Regime change in Kentucky? Trump-supporting PAC takes on Rep. Massie
Often the only Republican voting with The Squad in opposing Israel measures, Massie often criticized for promoting antisemitic tropes
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) speaking with attendees at the 2019 Young Americans for Liberty Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 13, 2019. Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons.
By Aaron Bandler and SJL reports
(JNS) — A Super PAC supporting U.S. President Donald Trump has begun a $1 million ad campaign aimed at removing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been the frequent target of criticism by Jewish leaders in the state for his votes against Israel.
The 30-second advertisement from MAGA Kentucky PAC ran on June 27.
“After Trump obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Massie sided with Democrats and the Ayatollah,” it stated, showing Massie next to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
Massie had announced on June 16 that he was going to be introducing a resolution barring Washington from entering the Israel-Iran war, and Ocasio-Cortez said she would be signing onto it.
Also Read — Opinion: The unapologetic antisemite in Congress
After the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Massie said on “Face the Nation” that the actions were unconstitutional, leading Trump to call him a “pathetic loser.”
Trump posted that Massie is “not MAGA… actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.”
The ad also criticizes Massie for voting against Trump on securing the border, tax cuts and banning sex changes for minors.
“Let’s fire Thomas Massie,” the ad states bluntly.
Massie responded on social media by stating: “The Big Beautiful Bill keeps getting worse in the Senate, so the desperate smear campaign against me has begun. This is from the sleazy $1,000,000 TV ad campaign running in my district now.”
In a separate post, he claimed that the bill “now allows funding sex changes for minors.”
He also noted on X that Trump “declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress.”
According to Axios, the MAGA Kentucky PAC “is led by senior Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio,” and the president’s advisers “are actively recruiting a primary challenger to Massie.”
Massie had told reporters on June 23 that he’s “looking for a ceasefire” with Trump. Back in 2020, Trump had called for Massie’s expulsion from the Republican party.
In March, the Republican Jewish Coalition said it would join forces with Trump to back a challenger to Massie, or to oppose him if he tries to run for the U.S. Senate as Sen. Mitch McConnell is retiring.
Not joining the campaign against Massie is House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who said he protects incumbents, despite Massie frequently being a critic of his.
Massie has questioned U.S. military and financial support of Israel, and has voted against resolutions condemning Hamas and affirming Israel’s right to exist, saying those resolutions stifled free speech.
In October 2023, he voted against a $14 billion aid package to Israel and recently said “AIPAC babysitters” steer his colleagues’ votes.
In March 2024, he said Congress was trying to equate criticism of Israel to violence toward Jews in America, saying it is a false equivalency that will result in it being “forbidden to criticize Israel.”
In December 2023, he posted a meme on X implying that Congress is more interested in promoting Zionism than American patriotism. The White House called it “virulent Antisemitism from a sitting member of Congress.”
After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “antisemitic, disgusting, dangerous,” Massie replied, “If only you cared half as much about our border as you do my tweets.”
In 2022, he was the only member of the House to vote against a non-binding resolution denouncing a rise in antisemitism.
Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, the “Bluegrass rabbi” at Chabad in Lexington and chair of the Kentucky Jewish Council, has been a frequent critic of Massie, who he calls “HaMassie” online, and says he has a history of antisemitism.
As far back as 2020, Massie refused to meet with Litvin and other Jewish delegates in Washington. Over a year later, Massie’s chief of staff wrote that “it is our office policy not to take meetings with those promoting foreign countries, when those same individuals and organizations actively spread disinformation and misrepresent the Congressman’s record.”
This March, while Litvin was on Capitol Hill meeting with the state’s other representatives, he and Massie crossed paths, and “while he refuses to meet with local Jewish leaders, I thought his Jewish constituents deserved for him to hear their perspective. Sadly #HaMassie couldn't face me and ran away, buying his head in his phone.”
Litvin stopped by Massie’s office to drop off a copy of the Council’s annual antisemitism report, “including HaMassie’s insane conspiracy theories.” The report is compiled for the state legislature’s Human Rights Kentucky panel.