Massie’s actions are framed as insufficiently aligned with partisan priorities. Opposition to the administration’s foreign policy and efforts to publicize the Epstein files are said to have antagonized Trump, who is popular with Republicans, and to have conflicted with interests supportive of Israel, also popular with Republicans. The argument claims that the Iran war dispute was absorbed into Israel-related discourse, changing how Massie was portrayed. Some supporters treated him as an antiwar hero, while others accepted portrayals of him as an anti-Zionist. Criticism of NATO is described as more compatible with MAGA views but not central to the campaign.
"“If the fight had merely been over the war with Iran, the outcome might have been different, even with the degree of support the war finds among older Republicans,” he writes in the Spec. “But the Iran war was subsumed by the Israel discourse, and while some Massie supporters considered him an antiwar hero, others actually agreed with his opponents in framing him as first and foremost an anti-Zionist. Massie's critical views of NATO were more aligned with MAGA's sentiments, but didn't feature prominently in the race.”"
"“The nub of the argument is that Massie was insufficiently imbued with partisan spirit: In his opposition to the administration's foreign policy and his efforts to publicize the Epstein files, he antagonized Trump, who is popular with Republicans, and interests supportive of Israel, which is popular with Republicans.”"
"“I am not sure holding a candidate accountable for the variety of opinions among his supporters and for national discursive conditions is particularly fair, or particularly good politics. (Some pretty dodgy people have supported Trump at various times, after all. Sometimes your baggage claims you.)”"
Read at The American Conservative
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]