In his concession speech Tuesday night following his nearly 10-point loss in the Republican primary race in Kentucky, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) made an anti-Semitic remark: "I would’ve come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”
This was not surprising, as Massie has a history of being strongly anti-Israel, and has trashed pro-Israel groups for trying to defeat him. Nor was it surprising that most of the liberal media passed on Massie's remark and his history, given how anti-Trump Massie became.
On Wednesday the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly network newscasts all skipped what Massie said, along with Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier and the PBS News Hour. But on Tuesday night's edition of CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip, it was noted by Scott Jennings, who lives in Massie's district. He was asked to weigh in by fill-in Host Sara Sidner.
JENNINGS: The President made it a priority to get rid of Thomas Massie, and he succeeded because Massie had, frankly, become an opponent of the President inside of the party, and you just can't do that. Massie used to reliably vote with the Republicans. That number had been falling over time. This is one of the most conservative districts in the country....They gave Donald Trump a massive victory in 2024, and they expect the Republican Congressman who represents them, to be part of the team.
Then Jennings went there.
JENNINGS: Thomas Massie tonight in his concession speech, said something despicable, anti-Semitic, nasty, gutter politics right at the end. What a way to go out. He said, I would have called Ed Gallrein, but I had to find him in Tel Aviv. There was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in this race on the Massie side. There's been an undercurrent of it in his career, unfortunately, and it really came out in an ugly way tonight. And I think it needs to be stated, acknowledged and condemned because it was pretty despicable.
Despite Jennings bringing this to light on CNN, Massie's remark was not a topic of discussion the next day on CNN on News Central from 7-10 AM, The Situation Room, Inside Politics, or News Central from 1-4 pm. Interestingly the it was played as part of a clip leading into an election segment on The Arena with Kasie Hunt, but was ignored. Later Wednesday night on Fox News's The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham, led her show with a clip which included Massie's remark, but it was only addressed by Ingraham from afar.
CLIP: 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. I did get the call through. I have called and conceded the race.
INGRAHAM: So Massie defeated, Cassidy defeated, Raffensperger bye-bye. They all lost their races to Trump-endorsed opponents. Let's call it involuntary retirement. But how can this be, you say, because the press told us that the losers were the truly principled conservatives, and the media told us that Donald Trump was finished. His political influence was fading. But like so many times before, this was simply wishful thinking by people who have been rooting against Trump for more than a decade now. How many times can these people be wrong and still call themselves political analysts?
Then Ingraham made a reference to Massie's anti-Israel stance.
INGRAHAM: The voters want Republican politicians who are amenable at least to working with Donald Trump on the big issues. The establishment and some of these libertarian types like Massie, who lost last night... they weren't beaten by Israel or the Epstein files, they weren't they weren't even really beaten by Donald Trump. They were beaten by Trump voters.
And it's not just Massie's remark that the media stayed away from. They didn't go anywhere near his past. Four years ago the House passed a bill condemning anti-Semitism. The vote was 420-1, with Massie casting the lone no vote. In 2023, he posted a meme that implied Congress wasn't interested in “American patriotism” but was interested in “Zionism.” And there is plenty more as documented by CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, including his claim that his race was "a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”
It seems obvious that Massie got a pass, because he is an enemy of Donald Trump.
