Some Repubs Are Cheering Greg Gianforte For Attacking A Reporter (VIDEO/TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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For much of this week, the starkest evidence of how the Republican Party has been poisoned by Donald Trump’s hostile takeover was the deafening silence regarding House Appropriations Committee chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen’s deliberate targeting of an activist in his district. Well, the last 24 hours have provided an even starker example.


In case you missed it, The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs tried to get Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate in the special election for Montana’s sole House seat, to talk about Trumpcare. Gianforte responded in the worst possible way–by grabbing Jacobs and bodyslamming him to the ground. The whole thing was captured in real time on Jacobs’ tape recorder. Listen here.

Gianforte tried to claim that Jacobs was the aggressor. However, crews from both BuzzFeed and Fox News both witnessed the incident, and both say Gianforte was the one who attacked Jacobs. The local sheriff believes Jacobs; he charged Gianforte with misdemeanor assault. So do three of Montana’s largest newspapers–the Billings Gazette, the Missoulian, and the (Helena) Independent Journal. All three papers initially endorsed Gianforte, but loudly retracted those endorsements and condemned Gianforte’s criminal behavior.

But believe it or not, there are actually some Republicans who are actually okay with Gianforte’s outrageous behavior. Salon and People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got samples of some of them.

To his credit, House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned Gianforte’s attack on Jacobs and called for him to apologize. But Congressman Duncan D. Hunter of California didn’t get the memo. When The Associated Press’ Mary Claire Jalonick asked Hunter what he thought about Gianforte’s actions, Hunter’s response was jaw-dropping.

Um, Duncan? How does a reporter deserve to be bodyslammed?

Bradd Jaffy of NBC News asked several lawmakers for their thoughts. The most disturbing anecdotes came from Louie Gohmert of Texas and Trent Franks of Arizona.

Gohmert joked that he missed any “course on bodyslamming” that was offered during his time. Franks said–with a straight face–that the left was responsible for the recent “tense, confrontational approach” in politics. While he tried to unring the bell by saying that he opposed “any kind of thing where we use physical violence,” the mere fact that he even thought about blaming liberals says a lot about him.


Gohmert wasn’t the only one who thought this was a laughing matter. So did Mark Sanford of South Carolina, per BuzzFeed’s Lissandra Villa.

Some conservative commentators also saw fit to either applaud Gianforte or slam Jacobs. The Media Research Center’s L. Brent Bozell, for instance, seemed to echo Franks’ sentiments from earlier.

Laura Ingraham all but called Jacobs a wimp.

As did Dinesh D’Souza.

Some right-wingers actually thought Jacobs staged the whole thing in hopes of throwing the election to Democrat Rob Quist. Among them was The Daily Caller’s Derek Hunter.

So did American Family Radio morning host Sandy Rios.

But easily the most tone-deaf reaction of all comes from the social media team at the Montana Republican Party. Just hours after Gianforte attacked Jacobs, this appeared on the party’s official Twitter feed.

So the Montana GOP considers an unprovoked attack on a reporters to be an example of “Montana values” now? Got it.


I’d spent most of the last week wondering how it was even remotely possible that there wasn’t an outcry against Frelinghuysen for thinking that using the power of his office to deliberately target a constituent was acceptable. Well, now I have part of my answer. Anyone who can even think about applauding an unprovoked assault on a reporter can hardly be expected to condemn a willful assault on one of the most sacred trusts in our democracy. If this is making America great again, we’re definitely in trouble.

(featured image courtesy Gianforte’s Facebook)

 

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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