Trump eliminates another rival: ex-Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein buries Massie in Kentucky after $33 million election war

President Donald Trump removed one of his most prominent rivals within the Republican Party in Congress on Tuesday. Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, a Kentucky farmer endorsed by the president, defeated Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) by nearly 10 points in the state's 4th District Republican primary, The Associated Press projected. Massie, a libertarian-conservative and an uneasy figure within the Republican Party for more than a decade, was seeking an eighth term in the House.

The Trump/Gallrein-Massie election war became, in the defeated congressman's own words,"the most expensive congressional primary ever in the 250-year history of this country." According to ad monitoring firm AdImpact, more than some $33 million was spent on advertising alone in the race, of which some $19 million went to boost Gallrein or attack Massie, mostly funded by Trump-aligned super PACs and pro-Israel groups such as the Republican Jewish Coalition and AIPAC. "This thing went on longer than Vietnam," Massie quipped in an unconventional concession speech.

Trump spared no effort in his crusade to get Massie out of Congress. He dubbed him "the worst 'Republican' congressman in history" called him "disloyal" to the GOP and the country during a March campaign rally in the lawmaker's own district, and personally recruited Gallrein to challenge him. In the home stretch, he even sent Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to campaign for his candidate. The operation was further supported by pro-Israel donors irritated by Massie's repeated votes against military aid to Israel, against resolutions denouncing anti-Semitism and, above all, against the president's war in Iran.

Massie himself had mapped out his break with Trump and the MAGA movement: voted against Trump's flagship tax-cut and spending bill because of its impact on the deficit, pushed for the release of Epstein files when they posed a public relations problem for the White House and became one of the harshest critics of the military campaign against the Iranian regime. "When I said America First, I meant it. I don't vote for foreign aid to Egypt, to Syria, to Ukraine. I've got a flawless record on this, and I'm not going to ruin it by sending foreign aid to one country," he had said days earlier.

Gallrein, in his victory speech in Covington, thanked the president for his endorsement and promised to align himself with the White House agenda."My focus is on advancing the president's and the party's agenda to put America first and Kentucky always," he said. And he dedicated the win to his voters: "It's the Republicans of Kentucky Congressional District 4 and their families who I will be a champion for in Washington. They're the winners."

Massie, meanwhile, dismissed the contest with a mixture of helplessness and defense of his record. He acknowledged calling Gallrein to concede defeat, though he also suggested he was a chip off Israel's shoulder in the same breath, lamented that bipartisanship has "become a dirty word in this country" and left a message to his supporters: "There is still a yearning in this country for somebody who will vote for principles over party. You all don't like bullies and you don't tolerate them. And I love you for it."