Of course not. The Times will publish an op-ed by a libertarian (here, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Editor of Reason Magazine) on one condition: that it bash President Trump.
Today the Times published Mangu-Ward’s op-ed, titled “He’s One of a Dying Breed in Congress. America Needs Him Now More Than Ever.” You don’t have to read the article to know that it is about a “maverick” Republican. And, sure enough, it is a long puff piece in praise of Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Massie, on Mangu-Ward’s telling, is a principled libertarian who is standing up to would be-dictator Donald Trump. Her paean puts Massie in the mold of Thomas Jefferson and praises him as an engineer, the owner of a solar-powered mobile chicken coop, a man who “construct[ed] his own house.” But it never gets around to explaining why Massie has become Trump’s bitter enemy, so that the President is now campaigning against him.
I don’t think the problem is Massie’s libertarian leaning. I think, rather, it has to do with the fact that Massie voted for what would have been the largest tax increase in American history; that he voted with the Democrats to purport to end military action in Iran; that he succumbed to Epstein obsession; and that he is, to put the most charitable face on it, bitterly anti-Israel, having been the only Republican to vote against a resolution of support for Israel after the October 7 attacks, the only House member of either party to vote against a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, and the only Republican to vote against the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act.
This story seems likely to have a happy ending. Mangu-Ward writes:
An early April Quantus Insights poll showed Mr. Massie ahead [of primary challenger Ed Gallrein] 47 to 38 percent, with 14 percent undecided.
But just a few hours ago, a new survey by the same pollster showed Gallrein leading Massie 48% to 43%.
