President Trump Just Ousted Incumbent GOP Candidate in Primary

In a firestorm of social posts, President Donald Trump repeatedly refused to endorse Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) in the Republican primary based on the Congressman’s lack of support for the Administration’s agenda. Trump instead backed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who then won big in Kentucky.

As reported by CBS News

Trump-backed Ed Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District Republican primary on Tuesday, CBS News has projected.

Massie is the latest incumbent Republican to fall in a primary to a challenger endorsed by President Trump, who has successfully targeted a number of Republicans he has deemed his adversaries in recent primaries.

Last week, Massie referred to himself as the “main event” on Mr. Trump’s revenge tour.

Massie conceded to Gallrein in a speech Tuesday, closing out a primary race that he quipped “went on longer than Vietnam.” He stuck to his guns, highlighting his disagreements with Mr. Trump on aid to Israel, the Iran war and the push to release files on Jeffrey Epstein. He argued that people in Washington “tried to buy my vote” but “couldn’t buy it.”

Asked about Massie’s defeat, Mr. Trump told reporters late Tuesday: “He was a bad guy. He deserves to lose.”

Trump allies celebrated Gallrein’s victory. Former Trump 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita wrote on X that GOP voters “want to know that someone represents their views,” and Massie “failed Republicans on all counts.” Earlier, LaCivita posted a photo of Mr. Trump showing his middle finger.

“Do not ever doubt President Trump and his political power,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on social media, likely responding to Massie’s loss.

And to top it all off, Massie chose to make an anti-Israel joke during his concession speech about his opponent. Massie told the crowd he was late getting to the podium because he needed to call his opponent, Ed Gallrein, but, “It took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”

Rather than bow out gracefully, with any shred of dignity still intact, Massie chose the low road, with yet another disgusting jab at Israel and the Jewish people, implying that he lost only because the Jews didn’t want him to win. Rather than admit defeat due to his own shortcomings.

But then, this isn’t the first time that’s happened. We’ve heard anti-Israel comments from Congressmen before, but Massie isn’t just taking the position of “no foreign aid to Israel” as others like Senator Rand Paul (KY) have done in the past. Massie’s rhetoric seems quite clear as he essentially tried to link his defeat last night to Israel.

But ironically, I don’t think the Jewish vote in his district is enough to influence the outcome one way or another, so he would seem hard-pressed to pin this loss on the Jews or pro-Israel voters.

Then Massie – an MIT grad with no military service record – opted to attack the integrity of his opponent, Ed Gallrein, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, essentially accusing Gallrein of having torn loyalty between America and Israel. That is offensive. One can be 100% American and still support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.

Red state conservatives who elected President Donald Trump are not going to throw their support behind Republican candidates who consistently block Trump’s agenda. And of course, President Trump did endorse the other candidate, Ed Gallrein, and was, as usual, candid about his thoughts on Massie. That seems to have carried a great deal of influence at the polls.

However, political parties must stop putting up candidates who share the same values as the likes of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who continually preach anti-Israel hatred. Fortunately, in this case, voters in Kentucky chose to go a different direction.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion of Massie’s comments, as well as President Trump’s clear influence over the Kentucky primary, as well as other races across the country. 

Watch the full broadcast below: