By Wade Sikorski, Baker
It is nice to know Steve Daines stands. He rushed to defend Donald Trump after Donald Trump tweeted that four “Progressive Democrat Congresswomen,” otherwise known as the “squad’ and which includes Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, had originally come from countries whose governments are “the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” Trump added that they should “go back and fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
It turns out, however, that three of the women were born in the United States, and they don’t have to go anywhere to fix their broken government, they are already here, in Trump’s America.
Steve Daines tweeted that the four women were anti-American and out to “trash our country and our ideals.” This is truly twisted coming from Daines, who went to Russia, a hostile foreign power that had just attacked our election, on July 4, the day we celebrate our independence from a hostile foreign power.
The Russian attack very possibly tipped the election to Trump, and yet there was Daines, in Russia, smiling for the cameras as if it were no problem. Just by being there, Putin might conclude that Daines was condoning what Russia had done.
Daines denies he was in Russia on July 4, but his excuse is suspiciously relative, involving time zones, fast planes, and calculations of relativity that would befuddle Einstein. Whatever Daines tells us, the message to Putin was clear: He approves of what Russia did, helping Trump get elected, and he won’t protest if Putin did it again.
Daines is standing with Trump, but is he standing with America?