Name: Thomas Massie Talks AIPAC, Spies and Pressure From Lobbyists
Uploaded: 2025-06-25T00:00:21.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Thomas Massie Talks AIPAC, Spies and Pressure From Lobbyists' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-25. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Thomas Massie Talks AIPAC, Spies and Pressure From Lobbyists' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-25. Transcript available.

The problem is I wouldn't blame the lobbyists for advocating for their group of
people.
I would blame the congressman who basically put that crap in the bills.
And again, I would go back to separating the votes.
How do you know that your congressman is sold out to Big Pharma, for instance,
if Big Pharma is only one-tenth of the bill?
Right.
And there's pay raises for veterans in there.
Ah, so they can hide the fact that they're selling out over here by buying in
over here.
Yeah.
God!
It almost sounds fun.
Now, there's one group of lobbyists I don't think really should exist
or should have access to U.S. offices, and those are foreign lobbyists.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've heard you talk about this before, and I've heard a lot of people are
talking about it now.
It's definitely become a hot topic.
And AIPAC is one of the big ones.
And that stands for American, Israeli, political.
It's not a fund.
It didn't start out as a super PAC.
Political Action Committee?
Public Affairs Committee.
There we go.
Public Affairs Committee.
American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Now, a lot of times PAC stands for Political Action Committee, like you said.
But these guys were started before there were Political Action Committees, so
it stands for Public Affairs Committee.
Got it.
And they bragged that they've spent more on elections than any other lobbying
group.
In the world?
In the United States.
In the United States.
In Congress.
Okay.
They now do have a Political Action Committee.
And I forget what the name of it is.
So, AIPAC has a subsidiary that spends money to basically crack heads of
congressmen.
So, there's two kinds of, by the way, there are two kinds of lobbying groups.
There's access lobbying.
That's where they're all your friends.
They're never mean to you.
They were, even if they don't like you, they'll buy you a steak dinner, and
they'll try to get you to hear out their point of view.
And they figure, as long as I can get in that person's office, I'm doing well
for the people I'm lobbying for.
But then there are confrontational lobbyists like AIPAC, and AIPAC has
transitioned into a confrontational lobbying group,
where if you don't do what they want, they come after you.
Wow.
And what does it look like?
They spent $400,000 against me in my last election.
And they are basically advertised themselves as just all things Israel.
They are lobbying for more money to go to Israel, which all the money we give
to Israel is military money.
So, they are basically lobbyists for the military-industrial complex.
Got it.
Understood.
So, and I'll ask you some questions about that, the military-industrial complex,
in a few minutes.
But do you feel like Israel is a fair ally?
Are they a good ally for us?
Well.
Or is that too general of a question?
Well, I think it doesn't matter.
There's no big, giant Great Britain lobby.
There's no Australian lobby.
There's no German lobby.
Oh, the other countries don't have them.
No, no, not like this.
This is singular.
This is unique.
I mean, if you're an ally, why wouldn't we work with you?
Why do you have to convince us that you're our ally?
Why do you have to basically go into every congressional office and convince
them?
And it's because they want to keep the money flowing.
And they've got a good return on their investment.
I mean, we send more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country.
Yeah.
They're, you know, like 10 million people or something.
Yeah, I think this year-
Tennessee, I don't know the population in Tennessee, but it's probably about,
you know, on that order.
Yeah, I think this year they said we spent like $12 billion, but that's not
actual dollars.
It's in military aid, right?
Yeah, it's, well, it's dollars that comes out of the treasury.
Yeah, but it's not like we give them, it's a gift certificate that's redeemable
at Lockheed Martin and your local Raytheon, you know.
Okay, got it.
So that's kind of how that works.
Yeah.
Okay, got it.
Why, yeah, why do they have this carve out that's just for them?
Like, what do we get from Israel, do you feel like?
Oh, we got a lot of countries that hate us is one of the things we get.
Well, especially right now with this stuff in Gaza, it's, I think it's Israel's,
it's one of the worst PR campaigns I've ever seen in my life.
If they're even, I haven't, it doesn't make any sense to me.
It's like, I just don't, it gives their government this extremely evil look to
me, you know, and I think to a lot of people, you know.
Well, rough numbers, there are 2 million people in Gaza and 50,000 have been
killed.
It's 2.5%.
Like, they've killed 1 in 40 people in Gaza.
If you did that in the United States, if you did 2.5% of 350 million, it'd be
almost 10 million people dead in the United States.
Everybody in Gaza is, at this point, related to somebody who's been killed.
Like, at least a first cousin had killed.
And then if you say, how many have been maimed, it's probably three or four
times that.
So, everybody in Gaza knows people who've been killed and maimed.
And we're supporting it, right?
That's also the part that makes it really tough sometimes to just be a person.
It's like, we, our tax money is going towards this.
But I just hope that people in some of these other countries know that, you
know, it's not regular, everyday people who would want to do these things.
You know, that it's like governments making these choices and it's corporate
interests that make these choices.
How would we stop it?
Well, do we need this connection with Israel?
What is it?
No one ever explains what it's for, I feel like, right?
That would help everybody have a much better understanding, you know?
Because it starts to feel like America is just a shell company, an LLC for
Israel.
That's what it starts to feel like a lot of times, you know?
Do you feel like that that's realistic or do you feel like that that's off base?
I wouldn't send them a dime.
Like, that's my position.
I don't think whatever we're getting isn't worth it.
And don't ask me to articulate the benefit because I think the cost is greater
than the benefit.
You're going to, everybody in Gaza is, at this point, has to hate Israel, right?
And by extension, those bombs, when they see American politicians go over there
and like sign the freaking bombs that are going to kill women and children.
What are we, actually, there was just a clip with Ted Cruz that came up.
Can you see if you can find that, Trevin?
Where, yeah, where Tucker Carlson was interviewing Ted Cruz.
Let me see.
This is a scary interview.
During the Tucker Carlson interview with Ted Cruz, it's confirmed.
Israel's version of the CIA called Mossad spies.
Oh, it's about spying.
It's like what we get.
Let's just watch it for a second.
Does Mossad share all of its intelligence with us?
Oh, probably not, but they share a lot.
We don't share all of our intelligence with them, but we share a lot.
It's a close alliance.
Do they spy domestically in the United States?
Oh, they probably do.
And we do as well.
And friends and allies spy on each other.
And I assume all of our allies spy on us.
And that's okay with you?
You know what?
One of the things about being a conservative is that you're not naive and utopian.
You don't think humans are all.
Part of the reason socialism doesn't work is the mantra from each according to
his abilities to each according to his needs doesn't work.
As a conservative, I assume people act in their rational self-interest.
So it's conservative to pay people to spy on you?
It's conservative to recognize that human beings act in their own self-interest.
And every one of our friends spies on us.
And I'm not...
Do you like it?
That's my question.
I'm not asking whether they have motive to do it.
Of course they do.
I understand that.
And by the way, I'm not mad at them.
You're an American lawmaker, so I just want to know your attitude.
You said that your guiding principle, in fact, the only principle, the only
criterion...
I said guiding.
The overwhelming.
I wouldn't say only.
Is it in America's interest?
Is it in America's interest for Israel to spy on us, including on the president?
It is in America's interest to be closely allied with Israel because we get...
What do we get?
That's the thing.
It's painful to watch that.
So when I'm in a room with somebody and they say, can I talk to you, you know,
just frankly,
is anybody listening?
I say, well, there's three nation states plus our own in my phone.
Yeah.
There's going to be Russia, China, and Israel.
They're in our phone?
No, not yours.
Like, it's a lot of effort to...
Anybody can be hacked, okay?
Oh, I thought one of the reasons...
I got to go to Qatar recently, and I'm wondering if they hacked my phone.
I thought they were good.
I don't know if that's crazy.
I think it's probably continuously hacked, okay?
That's what I'm thinking.
It just seems like everything's hacked now.
I get scared, you know?
But if you're not...
I play the Israeli national anthem every 45 minutes.
Look, Amazon and Facebook know what you're saying in your phone, right?
But probably Israel and Russia and China aren't devoting that effort and
internet traffic,
which can become detectable...
To us.
Yeah.
Right.
But you're probably...
You know, why wouldn't you be trying to hear what the 535 people in Washington,
D.C.
who vote on bills, what they are thinking?
And then, you know, also there are allegedly some congressmen who indulge in
insider trading,
but I would guess that there are probably some hackers who are also inside of
congressmen's
phones trying to figure out what the sentiment is in Washington, D.C., and then
trading on that.
Wow.
So there's always this extra layer kind of going along, going on, it feels like.
Yeah.
But what do you think we get from Israel?
I think it's just a big question.
I think it's okay as a regular person.
And I might get killed or something by Mossad or something.
But what do we get from them as a country?
Like, is there...
I think there's just...
That's a big question America has right now.
Is there something we just don't see?
