During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Donald Trump would call for violence. He's even being sued for it by some victims now. But it may be that those words actually helped him, feeding into the red-meat blood lust of his alt-right and angry supporters.
Will something like that happen with Greg Gianforte, the Republican special election candidate for congress in Montana? There's a hashtag, #BenJacobsBodySlam , rightwingers who enjoyed Gianforte's despicable action are using to celebrate an attack on a journalist, with tweets like these:
RT @JaynePenelope: Anytime you see a liberal journo. #BenJacobsBodySlam https://t.co/AVzFxJLs4B at https://t.co/AVzFxJLs4B
— 🐸Chuck🥛Finks🇺🇸 (@OccupyCuckSt) May 25, 2017and this troglodyte
RT @arian0027: If I lived in Montana "Republican Greg Gianforte" would have my vote.
A smackdown of the media was needed... #BenJacobsBody… at
— Bruce Cunningham (@BruceCunningh15) May 25, 2017RT @TaftBerclair: "Republican Greg Gianforte" Does the GOP really want this to be their base? https://t.co/PvhaSuTe7L at https://t.co/PvhaSuTe7L
— John Graziano (@jvgraz) May 25, 2017The difference between them is Trump encouraged violence. Gianforte became violent, losing his temper and going animal, body slamming and pummeling journalist Ben Jacobs @Bencjacobs . Jacobs was doing his job, pursuing an answer to a legitimate question.
There was enough evidence for the police to charge Gianforte.
Gianforte's campaign issued a statement, blaming Jacobs, but as this tweet shows, the statement just makes Gianforte look worse.
Good example from current events on why you shouldn't rely solely on an official source: https://t.co/fVnQqJ8DGv… https://t.co/vVJzCRtSyu at https://t.co/fVnQqJ8DGv…
— The News Lit Project (@TheNewsLP) May 25, 2017(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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