Trump's Defeat of Thomas Massie and Endorsement of Ken Paxton

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump carries a GOP challenger to a primary victory over Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who made few friends with his quixotic positions, including on Israel and the Epstein files. Plus, Trump endorses in the Texas Senate race, making a risky bet to spurn Sen. John Cornyn and reward AG Ken Paxton’s MAGA loyalty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:28.2	among real estate professionals. From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal,
0:35.9	this is Potomac Watch.
0:44.4	President Trump notches another Republican primary win after his candidate knocks off Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massey, while GOP voters in Georgia go to runoffs to choose their gubernatorial
0:50.1	and Senate nominees. Plus, Trump finally gets involved in the Texas Senate race endorsing the scandal-plagued
0:56.9	Attorney General Ken Paxson. Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal. We're joined today
1:02.9	by my colleagues on the WSJ's opinion pages, columnist Bill McGern, and Matt Contonetti. President
1:10.0	Trump has had a string of primary victories lately,
1:12.5	first in those Indiana state Senate races, defeating many of the Republicans who declined to
1:17.8	further gerrymandered their state as the president wanted. Then in Louisiana, beating Senator Bill
1:23.5	Cassidy. And on Tuesday, now in Kentucky, with an outcome that in the end wasn't even close,
1:29.3	Ed Gowryne, a former, former U.S. Navy SEAL, winning by about 10 percentage points 55 to 45 over
1:36.7	Congressman Thomas Massey. Let's listen to a piece of Massey's concession speech.
1:41.6	If you always vote with the president, if the legislative
1:45.3	branch always votes with the president, we do have a king. If the legislative branch always
1:53.1	votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule. But if the legislative branch and the representatives and the senators that serve with that always
2:05.4	follow the Constitution, we have a republic.
	...

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