What has the GOP become, a band of thugs? It’s almost been unheard of that being a reporter can be a hazardous occupation, but under the Trump Regime, times are changing.
Fast.
Everything from Donald Trump’s incessant attacks on the American press and his constant banter of “fake news, fake news, fake news,” to him saying in Sioux Center, Iowa, on Jan. 23, 2016, that, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters,” well, it’s clear that the new breed of Republican national leader has turned American politics into a blood sport. To call these creeps thugs and miscreants would be letting them off a bit too easy.
Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian, is reportedly being treated in a Montana hospital as I write this, and it was reported in the early evening here, on Daily Kos, by David Nir, political director of Daily Kos, that Jacobs attempted to interview Greg Gianforte, Republican Congressional contender for the only Montana seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Gianforte allegedly pulled a Hulk Hogan move and "body slammed" Jacobs during a taped interview in a small room on Montana’s election eve. The sounds on the audio stream sound a lot like the action in the ring of a World Wrestling Federation match than a reporter interviewing a politician.
“He took me to the ground,” Jacobs said by phone from the back of an ambulance. “I think he wailed on me once or twice ... He got on me and I think he hit me ... This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in reporting on politics,” according to an article that appeared a few hours after this violent and strange occurrence, in The Guardian.
Of course, the Gianforte campaign disputed the version of events that led to the confrontation and even claimed "Tonight, as Greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, The Guardian's Ben Jacobs entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg's face, and began asking badgering questions. Jacobs was asked to leave. After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg's wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It's unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ," according to CBS News.
Gianforte is running in a special election for the Congressional seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke against Democratic Contender Rob Quist, a country musician. Quist’s platform includes protecting ranchers and farmers that receive the lowest prices for their grain and stock. He supports legislation streamlining student lending and cap interest rates for student loans at no more than 3%. Quist promises to support additional programs which expand opportunities to forgive student debt with a two year service commitment to AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps.
In addition, according to Our Revolution, Rob Quist’s political website, this staunch Democrat’s platform also includes:
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Supporting veterans with top quality health care and job training.
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Supporting the view that everyone should love and marry whom they choose regardless of their orientation.
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Supporting women's right to choose without exception.
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Believing unions have been decimated to the point that a once robust middle class is now fading away, and that unions balance industry to ensure a safe workplace and a livable wage.
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Will fight for teachers, who are underpaid and overworked, and to expand programs teaching life skills such as finance, the importance of good credit, job interview skills and resume building, personal health and nutrition and expanded citizenry and community volunteer work.
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Supports wind and solar power energy.
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As a small business owner, Quist supports simplifying and streamlining the tax code so that it works for everyone.
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Believes public lands must be protected for future generations.
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Supports tribal sovereignty and the right of self determination for all Native Americans.
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Supports development of new sustainable logging practices to protect our forests and preserve jobs.
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Believes Social Security and Medicare are not an “entitlements”, but necessities for many Montanans and must be protected.
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Stands with “Montanans who have spent their lives becoming resourceful to survive in a system that has, in many ways, become geared against them.”
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Supports preserving the arts in our education system.
Well, around these here parts, it’s hard not to like that handsome young fella’ sporting that white cowboy hat. He’s True Blue and will undoubtedly be a good fit with his fellow Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives if Montana’s voters give him the thumb’s up Thursday.
Conversely, after listening to the audio stream of the incident, I seriously doubt if many would consider Ben Jacobs to be the aggressor here. It sounds like he didn’t do much more than walk up to Gianforte, ask a question, then Jacobs was attacked by this large strapping goliath. According to Jacobs, his eyeglasses were broken by this alleged assault. The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office is investigating this incident and by the grisly sounds on this audio stream, it sort of appears as if Gianforte might be dead-to-rights on an assault charge. It’s sad to see a day when some monster body slams some poor reporter who is only doing his job on election day eve. Hotheads, reporters, body slams, election eves, and audio streams involving loud crashes and bangs don’t bid well for a very different and unique sort of voting day.
Really now, was Jacobs really “an aggressor”? Sure, by the very way they collect the news, reporters are aggressive. It’s normally the only way to get news on election eve — being aggressive - especially when the reporter works for a publication that swings to the left and the guy he’s attempting to interview — for all intents and purposes — is one of the Tea Party faithful.
And when we now have a President, along with his entire administration, who so hate the press that they won’t even take questions from reporters and even go as far as banning certain news organizations from press briefings and other official governmental meetings, well, it’s evident that we’re slipping into the dark confines of a closed society where might is right and thugs rule. Yes, we’re looking more totalitarian than even the totalitarian regimes. And well, President Trump has an ongoing bromance with a true master of authoritarianism and despotic rule.
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In perusing the Google Images files of Greg Gianforte, I get the feeling that this is one politician who wants to emit a cordial, if not friendly and welcoming appearance. He’s always sporting a warm and welcoming smile in most all of this photo collage on Google images, with most of these shots taken during his campaign to be a U.S. Representative for replacement of another Congressman elected not very long ago, who Donald Trump pulled into his “swamp”. But after hearing the YouTube audio stream, I get a feeling this is all a masked persona. Actually, this is a really mean-spirited and hateful guy. A self-aggrandizing and self-serving super-rich guy who is totally out of synch with what his down-homey, modest, and struggling constituency really needs as a voice in Washington. With a net worth estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, if not capping out over a billion because he and his wife sold their company, RightNow Technologies, to Oracle, in 2011 for more than $1.5 billion, does this kind of wealth and privilege typify a leader that will represent the likes of grain farmers, oil rig workers, miners, and folks working in Montana’s tourism trade? If this qualifies Gianforte to become a U.S. Representative, why and how?
Fifty-six-year-old Gianforte’s big ties go right to a White House in dire peril, involved with scandals and controversies galore. Donald Trump recorded robocalls to get Montanans to vote for Gianforte and Donald Trump Jr. campaigned for him. A native of the Garden State, Gianforte has adopted Montana as another home, so to speak, probably because of his interest in federal politics, and being that not many people live there, it’s a good place to settle down — this is a state that seems to really like electing Republicans, an even more glittering ornament on the election day eve evergreen.
Of course, Gianforte wants to repeal Obamacare and in a recording, according to a New York Times report, his thoughts on the matter are a bit convoluted and muddled, but his words might be `Tea Party Approved’: “The votes in the House are going to determine whether we get tax reform done, sounds like we just passed a health care thing, which I’m thankful for, sounds like we’re starting to repeal and replace.” — Yeppers, Donald J. Trump couldn’t have said it with more of an articulate flair!
With a population of 1.03 million, Montana’s main industry is agriculture, primarily cereal grain farming and ranching. Another industry, the fastest growing, is tourism, and oil, gas, coal and hard rock mining, along lumber harvesting, sort of round out Montana’s economic staples. Ranked 44th in population and 48th in population density in the USA, Montana is the fourth largest state in land mass. Montana’s neighbors to its north are the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. With its wide open spaces, big forests, mountain ranges and big sky feel, in a lot of ways, standing smack dab in the middle of Montana feels a lot more like a Canadian thing than an American thing. And one must wonder, what’s a transplant from New Jersey going to be able to do in Washington, D.C., better than a country twanger with more traditional Democratic values to help the hard-working Montanans who will be voting for their next U.S. Congressman on Thursday?
So look at it this way: If Gianforte wins, even if the room he’s in has a festive and joyous ambiance with much levity and mirth, some reporters will surely be hesitant to go in and interview him, after his meltdown on election eve.