What does Thomas Massie’s loss say about the future of the right?
Americano
The Spectator
4.0 • 762 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Congressman Thomas Massie, one of the most vocal Republican critics of Donald Trump lost his fight for re-election in Kentucky to a Trump-backed challenger. Freddy Gray is joined by Spectator contributors Daniel McCarthy and Christopher Caldwell to discuss where Thomas Massie went wrong, how corruption centred around the campaign, whether or not Trump's success is a reflection of the upcoming midterms and the way Europe reacts to Trump more broadly.
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Transcript
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| 0:33.7 | Hello and welcome back to the Americana Show. My name is Freddie Gray. I am the deputy editor of the |
| 0:41.3 | spectator and the US editor. And I'm pleased to tell you that this is the 10th year of the |
| 0:47.7 | Americano podcast. And I think it's fair to say it's been a fairly fascinating time in American politics, life and culture. |
| 0:57.5 | And that's what we talk about every episode on this podcast. So please keep listening and provide |
| 1:03.8 | as much feedback as you like. Hello and welcome to the Americano show. Today we are going to be |
| 1:09.2 | talking about Kentucky, the defeat of Thomas |
| 1:12.8 | Massey, and of course Donald Trump and the Donald Trump presidency. And to do so, I am delighted |
| 1:19.0 | to be joined by two spectator columnists and two, I think I can say, without being too much |
| 1:25.3 | of a flatter, two of my favourite writers, Christopher Caldwell and |
| 1:29.0 | Daniel McCarthy. Dan, I will start with you because you've written a piece about this loss |
| 1:34.7 | that Thomas Massey suffered in Kentucky last night, the most expensive house race of all time. |
| 1:42.3 | And he was defeated by Donald Trump and it clearly become a point of pride for |
| 1:46.3 | Donald Trump to defeat him. There was a lot of excitement that Massey might win and it would be a sort of |
| 1:52.4 | one in the eye for Trump and his team. That didn't happen. And as you say in your piece, which we've |
| 1:59.9 | headlined where Thomas Massey went wrong, |
| 2:02.3 | he was probably always going to lose going up against the sheer machine that is Trump. |
... |
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