Well there it is, America. Greg Gianforte has won the Congressional seat in Montana once held by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, even after violently man-handling a reporter for no good reason. Bullying and being an a-hole wins again. Do what you want - slap babies, push old ladies down, spit on the poor. Trump’s Conservatism means as long as you friggin promise to bring coal jobs back, anything goes.
The temperamental millionaire took the race by 7 points. Based on Trump’s current approval ratings, and the percentage by which he won the state, that could be considered a close race, but after Gianforte’s violent display yesterday, I think we’d all hoped that we had a chance to send a message to the Trump wing of the Republican party. Instead Montana’s vote has probably only bolstered the bravado of the white men in positions of power who relish the chance to use strong-arm tactics against the media and anyone else who stands in the way of tax breaks for the rich and upending Obama’s legacy healthcare legislation.
I don’t know about you, but I simply don’t buy the whole “3/4 of the votes were already cast” explanation for this outcome. Montana had to know this guy was a hot-head with a campaign full of liars even BEFORE it was all caught on audio, and polls showed that the race was supposed to be close. What’s clear is that thanks to Trump’s shenanigans on the campaign trail during the 2016 election, we have turned a dangerous corner in our political discourse, one where you can commit acts of violence when you don’t get your way. If we don’t do something and do it quick, we won’t find our way back, and the a-holes will rule for the next 8 years.
That’s right, 8 years - with all the love Trump and his band of Putin-planted cronies have given Russia, I’m guessing the propaganda machine will be in over-drive in 2020, and the same people that fell for Trump and the Republican’s empty promises will sign up for it all again. No more intellect or civility in the White House as long as we can be duped by fake news and divided.
Based on what I see coming through my Facebook feed everyday, my African-American brothers and sisters seem especially susceptible to lies propagated through fake news, as long as it’s punctuated with “stay woke”. Well, sorry to say, but I don’t need for y’all to #staywoke. I need for y’all to educate yourselves, learn the difference in what’s real and what’s not. Trump and his entire administration playing SOME form of footsie with Russia? Real. The middle class dying because of 8 years of Obama-blocking? Real. But we do ourselves a disservice if we believe everything that comes across Facebook. New-age internet propagandists were able to divide us with precision during the 2016 election, with tales of Hillary and sex-trafficking, and only god knows what else. We believe what we want to believe, and someone - Russia, Republicans, random hackers, probably all three - has learned how to use it against us.
So stay woke, sure. But while you’re rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, learn the truth and reject the lies and propaganda that threaten to keep us divided and ignorant from now on. And most of all, don’t be afraid to engage with others - yes even Trump supporters - to try to educate them and find common ground. If we don’t, civility is gone forever, internet hackers will continue to lead us around by the nose, and the assholes win.