GOP Candidate Body-Slams Reporter: We Live in a WWE World

https://youtu.be/Lbl03nR9TyE

A Republican politician running for national office was just caught on tape doing something really bad. Sound familiar?

However, this time it's not Donald Trump bragging about his sexual-assault techniques. Instead, it's Greg Gianforte, a Montanan running for the House of Representatives. On Wednesday (May 24), Gianforte allegedly body-slammed and punched reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian. Though the men were behind a partially closed door, there were three other people in the room at the time and the incident was caught on audio.

https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/867517225820966912

Jacobs claims Gianforte attacked him, body-slamming him and breaking his glasses, after he tried to ask Gianforte a question about the Republican health care bill in Washington. Gianforte has not responded publicly, but his spokesman issued a statement:

After asking Jacobs to lower the recorder, Jacobs declined. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face. Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground. It’s unfortunate that this aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist created this scene at our campaign volunteer BBQ.

This, however, does not square with what witnesses claim they saw. A reporting team from Fox News (not exactly known for their "liberal journalists") was there, and they back up Jacobs' claims. Alicia Acuna had this to say:

Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, 'I'm sick and tired of this!'

So yeah, someone here is lying. Police have since charged Gianforte with misdemeanor assault, but the election is today—meaning Gianforte could feasibly win the seat in Congress, then have to return home to go to court and/or jail. Politics!

Back in the fall, when the Access Hollywood "Grab them by the p---- tape" was leaked, Trump and his allies dismissed it as mere "locker room talk." Gianforte's alleged assault shows that same mentality has now expanded to "locker room behavior," à la high school bullies. Now we are in the midst of our national politics completing its transformation from boring pablum to full-on professional wrestling, and not just because Donald Trump literally performed on the WWE. Meanwhile, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson claims he is seriously considering running for president in 2020. And he could possibly win, too: He leads Trump in the polls by five points.

While we contemplate the collapse of statesmanship, let's poke around the Twitterverse to see how folks are reacting to all this. First up, the celebs:

https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/867574822103949312

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/867533716914147328

https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/867539445490212865

https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/867729639418077190

Meh, kinda boring, really. Maybe Hollywood is a little worried they won't be the world's biggest stars much longer, once the politicians slide into SmackDown mode.

Let's see what Gianforte's fellow politicians have to say, starting with his home-state senator, Steve Daines:

https://twitter.com/SteveDaines/status/867752083021340673

And now, here's Governor Steve Bullock:

https://twitter.com/wabermes/status/867788362052059140

Meanwhile, back in Washington, the top Republican in Congress, speaker of the House Paul Ryan, took a bold stance:

https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/867766118450167808

Elsewhere, the spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which raises money for candidates like Gianforte, decided to take a "Who among us hasn't physically assaulted someone we disagreed with?" approach:

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/867767031608651777

Two GOP congressmen, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Trent Franks of Arizona, don't seem to take the incident all that seriously. Franks even manages to blame "the left," rather than the guy who did the actual (alleged) body-slamming.

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/867744418945798145

And this is from Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), who, by the way, is under criminal investigation:

https://twitter.com/MCJalonick/status/867750282276605953

And... sigh:

https://twitter.com/jlifhits/status/867761984804192256

It's possible, as Representative Mark Sanford (R., S.C.) points out, that the election of a man like Donald Trump as president has something to do with the way Gianforte's alleged behavior is being treated.

https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/867779339626196992

We've seen what Gianforte's colleagues think, now let's turn to Jacobs' fellow scribes and pundits. This, from Business Insider's Josh Barro, seems like an accurate take (though we still prefer WWE to high school):

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/867760343724032001

Or maybe it should really be junior high:

https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/867765239630012416

The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol connects the dots from Trump to Gianforte:

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/867753895187099652

Liberal Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne also correlates the incident to Trump, below:

https://twitter.com/EJDionne/status/867764807398830080

And now to the broader GOP...

https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/867773222007087104

As always, it's important to look at things from both sides:

https://twitter.com/swin24/status/867745925829144577

And from different angles: