republican Jewish Coalition<\/a> is spending another $470,000. The misleadingly-named United Democracy Project, which is a PAC affiliated with the formidable American Israel Public Affairs Committee (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/QuiverQuant\/status\/2055779012547371414?s=20\">AIPAC<\/a>) revealed more than <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/QuiverQuant\/status\/2055779012547371414?s=20\">$950,000<\/a> in additional spending. The MAGA Kentucky PAC &#8212; which was created <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/trump-team-launches-superpac-focused-solely-ousting-massie\">solely<\/a> to oust Massie and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/super-pac-targeting-massie-funded-three-israel-backing-billionaires\">funded by non-Kentuckian Jewish billionaires<\/a> Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer and John Paulsen &#8212; disclosed more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quiverquant.com\/congresstrading\/politician\/Thomas%20Massie-M001184\/opponents\">$1.6 million<\/a>\u00a0since May 7.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">UPDATE: AIPAC and the Israel lobby have now spent &gt;$15 MILLION boosting Ed Gallrein and attacking Rep. Thomas Massie in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KY04?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KY04<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Znmtc4GEXz\">pic.twitter.com\/Znmtc4GEXz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TrackAIPAC\/status\/2055795774466981953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As large as those sums sound, they&#8217;re just a fresh coating atop a mountain of money: The race has now seen <strong>more than $20 million dollars in &#8220;outside spending&#8221;<\/strong> &#8212; that is, money spent by PACs and other entities that are not part of the candidates&#8217; campaigns or political parties. Not coincidentally, <strong>the next two most-expensive-ever primary races also featured quests by pro-Israel PACs<\/strong> and individuals to oust incumbents who failed to heed the Israel lobby&#8217;s voting directives. In 2024, AIPAC alone spent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/11\/thomas-massie-ed-gallrein-kentucky-aipac-trump\">$14.5 million<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/8\/7\/headlines\/rep_cori_bush_loses_primary_after_aipac_spent_over_9_million_to_defeat_her\">$9 million<\/a>, respectively, to successfully dislodge New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman and Missouri Democrat Cori Bush.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday &#8212; exactly one week before the primary &#8212; <strong>Massie was hit by oddly-vague allegations of wrongdoing by an ex-girlfriend<\/strong>, Cynthia West, who said Massie paid her $5,000 in &#8220;hush money&#8221; after the two had dated following Massie becoming a widower in 2024. Massie denies the characterization of the money, saying he gave it to her to help her move to Washington, and that she even repaid some of the money. What&#8217;s more, he said she&#8217;s never been under any restriction from him about speaking about anything. Among others, the sensationalist, pro-Israel attack-dog Laura Loomer has been running wild with the non-story on X, with characteristic long posts <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LauraLoomer\/status\/2054317665624129800?s=20\">heavy on innuendo<\/a>\u00a0and light on details or evidence. (For a deep dive, check out Robby Soave&#8217;s thorough dissection of the fuzzy allegations at <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2026\/05\/15\/thomas-massies-enemies-are-attacking-him-with-an-unfair-accusation\/\"><em>Reason<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s more where that came from. Earlier this month, the Adelson-Singer-Paulsen-funded MAGA KY PAC rolled out <strong>an anti-Massie ad that used AI video<\/strong> <strong>showing him cavorting<\/strong> on the town with Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. The ad starts by displaying <strong>&#8220;Thomas Massie caught in a throuple!&#8221;<\/strong> on the screen.\u00a0It concludes by showing the three holding hands and checking into a hotel room together:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KYPol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KYPol<\/a>: &#8220;Thomas Massie, caught in a throuple in Washington. He&#8217;s cheating with the Squad on the America First movement&#8230;it&#8217;s a complete and total betrayal of President Trump.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>MAGA KY is up with a new <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KY04?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KY04<\/a> ad featuring AI-generated content. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MEUmsPdH5W\">pic.twitter.com\/MEUmsPdH5W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdImpact_Pol\/status\/2051314128468197851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While the video has a brief, smaller-print disclosure calling it a &#8220;satirical ad created with artificial intelligence,&#8221; some people, including Massie, say that notification may go overlooked, particularly by those in the older crowd where Gallrein draws the most support.