Most of the sentient segment of the U.S. voting public had hoped for a miracle in the Montana special congressional election yesterday, but it was not to be. This was after millions beheld the sordid spectacle of the GOP thug Greg Gianforte body slamming and beating a reporter - Ben Jacobs. Those who were moved to a moral animus against Gianforte's antics had hoped Montana's voters would send an unambiguous message i.e. that buffonish bullying doesn't pay. But even as Gianforte's thug idol Trump was seen pushing Montenegro's President out of the way at the NATO summit Gianforte was prevailing in the Montana special congressional election. The Associated Press called it after 522 of 681 precincts – or 77% – reported. At that point Gianforte had 163, 539 votes, or 51% of the vote, compared with challenger Rob Quist’s 140,594 votes, or 44%.
Predictably, speaking at the G7 meeting in Sicily on Friday, Trump called the victory a “great win in Montana”. Translation: "I'm very glad another buffoon bully like me got a win!"
In fact, Gianforte's electoral win may not be so much from Montanans not caring about a thug representing them (though many clearly didn't) but that the outcome was decided before the incident. Again, the audio recording of the incident can be found here:
http://www.kbzk.com/clip/13358489/greg-gianforte-accused-of-body-slamming-reporter-audio
Thus, the result may more have been a reflection of the fact that owing to early voting, nearly thirty seven percent of the state's voters had already cast ballots before the manhandling of the Guardian reporter, Ben Jacobs.
A photo op last night captured the thug emerging from a blue curtain to greet a cheering crowd. Gianforte attempted an apology for his actions on Wednesday, talking past the laughter of the gung ho, pro-Trump crowd to say: “Last night, I made a mistake and I took an action that I can’t take back, and I’m not proud of what happened. I should not have responded the way that I did and for that I’m sorry.”
A member of the crowd, likely another thug, shouted: “And you’re forgiven!”
Gianforte continued: “I should not have treated that reporter that way, and for that I’m sorry, Mr Ben Jacobs.”
He also added: "That is not the person I am."
But in fact that was exactly the person he is. As my psychologist niece Shayl puts it: "One's true self isn't revealed under normal steady or favorable circumstances but under high stress." In other words, if you're harboring a raging ape inside, the right stressor will likely bring it out. In Gianforte's case the "straw that broke the camel's back" was Jacobs' question on the CBO scoring of the AHCA.
The most laughable aspect from Gianforte's appearance? Promising to work with Trump to "drain the swamp" when he is part of the swamp. Clearly one of the more aggressive, unhinged apes lurking about - based on his Wednesday night throttling of Jacobs- sending him to the ER in Bozeman. You can also be sure when this thug arrives in D.C. every eye will be monitoring his behavior every time he appears in public.
Though they lost the MT election, Dems can still parlay it into some political capital by integrating the audio of the incident into ads for the 2018 midterm elections. The mission: Tie Gianforte's behavior into Trump -style bullying and intimidation such as we beheld at numerous Trump campaign rallies when protestors or members of the press were beaten mercilessly by Trumpite thugs and apes.
The prime objective is to make all these bullies pay the price at the midterm elections next year.
See also:
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-boehlert/73055/the-gop-s-war-on-the-press-explodes-into-full-view
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