The Montana Republican Party recently met in Missoula (one of essentially two ‘blue’ areas in Montana – the other being Bozeman) to elect party officials and gear up for the 2024 elections. The Republicans basically swept all state-wide offices in the last election and are now targeting Jon Tester, the Democratic senator, from Montana who is up for re-election in 2024. Jon Tester has a huge target on his back as he is essentially the ‘last man standing’ for the Democrats in the state of Montana.
Steve Daines, the other Montana senator, is the Chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee, which is the committee in charge of laying out the roadmap for the Republicans to regain control of the U.S. Senate. Mitch McConnell’s desire to once again assume the role of Senate Majority Leader runs right through Montana and Jon Tester. There is absolutely no doubt that fund raising totals and the amount spent on the senate race in Montana for the 2024 election will be unprecedented. It is a certainty that most of this funding will come from out-of-state sources. Montana, often called ‘the last best place’ will become known as ‘the last best place you can buy.’
Republican Governor Gianforte, Republican Senator Steve Daines, and Republican Representative Matt Rosendale are all transplants who came to Montana, and backed by large sums of out-of-state funding, were able to get elected. Although Representative Ryan Zinke was born in Montana, he has not lived here full time and, in fact, his wife’s primary residence is in Santa Barbara, California. It feels like the carpetbaggers are taking over the state.
The Republican meeting took place just hours after former president Trump was indicted on 37 Federal counts. The general consensus in the meeting was that if Trump is the nominee, the Montana Republican Party will support him. One of the most telling comments came from a representative from Miles City, my old stomping grounds, when she said likened the federal indictment to previous allegations against Trump that failed to generate any consequence (bolding is mine), including two impeachments without convictions. She said, “It’s happened so many times, and nothings happened.”
That last statement is exactly the problem. Trump has committed so many crimes and has, so far, gotten away with everything, to the point where even this latest indictment involving various serious charges which involve national security issues doesn’t even phase these people. Trump once said that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and get away with it and the longer Trump is around the more it seems like a true statement. Failing to hold Trump to account for his actions puts this country in extreme peril. Unfortunately, many of these same people will realize that only when it is too late.
If you read the article at Britannica.com about Hitler’s rise to power, there are some passages that certainly strike me, and I would hope scare the hell out of anyone who takes the time to read them given the parallels to what is happening today.
In this article it states, “When he joined the party, he found it ineffective, committed to a program of nationalist and socialist ideas but uncertain of its aims and divided in its leadership. He accepted its program but regarded it as a means to an end. His propaganda and his personal ambition caused friction with the other leaders of the party. Hitler countered their attempts to curb him by threatening resignation, and because the future of the party depended on his power to organize publicity and to acquire funds, his opponents relented. In July 1921 he became their leader with almost unlimited powers.” One just has to substitute ‘Trump’ and the ‘Republican Party’ into this passage and is eerily similar to what has transpired here during the Trump era.
Most people are also unaware that Hitler tried to initially seize power in what was essentially a violent coup. For that effort, Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He only served nine months. When he got out of prison, he began his rise to power.
“With the help of Hugenberg’s newspapers, Hitler was able for the first time to reach a nationwide audience. The alliance also enabled him to seek support from many of the magnates of business and industry who controlled political funds and were anxious to use them to establish a strong right-wing, antisocialist government. The subsidies Hitler received from the industrialists placed his party on a secure financial footing and enabled him to make effective his emotional appeal to the lower middle class and the unemployed, based on the proclamation of his faith that Germany would awaken from its sufferings to reassert its natural greatness. “
The parallels between Hitler’s rise to power and what is happening with Trump and the Republican Party should give anyone reason to be concerned. However, as the representative from Miles City pointed out, ‘nothing ever happens to him regardless of what he does’ – and that is exactly the problem!!