\u00a0<strong>&#8220;Older voters who don&#8217;t know that AI exists [are] going to look at that and think that&#8217;s actually me going on a date with AOC and Ilhan Omar and checking into a hotel together.<\/strong> It&#8217;s so ridiculous,\u201d said Massie at a &#8220;debate&#8221; that, along with all the other debates, Gallrein refused to participate in. <strong>Gallrein has skipped eight debate opportunities<\/strong>, which is an extraordinary choice for someone challenging an incumbent who&#8217;s spent most of the race leading the polls, albeit by decreasing margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In one of the most eyebrow-raising ads on Massie&#8217;s behalf, Restore Freedom PAC recently launched this one that attacks Gallrein over this sponsorship by billionaire Paul Singer, who has donated to LGBT causes,\u00a0<strong>imploring voters to &#8220;say &#8216;no&#8217; to Woke Eddie Gallrein and his billionaire club of LGBT weirdos.&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">NEW: Take a look at this <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KY04?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KY04<\/a> ad called &#8220;LGBTQ Mafia&#8221; from a PAC affiliated w\/ Jan. 6 rioter Derrick Evans.<\/p>\n<p>It depicts Jewish donor Paul Singer with an unexplained rainbow Star of David.<\/p>\n<p>More on this insane, now record-breaking $25 million primary: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iT3YN8wYEz\">https:\/\/t.co\/iT3YN8wYEz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0YIRYmaJwL\">pic.twitter.com\/0YIRYmaJwL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndrewSolender\/status\/2053870093604368643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In a Big Data poll published Friday, <strong>Massie was up by just 1.2%<\/strong>, leading Gallrein <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigdatapoll.com\/blog\/initial-results-for-kentucky-house-district-4-republican-primary-tracking-poll\/\">50.6% to 49.4%<\/a>. Like other polls,\u00a0 Big Data&#8217;s showed enormous differences across age groups. At the extremes, <strong>82% of voters under age 30 support Massie<\/strong>, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigdatapoll.com\/blog\/initial-results-for-kentucky-house-district-4-republican-primary-tracking-poll\/\">61% of voters over age 64<\/a> support Gallrein.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After long having Massie out in front by often-large percentages, <strong>prediction markets have shifted mightily<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>in Gallrein&#8217;s direction<\/strong> in the closing weeks of the primary, to an extent that some have accused anti-Massie individuals of manipulating the markets to create headlines and optimism for Gallrein. As of Saturday night, Polymarket participants gave Gallrein a <a href=\"https:\/\/polymarket.com\/event\/ky-04-republican-primary-winner\">53% chance<\/a> of winning, while Kalshi&#8217;s gave him a <a href=\"https:\/\/kalshi.com\/markets\/kxky4r\/kentucky-4-republican-primary\/kxky4r-26\">54% chance<\/a>. Massie&#8217;s odds, meanwhile, have been&#8230; well&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure aria-label=\"Polymarket prediction market: Will Thomas Massie be the Republican nominee for KY-04?\" class=\"polymarket-embed\">\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/ky04.jpg?itok=UQyy8Pak\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/ky04.jpg?itok=UQyy8Pak\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"ce3781cc-4cde-46a4-a6af-883cf46fb9a7\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"295\" width=\"500\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/ky04.jpg?itok=UQyy8Pak\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p><figcaption><strong>Will Thomas Massie be the Republican nominee for KY-04?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes 48% \u00b7 No 53%<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/polymarket.com\/event\/ky-04-republican-primary-winner\">View full market &amp; trade on Polymarket <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With early voting ended Saturday and election happening Tuesday, <strong>various political figures have been flying into Kentucky to boost Massie or Gallrein<\/strong>. In an unusual move, the sitting Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, will campaign with Gallrein on Monday. Over the weekend, former Congressman Matt Gaetz and current Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert made appearances with Massie.