Tim Sheehy, the Republican Senate nominee in Montana, has been caught using racist stereotypes to refer to Native Americans. According to audio released last Thursday by Char-Koosta News, the news outlet of the Flathead Indian Reservation, Sheehy claimed at a Nov. 6 fundraiser that he likes to brand cattle with tribal members on the Crow Reservation, saying it’s “a great way to bond with all the Indians out there while they’re drunk at 8 AM.”
In a second recording, from Nov. 10, Sheehy claimed that Crow members sometimes greet him by throwing beer cans at his head.
“If you know a tough crowd, you want to go to the Crow rez,” he said. “They’ll let you know whether they like you or not if there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head.”
If any of the Crow members heard how Sheehy was talking about them, it’s not hard to believe they might throw something.
Sheehy is a trust-fund cowboy whom Republicans recruited, thinking he was a great bet against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Any candidate who can drop $2.6 million on his own campaign in a state where the total population is just over 1 million is the kind of candidate the GOP loves.
Despite these supposed credentials, and before his leaked racist remarks, Sheehy was beset with problems, like allegedly defrauding his employees out of millions. Then there was the bizarre incident in which Sheehy first said that he had shot himself in the arm while visiting a national park, then later claimed it was a war wound he collected in Afghanistan. Sheehy also had the gall to claim that Tester wasn’t a real farmer, calling Tester’s multigenerational, 1,800-acre farm was just “a weed patch.”
But Sheehy’s racist comments are of a different caliber.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, which represents tribes and First Nations in the western U.S. and Canada, has reprimanded Sheehy for perpetuating stereotypes about Native Americans. Council Chairman Bryce Kirk has asked Sheehy to formally apologize.
“You ask for our votes and then you go to your fundraiser, ironically with alcohol flowing and laughter at our expense behind closed doors, and you insult us with a stereotype that only seeks to severely diminish and dishonor our people,” Kirk wrote in a Tuesday letter to Sheehy’s campaign. “The Crow people are not your punchline. Native Americans are not your punchline.”
So far, Sheehy has issued no such apology. But Sheehy spokesman Jack O’Brien claimed that the words captured in the recording don’t accurately portray the Republican candidate.
“What folks are insinuating about him, that’s just not who he is,” said O’Brien. Which is the kind of thing people tend to say when caught expressing overt racism.
On Wednesday, the story started drawing more national attention. The New York Times notes that Native Americans make up 6% of Montana’s population and that Sheehy’s remarks may have destroyed any progress Republicans have made in reaching out to Native American voters.
Calvin Lime, who lives on the Blackfeet reservation in northern Montana, said the remarks were a “slap in the face,” and especially unfortunate because the Crow Tribe was one of the most outspokenly pro-Trump tribes.
“Was” may be the operative word in that last sentence.
Republicans recruited Sheehy because they view Tester as one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection in 2024. But Sheehy keeps shooting himself in the foot.
Or is it the arm?
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