"Fear Makes People Stupid, So Let's Scare the Hell Out of 'Em" -- de facto RNC policy
The first time I was in Whitefish was the last time the Falcons were in the Superbowl (#33). We came for the skiing and the western ambience. Both were excellent. Whitefish is a longtime rail stop on what is now Amtrak's Empire Builder. It's the western gateway to Glacier National Park and home of Great Northern Brewing Company. I liked the railroad station, my husband preferred a couple of the public houses, aka pubs. It's where he had his first Moose Drool (a beer, not an exotic dancer). Now we visit there maybe half dozen times a year.
Montana is interesting, particularly for those of us with a taste for politics of the personal sort. The people of Montana had a full dose of corpocracy 100 years before the rest of us recognized it ... and they banned the miscreants from the political process. They sent the first woman to Congress, years before women could vote. And, some can be a bit ornery. Occasionally, stupid.
White supremacist Richard Spencer lives in Whitefish, when he's not out spreading fear across the land. You can read the backstory. Here's the front story.
Even more than women, the alt-right loves to bully Jews. If they can associate something they dislike with a Jewish person, however tangentially, they default to froth-mouthing. Whitefish has been judged by the alt-right/paleo-nazis to have given offense to Richard Spencer, so these self-proclaimed "savages" threatened an armed march through Whitefish to show the Jews and everyone else who's in charge.
Bullying Montanans is stupid. Unlike some in the White House, Montanans are not much given to bluster (Spencer aside). They quietly go about doing what they think is right. There are many good stories of how the citizens of Whitefish have responded to the swaggering threats of the paleo-alts. My current favorite is this:
Like all of America, Whitefish, Montana is an experiment in self-governance. Feel free to thank the Whitefish police. Send them a note. We're going to need a lot more like 'em. Or email the local newspaper, the Flathead Beacon, and let them know you support the community's stand against bloviating bullies.
Fear is your enemy as are the people who spread it.
When in doubt, do the right thing. Everything else is easy.