<\/p>\n<p>The latter appearance triggered Trump&#8217;s wrath, which was manifested in the latest of his dozens and dozens of Truth Social posts excoriating Massie and his supporters. Much as he did with MAGA-centric Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (MTG), <strong>Trump is now excommunicating long-time supporter Boebert from the movement, and seeking a primary challenger for her <\/strong>(though he may not have realized it&#8217;s too late for this cycle.) On Saturday night, Trump let loose on the &#8220;weak-minded&#8221; and &#8220;dumb&#8221; Boebert:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/boebert.jpeg?itok=oMhC6PSu\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/boebert.jpeg?itok=oMhC6PSu\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"5849f5bc-427f-4ebe-98af-961b84d9ea4f\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"370\" width=\"500\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/boebert.jpeg?itok=oMhC6PSu\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It should be noted that, while Boebert has almost uniformly backed Trump&#8217;s agenda, <strong>she was one of a small handful of Republicans &#8212; including MTG, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/denver\/2025\/11\/13\/boebert-trump-epstein-files\">defied<\/a> Trump and joined Massie in demanding the release of the Epstein files<\/strong>. Trump&#8217;s vilification of Boebert was one of three Massie-centric rants Trump posted on Saturday. In them, he called Massie a &#8220;major sleazebag,&#8221; a &#8220;loser,&#8221; an &#8220;insult to our nation,&#8221; and an &#8220;disloyal, ungracious and sanctimonious FOOL.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Massie gets high marks from right-wing evaluators of his voting record, but has refused to support several Trump undertakings. In Trump&#8217;s first term, Massie tried to thwart the $2 trillion Covid-19 &#8220;relief&#8221; package. Last May,\u00a0<strong>Massie was one of only two Republicans to vote against the &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill.&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0The last straw was Massie&#8217;s condemnation of Trump&#8217;s June 2025 decision to join Israel in waging war on Iran, and Massie&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/war-powers-resolutions-introduced-congress-prevent-us-entering-war-iran\">introduction of a war powers resolution<\/a>\u00a0to prohibit further military action without congressional consent. Within days, the PAC funded by three pro-Israel billionaires was launched.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">Asked if he would change his party affiliation to Democrat, Thomas Massie replied:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I vote with Republicans 91% of the time, and the 9% I don&#8217;t, they&#8217;re taking up for pedophiles, starting another war, or bankrupting our country.&#8221; \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5UOfWYSEvh\">pic.twitter.com\/5UOfWYSEvh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wideawake_media\/status\/2047231883142918549?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Massie has repeatedly put a spotlight on the fact that Gallrein&#8217;s campaign is being turbocharged by pro-Israel forces. In a &#8220;debate&#8221; on public TV that Gallrein opted out of, Massie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kentucky.com\/news\/politics-government\/article315634493.html\">told<\/a> the audience:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cThis is another reason I\u2019m in trouble with the swamp, why they want me gone. <strong>95% of my opponent\u2019s donations come from the Israeli lobby. <\/strong>This comes from Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, John Paulson, AIPAC. They put millions of dollars into this race for one simple reason: <strong>I\u2019ve never voted for foreign aid,<\/strong> not to Ukraine, not to Egypt and not to Israel.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The<strong>\u00a0Massie campaign has countered the Israel lobby&#8217;s enormous monetary onslaught <\/strong>to some extent via small-dollar donations from thousands of supporters from across the country, achieving particular success with three &#8220;moneybomb&#8221; campaigns. The &#8220;Finish the Fight Moneybomb&#8221; raked in more than $2.4 million, and a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.massiemoneybomb.com\/\">Final Countdown Moneybomb<\/a>&#8221; that started on Saturday had $31,000 in the early-Sunday hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday will also bring primary elections in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Oregon and Pennsylvania. However, on\u00a0both sides of the aisle, all across the country &#8212; and in Israel &#8212;\u00a0<strong>none will be more closely-watched than the Kentucky 4th Congressional District race in which Trump and his pro-Israel allies have gone all-in to remove Massie<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" lang=\"\" class=\"username\" xml:lang=\"\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Sun, 05\/17\/2026 &#8211; 22:45<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/ky04.jpg?itok=UQyy8Pak\" title=\"Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary Eleven months after President Trump launched an all-out political war on Rep. Thomas Massie, the Tuesday, May 19 Kentucky GOP primary is almost here. With polls showing the race going down to the wire, the anti-Massie forces &#8212; whose animus is largely driven by&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=603343\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pro-Israel Forces Throw Kitchen Sink At Massie Ahead Of Tuesday Primary<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-603343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/603330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}