And if there is, just tell us what it is so we can operate accordingly, you
know?
No, I think they're the best lobbying group in Washington, D.C.
And the reason they can do it is you have dual citizens, people who are
American and Israeli,
who are allowed to give money into American politics because they're American.
And by virtue of that, you're allowed to participate.
But if you're a foreign national, you're not allowed to.
So they're one of the few countries that can donate money to what?
To super PACs, to members of Congress.
Other countries are not allowed to do that.
Well, I mean, they could if you were dual citizens, but there's not so many
dual citizens, as it were.
But could somebody be a Russian and American dual citizen and serve in Congress
or...
Sure.
And donate to congressmen.
By the way, I have introduced a bill that would require members of Congress to
disclose if they are dual citizens.
And I think that's only fair.
Right.
Because right now, you could have allegiance to another country, not just the
USA.
Correct.
We swear an allegiance when you're a member of Congress to the Constitution.
I always like to point this out.
We're not swearing it to the country.
We're not swearing it to the president.
We're not swearing it to our party.
We swear it to the Constitution.
And other countries have constitutions, too.
What if you've taken allegiance to two different constitutions?
And my bill wouldn't even keep you from being a member of Congress.
It would just say you have to disclose it if you are.
And by the way, it wouldn't necessarily just be Israel members of Congress who
are also citizens of Israel.
It could be other countries as well.
I just think it creates a conflict of interest.
And I have to disclose yearly which stocks I own.
I have to disclose all my personal financial information so that the voters can
decide if I am unduly influenced by that conflict of interest.
And so that's the structure of my bill.
My bill, it's an election disclosure.
Okay, you're running for Congress.
Bring it up.
Tell us which countries you are a system to.
Representative Thomas Massey announces the introduction of H.R. 2356, the Dual
Loyalty Disclosure Act.
Representative Massey's legislation amends a federal election campaign act to
require candidates for federal office to disclose both their possession of dual
citizenship and also the foreign country in which their dual citizenship is
held.
So right now, we don't have to.
People don't have to disclose.
Nope, they don't.
What?
You would have no idea.
Have you seen spies like us, dude?
It's also, by the way, it's a safety net, by the way.
If something went really bad, you could just go live in your other country.
I think you should be all in for this country.
I agree.
This ain't the fucking hokey pokey, dude.
I think you got to have both feet in or both feet out.
You know what I'm saying, dude?
I just, but any country, this could happen.
It could be, that's not just Israel.
Correct.
It could be any country.
It could be.
But Israel's the only one that has a big lobby.
So for-
Is there the Russian, like Russia PAC or whatever?
No, there is not.
Like I say, there's not even Australia PAC or Great Britain PAC.
I mean, because they're natural allies.
Why would they have to lobby Congress?
They're also not on our teat, like asking for money.
But I think it's also, there's this, it's a weird amalgamation of combined
interests.
There's a military industrial complex that is all in for everything AIPAC is
for.
And before I banned AIPAC from my office, we used to have conversations that
would go something like this.
Oh, you should be for the foreign aid that goes to Israel because it all comes
back to the United States in the form of military spending.
We're buying it all from American contractors.
And I'd be like, no, that's not a convincing argument to me.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I don't even know what it's about, but it seems like bullshit to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Thomas Massie Talks AIPAC, Spies and Pressure From Lobbyists

The problem is I wouldn't blame the lobbyists for advocating for their group of
people.
I would blame the congressman who basically put that crap in the bills.
And again, I would go back to separating the votes.
How do you know that your congressman is sold out to Big Pharma, for instance,
if Big Pharma is only one-tenth of the bill?
Right.
And there's pay raises for veterans in there.
Ah, so they can hide the fact that they're selling out over here by buying in
over here.
Yeah.
God!
It almost sounds fun.
Now, there's one group of lobbyists I don't think really should exist
or should have access to U.S. offices, and those are foreign lobbyists.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've heard you talk about this before, and I've heard a lot of people are
talking about it now.
It's definitely become a hot topic.
And AIPAC is one of the big ones.
And that stands for American, Israeli, political.
It's not a fund.
It didn't start out as a super PAC.
Political Action Committee?
Public Affairs Committee.
There we go.
Public Affairs Committee.
American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Now, a lot of times PAC stands for Political Action Committee, like you said.
But these guys were started before there were Political Action Committees, so
it stands for Public Affairs Committee.
Got it.
And they bragged that they've spent more on elections than any other lobbying
group.
In the world?
In the United States.
In the United States.
In Congress.
