On May 19, Republican Representative Thomas Massie lost his chance to get reelected 54%-45% to another primary candidate. His opponent, Ed Gallrein, at first, was fighting a losing battle, with a large amount of support going to Massie instead of to him. But when Trump started to openly support Gallrein and show his disdain for Massie by calling him “The worst congressman in the history of our country,” and saying to “get rid of Thomas Massie,” in a social media post, public favor shifted towards Gallrein.
Following the statements, AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee), took great interest in Gallrein’s campaign. He reportedly received about $15 million from different Pro-Israel PACs.
So where does the disdain for Massie come from? Massie remains a staunch conservative candidate, supporting Second Amendment rights and strong border security. However, he’s still gone against Trump on several issues. He has voted multiple times against sending aid to Israel for their wars, and Massie also spoke out against the war in Iran and co-proposed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
If even a Republican candidate can provoke Trump’s ire so easily, it brings into question how future candidates will be affected, and can a foreign country buy out a seat in the US government so easily?
Aside from Trump casting disapproval on Massie, the undeniable spending on Massie’s seat in the primary is shocking, especially when the funding comes from a foreign nation. Even Massie joked at his concession speech, “I would have come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.” The same foreign policy that Massie was willing to stand up to now seems to be the same thing that’s lost him his bid for election.
Some republicans could argue that Israel is one of the greatest allies of the United States, and even Prime Minister Netanyahu has been awarded Trump with the Israel Prize for the considerable foreign aid. However, the amount of money that has been sent to Israel and received from pro-Israel lobbyists comes as a great concern to not only the public, but also to people who might plan to become a representative of their district in the future.
In a press statement from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio stated, “Since taking office, the Trump administration has approved nearly $12 billion in major Foreign Military Sales to Israel.” This statement comes from March first of 2025. $12 billion is certainly no small amount of money; even more money has been donated since, highlighted by the four billion allocated for “security-related support” in the budget.
While foreign aid and supporting allies has its benefits, donating this much money to a foreign entity is not “America First.” With the overwhelming amount of US support, pro-Israel PACs with Donald Trump have now been able to donate such a staggering amount of money that it is the most expensive House primary campaign in recent years.
