Despite having been charged with assaulting Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, voters in Montana's 1st Congressional District have elected Greg Gianforte to Congress. Gianforte was elected with just over 50% of the vote.
It's true that half of the voters cast their ballots prior to the incident which occurred the evening before the special election. But let's be honest. A lot of voters in Montana were just fine with what Gianforte did. Many of these voters cast their ballot for Donald Trump and were delighted when he said he'd love to punch a protester in the face. No doubt some of these voters were buoyed by comments from the likes of Laura Ingraham who tweeted the following:
Politicians always need to keep their cool. But what would most Montana men do if "body slammed" for no reason by another man?
Did anyone get his lunch money stolen today and then run to tell the recess monitor?
I'll remember that the next time she speaks out against campus violence towards conservative speakers.
Conservatives not only didn't deny what Gianforte had done, but went out of their way to defend him just because he has a R in front of his name.
Gianforte doesn't deny his behavior. He apologized for assaulting Jacobs (at the urging of House Speaker Paul Ryan). Of course, that apology will be an empty gesture unless he pleads guilty to the charge and accepts legal responsibility for his actions.
Even if Gianforte is genuinely sorry for his actions it is clear the voters rewarded Gianforte for his boorish behavior. There is a time in this country when such a thing wouldn't have come to pass. Evidently that time has now past and I'm not sure if there's any going back.
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