By Michael Howell
Republican candidate for Montana’s at-large seat in the U.S. Congress, Greg Gianforte got a little help from his friend and business partner Senator Steve Daines and the President of the United States’ son Donald Trump Jr. at his fundraising efforts in Hamilton last Friday.
“The nation is watching us,” said Daines, about the congressional race that many people see as a referendum on President Trump’s actions since taking office.
“The contrast could not be clearer,” he added, referring to Democratic candidate Rob Quist.
Gianforte echoed that sentiment saying, “The stakes could not be higher in this election. The future of our country is going to be decided.” To Daines he added, “I look forward to getting to Washington D.C. to help you drain the swamp,” invoking one of President Donald Trump’s campaign themes. Echoing another of Trump’s themes, Gianforte said he was going to “make Montana great again.”
That was followed by comments about guns and Second Amendment rights. Gianforte said that, asked by an east coast reporter if he owned any guns and if so, how many, his response was, “The right number of guns is always one more. You want the number? Right now, a couple dozen… but I’m still shopping.” He said this highlights the fact that we need a strong voice for Montana back in D.C. because they don’t understand how we live out here.
Gianforte said that the Republicans and the President are working on health care reform, tax reform and starting to “peel back the regulations that are stifling our timber and coal industries so we can put people back to work.”
He said he believed in a strong military, although adding, “We shouldn’t be running out looking for conflict.” He said Obamacare was in a “death spiral” and hasn’t worked. He said that he would support health care reform “if it brings down premiums and provides rural access to all the people.”
Gianforte said that he was running to “protect you from government over-reach” and he advocated term limits “so we don’t have career politicians.”
He said in the private sector if you don’t do your job you don’t get paid and that he would put forth legislation so that if Congress doesn’t pass a balanced budget, they don’t get paid.
Donald Trump Jr. said that he believed the American people understood his dad’s message because “he was able to talk to real Americans, not at them. He says what he’s thinking and he says what a lot of you are thinking.” He said that this election in Montana may get spun into a referendum on his dad, but it was really “more of an opportunity to put someone in Congress who shares the same values.”
Trump Jr. said that Gianforte, like his father, is a businessman, “someone who has actually created jobs, not just a theory about it.” He said Gianforte was “someone who could push my father’s agenda forward.”
He said real progress had been made since his father took office and referred to the recent strike on a Syrian air base.
“When we’re talking about the red line in Syria, Tomahawk missiles seem to be a lot more effective than crayons,” he said. “We can’t use them haphazardly, but the world needs to know that America is back. We have our guns again and have assumed our rightful place as leaders of the free world.”
Trump Jr. said that kids on college campuses with black masks on were rioting and attacking law enforcement and stifling free speech.
“They say they are rallying against fascism, but they don’t seem to understand actually what that means, based on their actions,” he said.
He said his father was working to bring back the values of family, freedom and true free speech.
“We need to make sure that he has the team to help him do that,” said Trump Jr. “Gianforte is going to help us do that.”
In conclusion, Trump Jr. said, “I’m getting sick of watching TV where people who hate our guts, who hate our freedoms, who hate our religion, who hate our liberty, people who, if they could, would wipe us off the face of the earth. We are more concerned about their feelings than we are about the safety and well-being of our own children and grandchildren. That’s not going to happen on my father’s watch.”