Revealed: The cult that helped bring down one of Trump's biggest foes
A new theory has revealed that a cult was reportedly behind the sex secret allegations that led an ex-girlfriend of one of President Donald Trump's enemies to "kiss and tell," according to a report published Thursday.
The Bulwark's Will Sommer wrote how Cynthia West — a candidate for the Okaloosa School Board race in Florida — was telling right-wing media alleged personal information about her former boyfriend Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) as he was in the final days fighting to maintain his seat in Congress after Trump and his allies had fought to remove him.
West told Laura Loomer during her show that Massie had referred to his genitals as a "pine cone" and "claimed he slept with Rep. Lauren Boebert just weeks after his wife’s death in 2024." Massie has acknowledged that he dated West but has not commented on the claims.
Sommer described what prompted West to make these public claims.
"Of course, we can’t rule out the hidden hand of Trumpworld," Sommer wrote. "Trump, who promoted Loomer’s interview with West, clearly disliked Massie and helped drive him out of office. And for her part, West first publicized her salacious claims with the help of a Kentucky lawyer she described as meeting through a mutual friend 'in political circles,' though she insists she isn’t getting paid. In January, West posted a picture of herself driving to what she said was Mar-a-Lago."
"I think part of the answer to the strange question of West’s motivations lies in a very different type of dirty deeds," Sommer wrote. "I’m talking about West’s affiliation with a cult-like group of memestock investors known as 'MMTLP,' who dream of attaining untold riches—and resent lawmakers like Massie who won’t help them."
West apparently has ties to MMTLP, a "Frankenstein stock" that came out of the memestock explosions following the Gamestop and AMC stock trading. It included a company known as Meta Materials and a stripper pole manufacturer that captured the attention of retail investors.
"As West’s jilted-lover revenge-tour began in earnest this week, she offered several clues to her 'MMTLP' affiliations that were barely noticed by the national media," Sommer wrote. "For instance, she shared an X post that linked Massie with Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Gates and argued he had betrayed members of the MMTLP movement, despite dating 'MMTLP shareholder/advocate' West."
"Investors felt sure that the stock was facing the type of 'short squeeze' that would cause its price to skyrocket—the very thing that had propelled Gamestop to extraordinary heights just months earlier," Sommer wrote.
But the SEC started to question the MMTLP stock and a 2024 SEC complaint exposed that it could have been a "fantasy," or "exactly what executives at the combined companies wanted investors to believe."
"Sensing something sketchy, federal regulators halted trading right before the company went private—cutting off any chance at a lucrative short squeeze, and leaving retail MMTLP investors stuck with a bag of worthless, untradeable stocks," Sommer wrote.
"Rather than blaming the companies that hatched the scheme, angry MMTLP holders tried to convince the government to bail them out and punish the regulatory bodies they claim rigged the game in favor of short-sellers," Sommer added. "Even now, years later, they still bemoan their substantial losses in live X spaces, or dress up in bird costumes to demand justice. Inevitably, the bagholders have concocted conspiracy theories that blame their misfortunes on interference from a cabal that stretches from Epstein to meddling federal regulators."
And the group believed that Massie's defeat was "deserved."
"'You should have helped MMTLP and respect [sic] Cynthia,' crowed one jilted investor to Massie after Loomer posted about West’s story. 'Now instead you got MMTLPed.'"