In recent Republican primaries, President Trump endorsed 118 candidates, some of whom weren’t incumbents. Every candidate he endorsed won, including incumbent Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Why did Trump refuse to endorse Massie? There are many reasons, including his growing antisemitism, but mostly, Massie decided he’d become a “principled” Republican, meaning he often opposed Trump and the Party on matters important to them and to America, at least apparently out of spite for Trump. 

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Massie hasn’t taken his defeat graciously, as John Hinderaker at Powerline reports:

Rep. Thomas Massie is on his way out of the House, having resoundingly lost his primary election last month. So how is he spending his last months in public office? He is defaming Israel.

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Today [06-08-26], on the floor of the House, Massie resurrected an old calumny against the Jewish state, the USS Liberty incident, which occurred in 1967 during the six-day war. He described his shameful performance as “one of the biggest honors of my lifetime.” Here he is; the chamber appears to be mostly empty, and his speech had no bearing on any pending legislation. He did it merely for the principle of the thing:

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Apparently, Massie’s principle was to add to the very thick and ever-growing book of malicious lies against Israel. From the text of that tweet:

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Massie’s “Justice Delayed” speech on the House floor today asserts that Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty with the intention to murder its crew, and that the US government covered it up.

However, the comprehensive documentary record—spanning more than a dozen official US and Israeli investigations, including reviews by the CIA, NSA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff—completely refutes these claims, proving the incident was a tragic case of mistaken identity and friendly fire. You don’t have to take their conclusions for granted; you just need to look at the evidence. 

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Massie and his gang have no intention of doing that– none of these people have looked at the evidence; there are no “Liberty Truthers” who ever engage with the specific evidence, because then they look too obviously grotesque and ideologically-motivated. 

If the facts of the case don’t matter, why are these people obsessed with a friendly-fire incident that happened in 1967? Because they want to convince you–despite all evidence and lack of motive–to hate Israel and Jews. There is absolutely nothing else going on here, and the proof for that is how enthusiastically they lie about what actually happened that day.

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Hinderaker provides well-documented and historically settled truth:

Massie: Israel deliberately attacked the ship with the intent to leave no survivors. There is absolutely zero evidence it was a premeditated strike. The Israeli military correctly identified the ship at dawn, but a duty officer erased the ship’s marker from the naval plot hours later because the information was considered stale. Later, misread explosions on the coast led to a severely flawed speed calculation by Israeli torpedo boats (estimating 30 knots instead of 5), which classified the ship as a hostile warship that was then misidentified as an Egyptian supply vessel.

If Israel had intended to sink the ship, they would have used iron bombs—but the Israeli air controller deliberately diverted the flight carrying iron bombs away from the ship. 

When an Israeli pilot recognized Latin letters on the hull (Arab warships used Arabic script), the attack was immediately halted with the order, “Leave her!” Israel then dispatched rescue helicopters, ceased fire immediately, and apologized within hours, before Washington had even publicly acknowledged the incident.

The Six-Day War—1967, 59 years ago—was a time when military sensor and communications technologies were less developed than they are today, and blue-on-blue incidents were more likely. Israel was desperately fighting for its life, which makes such mistakes even more likely.

Take the link to read the rest of the evidence Hinderaker presents. Like him, I suspect Massie did this not only to spit in Trump’s eye, but because he is, and apparently always has been, an antisemite. That’s something difficult to understand, particularly for those who profess Christian faith (as I presume any Kentucky Republican must at least pretend to do), as the Bible repeatedly says the Jews are God’s chosen people, as in Deuteronomy 7:6-8:  

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 

It’s not smart to mess with God’s chosen people, but TDS does strange and self-destructive things to people.

I also agree with Hinderaker that Massie is likely to soon join the Democrats, the home party of Jew hatred. They’re welcome to him.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.