Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s GOP primary defeat to someone called “Ed Gallrein” last month seems to have awakened a sleeping giant. Of course, the label ‘sleeping giant’ isn’t being quite fair considering the MIT grad with an off-the-grid home he built himself has been by far the bravest member of Congress for more than a decade, consistently bringing issues to light that ‘respectable’ run of the mill bought and paid for congresscritters would never dare mention lest their money dry up or their blackmailers activate whatever leverage is being used to control them.

No, Massie has been an awake ‘giant’ for his entire tenure, happily and bravely knocking down shibboleths worshipped by idolaters of every political stripe, and that fact actually used to be largely appreciated in both libertarian and right-wing circles. That is, until President Donald J. Trump decided otherwise.

Sure, the libertarian leaning Massie had tangled with Trump plenty of times going back even to his first term, usually on budgetary issues where the Kentucky congressman chose to stand on principle rather than political expediency. But he was never seriously targeted for political destruction by the president until he refused to tow the line on a few key Uniparty issues: Epstein transparency, war with Iran, and U.S. support for Israel. (RELATED: Thomas Massie Pinpoints Moment When Swamp’s Knives Came Out Against Him)

Granted, the Israel lobby along with Christian Zionism’s cultlike hold on the imaginations of most American evangelicals were always going to be difficult to cross. But asking Trump to keep his word on stupid wars in the Middle East and to not protect pedophiles should never have been a bridge too far for the president and by extension all the MAGA influencer lemmings like ‘Catturd’ and others who seemingly overnight went from consistently praising Massie to condemning him and actively working for his primary defeat. But here we are.

Assuming there was no voter fraud (If I’m honest it all seemed a bit sus, but Massie has asked that we move on and so we will), it still took tens of millions of dollars, a psyop campaign the likes of which has never been conducted in a mere congressional primary race, and a massive influx of gullible Boomercons who turned off Fox News just long enough to grab their walkers and hobble over to the election precinct to vote for ‘Trump’s man,’ but the powers-that-be managed to succeed in toppling a seven-term congressman who had won every other election by landslides and even managed to garner more votes in this one than he ever has before.

Except they may have gotten more than they bargained for, because Thomas Massie still has the remainder of the year, seven months, to go scorched earth on the political establishment in every possible legal way that a sitting lawmaker can. And if he ever was worried about the political ramifications for taking an unpopular or controversial stand before his loss, he certainly isn’t worried about them now. In other words, early evidence so far proves that Massie just DGAF, and that version of the Kentucky congressman is even bolder than his previous iteration, as crazy as that might sound, and I am absolutely here for it. (RELATED: Trump-Backed Massie Challenger Faces Questions Over Military Awards, Divorce Records)

Case in point, a speech he plans to give Monday on the floor of Congress, “to honor and memorialize the brave crew of the USS Liberty who died and were wounded in an unprovoked attack by Israel on June 8, 1967.” Now that’s an eyebrow raiser if there ever was one, one of the most controversial topics in modern history. On one side, the Israeli attack that killed 34 Americans and wounded over 170 was simply a tragic error on the part of the Israelis for which they have apologized and made recompense. On the other, it was a purposeful attempt to keep the ship from collecting intelligence or possibly even to create a false flag to draw the U.S. into the 6-Day War on Israel’s side. Many survivors, including some who will attend the speech, firmly believe some version of the latter, in no small part because they insist the Israelis had plenty of time to see the ship’s markings and yet were jamming their communications and distress messages during the entire attack.

But wait, there’s more. Massie, who has already named billionaire Les Wexner as an alleged Epstein co-conspirator on the House floor, has told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker he plans to release even more previously redacted names from the Epstein Files before he leaves office. He contends there are still “millions of files” that, despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act, still haven’t been released and that even the files that have been released “have been over-redacted.”

He also was one of only four Republicans who were instrumental in passing a House resolution to end the war with Iran. It’s largely symbolic considering the inevitable Trump veto if it reaches his desk, but it’s nevertheless a nice megaphone to let the American people know that this is Trump’s war and doesn’t have a majority of Americans behind it. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Massie Says GOP Risks Losing America First Base If Primary Challenge Succeeds)

“I’ve got seven more months to keep going against the grain, which means voting for principles and for people over party,” he told Welker.

Indeed he does. Except now, it seems he truly DGAF, meaning the political establishment, for all its efforts, has managed to make their most dangerous opponent even more dangerous. What else will Thomas Massie do before he leaves office? And, given that he has stated his intention to remain in politics, what will he do after that? We don’t know the answer yet, but we do know that it’ll be interesting, and dangerous to all the right people.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.