Okay.
They now do have a Political Action Committee.
And I forget what the name of it is.
So, AIPAC has a subsidiary that spends money to basically crack heads of
congressmen.
So, there's two kinds of, by the way, there are two kinds of lobbying groups.
There's access lobbying.
That's where they're all your friends.
They're never mean to you.
They were, even if they don't like you, they'll buy you a steak dinner, and
they'll try to get you to hear out their point of view.
And they figure, as long as I can get in that person's office, I'm doing well
for the people I'm lobbying for.
But then there are confrontational lobbyists like AIPAC, and AIPAC has
transitioned into a confrontational lobbying group,
where if you don't do what they want, they come after you.
Wow.
And what does it look like?
They spent $400,000 against me in my last election.
And they are basically advertised themselves as just all things Israel.
They are lobbying for more money to go to Israel, which all the money we give
to Israel is military money.
So, they are basically lobbyists for the military-industrial complex.
Got it.
Understood.
So, and I'll ask you some questions about that, the military-industrial complex,
in a few minutes.
But do you feel like Israel is a fair ally?
Are they a good ally for us?
Well.
Or is that too general of a question?
Well, I think it doesn't matter.
There's no big, giant Great Britain lobby.
There's no Australian lobby.
There's no German lobby.
Oh, the other countries don't have them.
No, no, not like this.
This is singular.
This is unique.
I mean, if you're an ally, why wouldn't we work with you?
Why do you have to convince us that you're our ally?
Why do you have to basically go into every congressional office and convince
them?
And it's because they want to keep the money flowing.
And they've got a good return on their investment.
I mean, we send more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country.
Yeah.
They're, you know, like 10 million people or something.
Yeah, I think this year-
Tennessee, I don't know the population in Tennessee, but it's probably about,
you know, on that order.
Yeah, I think this year they said we spent like $12 billion, but that's not
actual dollars.
It's in military aid, right?
Yeah, it's, well, it's dollars that comes out of the treasury.
Yeah, but it's not like we give them, it's a gift certificate that's redeemable
at Lockheed Martin and your local Raytheon, you know.
Okay, got it.
So that's kind of how that works.
Yeah.
Okay, got it.
Why, yeah, why do they have this carve out that's just for them?
Like, what do we get from Israel, do you feel like?
Oh, we got a lot of countries that hate us is one of the things we get.
Well, especially right now with this stuff in Gaza, it's, I think it's Israel's,
it's one of the worst PR campaigns I've ever seen in my life.
If they're even, I haven't, it doesn't make any sense to me.
It's like, I just don't, it gives their government this extremely evil look to
me, you know, and I think to a lot of people, you know.
Well, rough numbers, there are 2 million people in Gaza and 50,000 have been
killed.
It's 2.5%.
Like, they've killed 1 in 40 people in Gaza.
If you did that in the United States, if you did 2.5% of 350 million, it'd be
almost 10 million people dead in the United States.
Everybody in Gaza is, at this point, related to somebody who's been killed.
Like, at least a first cousin had killed.
And then if you say, how many have been maimed, it's probably three or four
times that.
So, everybody in Gaza knows people who've been killed and maimed.
And we're supporting it, right?
That's also the part that makes it really tough sometimes to just be a person.
It's like, we, our tax money is going towards this.
But I just hope that people in some of these other countries know that, you
know, it's not regular, everyday people who would want to do these things.
You know, that it's like governments making these choices and it's corporate
interests that make these choices.
How would we stop it?
Well, do we need this connection with Israel?
What is it?
No one ever explains what it's for, I feel like, right?
That would help everybody have a much better understanding, you know?
Because it starts to feel like America is just a shell company, an LLC for
Israel.
That's what it starts to feel like a lot of times, you know?
Do you feel like that that's realistic or do you feel like that that's off base?
I wouldn't send them a dime.
Like, that's my position.
I don't think whatever we're getting isn't worth it.
And don't ask me to articulate the benefit because I think the cost is greater
than the benefit.
You're going to, everybody in Gaza is, at this point, has to hate Israel, right?
And by extension, those bombs, when they see American politicians go over there
and like sign the freaking bombs that are going to kill women and children.
What are we, actually, there was just a clip with Ted Cruz that came up.
Can you see if you can find that, Trevin?
Where, yeah, where Tucker Carlson was interviewing Ted Cruz.
Let me see.
This is a scary interview.
During the Tucker Carlson interview with Ted Cruz, it's confirmed.
Israel's version of the CIA called Mossad spies.
