Ben Shapiro mocked Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Wednesday for losing his primary battle the night before and said the lame duck lawmaker likely knew he was “toast” once President Donald Trump endorsed his rival.

So what did Massie do in response? Shapiro argued the Kentucky lawmaker doubled down on “full-scale conspiratorial anti-Israel” rhetoric in an effort to become a podcaster like Tucker Carlson, Shapiro argued on his show.

“The minute that Trump came out and went after Massie, Massie knew he was in trouble. And so he figured you know what, ‘I want to be a podcaster, I want to be like Joe Kent or Tucker Carlson. I want the strange new respect. I want the podcast woke right, and I also want the strange new respect of the left,'” Shapiro said.

“And so I’m going to go all the way, I’m going to throw out conspiracy theories, go full-scale conspiratorial anti-Israel.’ So that was Massie’s plan, was that he knew he was toast anyway, so the best way to make money on the other side is to do that sort of thing.”

Shapiro said Massie’s concession speech on Tuesday night was “pretty good evidence” to back up that theory.

Massie mocked Trump’s “Roman Empire” ballroom and quipped that it was hard for him to reach the victorious Ed Gallrein “in Tel Aviv.”Shapiro said it was “ugly stuff” and “not particularly subtle antisemitism” from the lawmaker. But he said it was unsurprising, based on Massie’s complaints about how Israel “dragged” the U.S. into the Iran war and his other comments of late.

Carlson has been bashing Israel a lot a well recently, especially since the start of the Iran war. The former cable news star said the war is being “waged” strictly on behalf of Israel, which he said is “in charge” of Trump.

Shapiro said Massie’s focus on Israel made no sense for a congressman who was actually trying to win in Kentucky.

“What was he thinking?” Shapiro asked. “Why in the world in a district that has fewer than 500 Jews would you decide that it was really, really important to run on the’ Zionist organized government the Jews control everything’ platform?”

Instead, it makes more sense if Massie is aiming to become an anti-Trump political pundit, Shapiro argued.

We’ll find out soon enough, with Massie’s time in Congress coming to an end in early 2027.

Watch above via YouTube.

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