Donald Trump and his allies spent upwards of $35 million to drive Thomas Massie from Congress because he committed the only unforgivable sin left in the modern Republican Party. He did not always obey.
There will be a temptation to treat Thomas Massie’s defeat on Tuesday as a tragic story about Republican independence getting crushed by the Trump machine, as if Kentucky just watched one of the last free-thinking conservatives get dragged into the woods. Don’t buy it. Massie was never some lonely moral conscience trapped inside a cult. He was a hard-right extremist who spent years dressing cruelty up as principle and only became a problem for the cult when he failed the loyalty test.
Massie was not a moderate, a statesman, or a brave defender of democratic norms. He was a MAGA-adjacent libertarian crank with a long record of taking the coldest possible position and calling it constitutional courage. He treated federal power as tyranny when it was used to protect people, then stood inside a party that had no problem using government power to terrorize immigrants, intimidate students, punish protesters, threaten judges, smear teachers, and protect the powerful.
Then there is the vote that should follow him for the rest of his life. In 2022, the House passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act by a vote of 422 to 3. The only three lawmakers who voted no were Republicans Andrew Clyde, Chip Roy, and Thomas Massie. Massie hid behind the usual bloodless federalist excuse, claiming most crimes belong to the states. But lynching was never just “most crimes.” Lynching was racial terrorism. It was torture turned into public spectacle. It was murder protected by sheriffs, judges, juries, governors, newspapers, churches, and mobs that knew exactly how much of the system was on their side. When Congress finally moved to recognize that horror as a federal hate crime, Massie voted no. That was not principle. That was moral rot with a pocket Constitution.
Massie was defeated in Kentucky’s 4th District by Ed Gallrein, a Trump-backed challenger, after a race flooded with obscene amounts of money. Reports described it as the most expensive House primary in American history, with tens of millions spent to take out one Republican incumbent in one deep-red district. That kind of spending is supposed to make Trump look powerful. It also makes him look terrified. A man with an iron grip on his party should not need a historic money cannon to beat one congressman in Kentucky. A king does not have to buy every bow.
Trump and his allies spent that money because Massie committed the only unforgivable sin left in the Republican Party. He did not always obey. He opposed Trump on spending. He broke with him on parts of foreign policy. He challenged the administration on war powers and Iran. He angered powerful donors over Israel. And yes, he helped push the Epstein files into the open, working with California Democrat Ro Khanna on transparency legislation and continuing to demand answers after the delays, redactions, and partial releases.
That matters — but it still does not absolve him. A single useful act does not cleanse a soul of its rot. Helping force the Epstein files into daylight does not erase a vote against the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. It does not turn years of cruelty into courage. It does not make Massie a hero. It proves only that even a rotten politician can become useful when his grudges, instincts, or interests collide with an even more corrupt machine.
That is the ugly lesson. The Republican Party did not remove Massie because he was too cruel. It removed him because he was not obedient enough. This party can tolerate racism dressed up as federalism, gun worship after children are shot, attacks on immigrants, students, judges, prosecutors, teachers, and the poor. It can tolerate a man who voted against making lynching a federal hate crime. What it cannot tolerate is independence from Trump. It doesn’t matter how far right you are or how many ugly votes you cast. The moment you refuse the king, the machine comes for you.
Massie has seven months left in Congress. He should use every one of them to make the people who bought his defeat regret leaving him with a microphone. Release what can be released. Expose what can be exposed. Force the votes. Name the names. Drag the secrets into daylight. Do something useful with the little time left before the door hits him on the way out.
Good riddance to Thomas Massie, and pay close attention to the people celebrating his defeat. They did not beat him because he was too rotten. They beat him because, in the end, he wasn’t rotten in exactly the way Trump required.
Tony Pentimalli is a political analyst and commentator fighting for democracy, economic justice, and social equity. Follow him for analysis and critiques at his Facebook and BlueSky accounts.
This piece was originally posted on Tony Pentimalli’s Facebook account on May 20, 2026. I did not write this and make no claim of ownership to this piece. Banner photo courtesy of Massie for Kentucky.