Oh, it's about spying.
It's like what we get.
Let's just watch it for a second.
Does Mossad share all of its intelligence with us?
Oh, probably not, but they share a lot.
We don't share all of our intelligence with them, but we share a lot.
It's a close alliance.
Do they spy domestically in the United States?
Oh, they probably do.
And we do as well.
And friends and allies spy on each other.
And I assume all of our allies spy on us.
And that's okay with you?
You know what?
One of the things about being a conservative is that you're not naive and utopian.
You don't think humans are all.
Part of the reason socialism doesn't work is the mantra from each according to
his abilities to each according to his needs doesn't work.
As a conservative, I assume people act in their rational self-interest.
So it's conservative to pay people to spy on you?
It's conservative to recognize that human beings act in their own self-interest.
And every one of our friends spies on us.
And I'm not...
Do you like it?
That's my question.
I'm not asking whether they have motive to do it.
Of course they do.
I understand that.
And by the way, I'm not mad at them.
You're an American lawmaker, so I just want to know your attitude.
You said that your guiding principle, in fact, the only principle, the only
criterion...
I said guiding.
The overwhelming.
I wouldn't say only.
Is it in America's interest?
Is it in America's interest for Israel to spy on us, including on the president?
It is in America's interest to be closely allied with Israel because we get...
What do we get?
That's the thing.
It's painful to watch that.
So when I'm in a room with somebody and they say, can I talk to you, you know,
just frankly,
is anybody listening?
I say, well, there's three nation states plus our own in my phone.
Yeah.
There's going to be Russia, China, and Israel.
They're in our phone?
No, not yours.
Like, it's a lot of effort to...
Anybody can be hacked, okay?
Oh, I thought one of the reasons...
I got to go to Qatar recently, and I'm wondering if they hacked my phone.
I thought they were good.
I don't know if that's crazy.
I think it's probably continuously hacked, okay?
That's what I'm thinking.
It just seems like everything's hacked now.
I get scared, you know?
But if you're not...
I play the Israeli national anthem every 45 minutes.
Look, Amazon and Facebook know what you're saying in your phone, right?
But probably Israel and Russia and China aren't devoting that effort and
internet traffic,
which can become detectable...
To us.
Yeah.
Right.
But you're probably...
You know, why wouldn't you be trying to hear what the 535 people in Washington,
D.C.
who vote on bills, what they are thinking?
And then, you know, also there are allegedly some congressmen who indulge in
insider trading,
but I would guess that there are probably some hackers who are also inside of
congressmen's
phones trying to figure out what the sentiment is in Washington, D.C., and then
trading on that.
Wow.
So there's always this extra layer kind of going along, going on, it feels like.
Yeah.
But what do you think we get from Israel?
I think it's just a big question.
I think it's okay as a regular person.
And I might get killed or something by Mossad or something.
But what do we get from them as a country?
Like, is there...
I think there's just...
That's a big question America has right now.
Is there something we just don't see?
And if there is, just tell us what it is so we can operate accordingly, you
know?
No, I think they're the best lobbying group in Washington, D.C.
And the reason they can do it is you have dual citizens, people who are
American and Israeli,
who are allowed to give money into American politics because they're American.
And by virtue of that, you're allowed to participate.
But if you're a foreign national, you're not allowed to.
So they're one of the few countries that can donate money to what?
To super PACs, to members of Congress.
Other countries are not allowed to do that.
Well, I mean, they could if you were dual citizens, but there's not so many
dual citizens, as it were.
But could somebody be a Russian and American dual citizen and serve in Congress
or...
Sure.
And donate to congressmen.
By the way, I have introduced a bill that would require members of Congress to
disclose if they are dual citizens.
And I think that's only fair.
Right.
Because right now, you could have allegiance to another country, not just the
USA.
Correct.
We swear an allegiance when you're a member of Congress to the Constitution.
I always like to point this out.
We're not swearing it to the country.
We're not swearing it to the president.
We're not swearing it to our party.
We swear it to the Constitution.
And other countries have constitutions, too.
What if you've taken allegiance to two different constitutions?
And my bill wouldn't even keep you from being a member of Congress.
It would just say you have to disclose it if you are.
And by the way, it wouldn't necessarily just be Israel members of Congress who
are also citizens of Israel.
It could be other countries as well.
I just think it creates a conflict of interest.
And I have to disclose yearly which stocks I own.
I have to disclose all my personal financial information so that the voters can
decide if I am unduly influenced by that conflict of interest.
And so that's the struct