The Billings Gazette editorial board published a pretty incredible piece yesterday, condemning our state’s GOP Senator Steve Daines for statements he and his staff made in support of Trump’s attacks on 4 sitting members of Congress. It is stirring, passionate, and well worth a full read at billingsgazette.com/..., but I’ll include some of my favorite bits here.
Daines’ response to Trump’s “go back where you came from” tweet was that “Montanans are sick and tired of listening to anti-American, anti-Semite, radical Democrats trash our country and our ideals. We’re the greatest country in the world. I stand with @realdonaldtrump.”
The Gazette board let him have it, writing “[B]ut Montanans are more sickened by the never-ending torrent of childish, bigoted views that are shoveled from the White House that make the country look like bigots and idiots. And we’re nauseous when folks like Daines invoke our state in defending a spoiled New York developer who would get tongue-lashed by most Montanans for the way he takes to Twitter. Sen. Daines, please stop defending the indefensible.”
The board then noted that Daines’ chief of staff had applauded Daines’ statement with the comment “America: Love it Or Leave It.” To which the board declared, with appropriately steely resolve, “[w]ell, we love America enough to question it. And we’re not going anywhere. Leaving something, as Daines’ staffer suggests, is not Montanan. We don’t quit just because something is difficult.”
They go on to point out that one of the Democrats campaigning to unseat Daines in 2020 (and arguably the highest-profile candidate declared so far) is Helena mayor Wilmot Collins, a Liberian refugee who came to Montana 25 years ago, serving his adopted country for over 20 years in the U.S. Armed Forces. (Yes, this is delicious. He was on Morning Joe yesterday — an appearance I also recommend checking out.)
The editorial ends by noting that Daines originally comes from California, and suggests that perhaps he should follow his beliefs about people going back to where they came from.
For some context, I should note that Billings is in a red area of a (sadly) Trump-supporting state. Oil and coal industries play an important role in the local economy. Nonetheless, the paper did endorse Hillary in 2016, as well as Bullock for governor and Tester (in 2018) for Senate. They had endorsed Gianforte in his original House run, but pulled that endorsement following his physical assault of a reporter.
I should also note that Daines did manage to voice disagreement with the Trump rally “send her back” chant, saying through a spokesperson that he didn’t agree and thought it was “wrong”. billingsgazette.com/… The Gazette points out, however, that this was pretty much in line with what Trump himself was claiming to believe (at least for a nanosecond).
I hope I linked correctly to the editorial and later article above — this is my first diary, and on top of that I’m a bit tech-challenged generally. So please be gentle with me — this is my first time!