I first met Thomas Massie twelve years ago, at a food-freedom conference hosted by Joel Salatin at his farm in Virginia. Even then, as a newbie Congressman, Massie showed a sharp sense of humor, as I wrote then: “U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie, who made headlines earlier this year when he assembled a couple dozen co-sponsors for legislation to dilute the effects of the federal prohibition on interstate raw milk sales and shipments, was pessimistic about the chances of actually passing anything in the House of Representatives. Indeed, it isn’t even likely the legislation will get a hearing. ‘The dairy industry went apoplectic when we introduced the legislation,’ he said. ‘My wife said she didn’t know the lactose industry was so intolerant.’ “

He seemed over the years highly committed to adjusting federal laws to make raw dairy and meat more directly available from farms, until 2021, when he shocked many admirers by seemingly going off on a tangent of celebrating gun rights—he drove the point home with a Christmas card he posted on social media showing his entire family toting assault weapons.

But then, over the last year, he’s become resolute in leading the charge to get our government to fully release the voluminous files covering Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes and in exposing Epstein’s seemingly endless connections to America’s elite–Republicans and Democrats alike. This presumably includes a desire for President Trump himself to come clean on his involvement with Epstein.

I thought when he first took up the Epstein cause that it was one that had a chance of rallying and uniting Americans. After all, it had been said by more than a few seemingly astute commentators that the one thing that could get Trump in trouble with his base would be credible evidence he was involved in sexually abusing under-age girls. Trump has been adamant in denying his own involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities. Massie’s effort to elicit a credible yes or no on this question thus seemed a worthwhile endeavor.

We still haven’t seen credible evidence on either side of this matter. But Massie apparently struck raw nerves with the president, because Trump made one of his top political priorities getting Massie voted out of the U.S. House by convincing a former U.S. Navy Seal to oppose Massie in Kentucky’s primary election on Tuesday. In other elections preceding this one, including one over the weekend to target Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, Trump has been remarkably successful in recruiting candidates to oppose Republican incumbents who have dared to challenge any pieces of his agenda or any aspects of his image. According to national press accounts, Massie’s Kentucky primary race has turned into the most expensive House race in the country, costing upwards of $40 million.

But then, autocratic leaders by their nature have very thin skins. A young Chinese comedian has literally been run out of the country recently for poking seemingly harmless fun at China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, as this NYTimes article chronicles.

Massie has clearly come a long way for a congressman pushing a few food rights issues. He has come to be seen as such a threat to the depravity of our political, financial, and educational elites that they will spend huge amounts to get him out of Congress. And while I personally disagree with much of the political agenda he has adopted over the years, I admire his courage in pursuing the Epstein matter. After all, it could end his political career.