Last summer, President Donald Trump orchestrated a primary challenge against Rep. Thomas Massie, who’d become the lone House Republican willing to occasionally stand up to the president—at least the only one who wasn’t retiring. But the race has turned into a proxy fight over, well, just about everything.

It’s a referendum on Trump. It’s a fight over Israeli influence in American politics. And the final frenzied days of the campaign, expected to be the most expensive primary in US history, have also set the stage for a MAGA vs MAGA showdown, providing a new opportunity for grifters, podcasters, and a cast of wannabe influencers to join in the fray—or leverage it for a comeback.

Ahead of today’s primary vote, Trump has used the full power of his office and his surrogates in right-wing media to pummel Massie in an unprecedented campaign against a member of his own party. On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took a break from the Iran war and attacking civilian vessels in the Caribbean to fly to Kentucky to rally against Massie. Trump himself issued a video:

President Trump releases a new video titled "GET RID OF THOMAS MASSIE":

"I hope you're going to put him out of business. We're in fight against the worst Congressman in the history of our country. He is so bad… So, get rid of Thomas Massie." pic.twitter.com/70oLhpIflf

As the election has become closer, Trump’s media surrogates have ratcheted up the absurdity as they reach for any possible angle they hope might weaken the MIT-trained Kentucky farmer and inventor. Right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer posted a video interview with Cynthia West, a woman who claims she dated Massie shortly after his wife died.

Loomer spent much of Monday promoting her two-hour interview with West, in which they seem to have spent most of the time discussing Massie’s sex life. West’s story has grown increasingly salacious, as she claimed that Massie possesses a “boner phone” that he allegedly used to communicate with women secretly. And Loomer posted texts in which she claims he refers to his penis as “pinecone,” a virtual campaign whose impact on Kentucky voters was hard to measure.

EXCLUSIVE:

“Call Me On My Boner Phone”

Former Congressional staffer and @RepThomasMassie’s ex girlfriend @Cyntaxed007 Cynthia West tells me Massie was a very controlling boyfriend and........

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