“They don’t want to let even one horse escape the stable. They’re afraid that if one person starts telling the truth, it will become contagious,” he said.
Rep. Thomas Massie talks about AIPAC’s influence on Congress. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of the few Republicans who has openly criticized AIPAC, said every Republican in Congress has an AIPAC babysitter.
While speaking with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his podcast earlier this month, the senator made the remarks about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has come under intense scrutiny for its influence on US elections.
“Everyone except me has an AIPAC rep, and it’s like your babysitter, and your AIPAC babysitter always tells you AIPAC stories,” Massey told the right-wing news host’s show, adding that these “babysitters” often come from the representative’s district, but they are firmly part of AIPAC.
“When they come to Washington, we go to lunch together, they give us their cell phone numbers, we talk to each other,” said Mr. Trump, adding that it was like a buddy system abroad, and he is one of the few lawmakers not participating in it.
In Massie’s case, his victory in the last congressional election in May with more than 75% of the vote is a testament to his popularity in his district, but he also believes AIPAC delayed getting involved in his races, spending about $400,000 on his most recent election. He told Carlson that the lobbying group continues to run ads against him, but he speculates that’s because they’re afraid he’ll run for statewide office, such as senator or governor.
While it may seem unusual for AIPAC to put so much effort into an individual candidate, Massie sees it as an investment to ensure that no one in Congress will vote against their platform: full and unconditional support for Israel.
“They don’t want anybody to get the truth out of their system, and they’re afraid that if one person starts telling the truth, it’s going to be contagious,” he said. “I think when questions start to arise, they get angry.”
In an interview, he questioned why lobbying groups and their representatives don’t have to register when those acting on behalf of all other countries are required to do so as foreign agents.
“There is a foreign interest group called AIPAC that has the ear of the current speaker and has demanded 16 votes in April on Israel and the Middle East. There are not 16 votes in April in the U.S. Congress,” he said, after discussing why some of the recent bills are problematic, such as a bill on the definition of anti-Semitism in relation to criticism of Israel.
He believes this contradicts the U.S. government’s position on criticism of other countries. Moreover, he said that he does not consider himself to be critical of Israel, except for the current situation in Gaza. “Except now,” he said, “they’ve killed 1 percent of Gaza’s civilians, and that’s concerning to me.” (At the time of the interview, deaths in Gaza from Israeli air strikes were about 1.5 percent of the enclave’s population.)
This concern is at odds with the position of most of my Republican colleagues, who link their support for Israel to their Christian (mainly Evangelical Protestant) faith and the faith of their voters. Even many moderate supporters of Israel express concern about the support of right-wing Evangelicals for Israel, whose ultimate goal is to destroy the Jewish people of Israel in order to bring about the second coming of Christ.
He told Carlson that much of AIPAC’s lobbying is done through evangelical churches, which is why many in his state of Kentucky believe that support for the Israeli military is part of a grassroots movement. He sees the lobbying group as representing a corporate faction, referring to U.S. arms manufacturers, and suggested that AIPAC could be more extreme in advocating war than Israel itself.
“They’re doing it through evangelical churches,” he said. “People think it’s a grassroots movement in Kentucky. It’s actually a top-down movement from AIPAC, making even non-Jews feel like they have to support Israel no matter what.”
Massie, who describes himself as a libertarian-leaning Republican, said he would not vote for any wars or foreign aid. “I vote my conscience, and they’re not going to tolerate it,” he said.
“Don’t be offended because I don’t support foreign aid. I don’t support any wars, so don’t be offended by that. I support free speech, even if it’s abhorrent.”
He emphasized that he believes AIPAC’s tactics were shortsighted and exposed weaknesses in the U.S. political system.