Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) blasted his own party’s leadership Thursday over its efforts to block the release of files on Jeffrey Epstein, while at the same time, heaping praise on Texas Democrats that had fled their home state to obstruct a planned redistricting – and in the form of a meme.
Massie has been the most outspoken Republican lawmaker on increasing government transparency around Epstein, the New York billionaire who died in 2019 awaiting sex-trafficking charges and is alleged to have maintained a ‘client list’ of powerful figures for blackmail purposes. He’s introduced a measure to compel the Justice Department to release all files related to Epstein, though has been stonewalled by Republican leadership.
In an apparent act of frustration, Massie shared an image on X that depicts House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in a vehicle, and with a caption that reads: “Republicans leaving D.C. to protect the Epstein files.” The image also depicts a woman in a car with a caption that reads: Democrats leaving Texas to protect their district.”
The image is a combination of two stills from the Netflix series “The Umbrella Academy” that depicts two of the show’s characters noticing each other in surprise from car windows, and is a popular format for online memes.
Johnson, who is currently visiting Israel and illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, adjourned the House early last month in what critics described as an attempt to block Massie’s measure that would compel the release of files on Epstein. Massie has also expressed fears that Johnson may “try to pull a fast one” and rewrite House rules to further stonewall efforts to have files on Epstein released.
While Massie has criticized Johnson and his party leadership before, he’s yet to praise the several Texas House Democrats working to obstruct redistricting efforts, a plan backed by President Donald Trump to boost his party’s numbers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. In praising the Texas Democrats, however, Massie invoked the rage of many MAGA faithful.
“Why do you do this?” asked Jeremiah Watson on X, a frustrated pro-Trump Pennsylvanian whose bio states they collected thousands of letters to help Trump get elected.
“Oh look, Massie is supporting the left again,” wrote another frustrated X user, Gary Dawgson, a self-described “proud conservative” Trump supporter with more than 26,000 followers.