It's impossible to view Montana Republican Greg Gianforte's assault on journalist Ben Jacobs in isolation. As many outlets are now pointing out, the number of threatening incidents this month alone is startling. The AP writes:
— The editor of Alaska’s largest newspaper said a state senator slapped one of his reporters when the reporter sought the lawmaker’s opinion on a recently published article.
— A Washington-based reporter from CQ Roll Call said he was pinned against the wall by security guards and forced to leave the Federal Communications Commission headquarters after he tried to question an FCC commissioner after a news conference.
— A West Virginia journalist was arrested after yelling questions about the opioid epidemic at U.S. Health Secretary Tom Price.
We've all watched Donald Trump stoke this fire among his base for months—casting reporters as “the enemy of the American people” and news outlets as "evil" and hellbent on treating him unfairly.
On the campaign trail, Trump's ire had a trickle-down effect.
At one rally, a man was photographed in a shirt that read, “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required.”
It should be little wonder now that $100,000 worth of donations poured into Gianforte's coffers as news of his attack and unrepentant statement following it spread across the country.
As George Washington University constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley noted:
“The chilling fact is that half of the people seeing the Guardian reporter being beaten may actually — if privately — relish the image.”
Unfortunately, the overt attacks we are now witnessing—as frightening as they are—might just be the tip of iceberg, Turley observes.
“The White House has admitted that it is actively studying new avenues to increase the liability of journalists. President Trump reportedly pressed former FBI Director Comey to arrest reporters using leaked information,” he said. “I don’t think the U.S. media has ever faced this type of concentrated threat that runs the gamut from physical to legal actions.”
He added: “I’ve tended not to be alarmist, but I think there’s a real danger here.”