George Ochenski, Daily Montanan

Voters in this 'deep red state' don't love Trump's GOP. Dems must wake up and act

It’ll come as no surprise to most Montanans that our once “purple” state is now proclaimed to be “deep red” by politicians and pundits. But the latest results from the Mountain States Poll on Montanans conducted by Montana State University Billings, doesn’t exactly uphold the “deep red” propaganda.

The poll results, which were released this week, actually are far more in line with not only the state’s past political affiliations, but the attitudes and priorities of Montana’s past.

In short, we still favor the right of individual privacy – with 83 percent supporting the Montana Constitutional amendment to ensure a woman’s right to make their own decisions when it comes to reproductive choices.

We still believe in separation of church and state — as reflected in the disapproval of mandatory prayer in schools by 59 percent compared to 21 percent who approve.

We’re still strong supporters of Second Amendment gun rights. But perhaps in response to the wave of mass shootings nationwide, a whopping 63 percent of those polled support stricter regulations, weapons limitations, and provisions for owning firearms.

The most significant indicator of our less than ruby red status is in the approval/disapproval rating of top elected officials from Donald Trump to Congress to Gov. Greg Gianforte. In this regard, none of them came even close to breaking even.

Despite showing 58 percent of Montanans voted for Trump, his approval and disapproval ratings are tied at a mere 41 percent – and yes, those are seriously skewed by party affiliation with about 3-out of-4 Republicans approving, but 9-out of-10 Democrats and a whopping 48 percent of independents disapproving. Not exactly a great showing for MAGA given its 24-7 domination of the news cycle with endless and often baseless braggadocio.

Still and all, if Trump only gets 41 percent, he’s slightly ahead of our all-GOP Congressional delegation, which is strange since Montanans are supposedly more supportive of their local politicians.

Guess not, eh?

Gianforte, having been in office now since 2017 as both our Congressman and now into his second term as governor, “topped” the ratings with a paltry 37 percent approval.

Perhaps his approach that Montana is an “easy product to sell” hasn’t exactly proved popular with those who would just as soon keep Montana the way it was and is — and not sell everything to the highest bidder while degrading the vast natural assets and beauty most Montanans cherish.

Even those minimal approval numbers are far beyond what Montanans give Congress (13 percent approve, 56 percent disapprove) and our Congressional delegation.

At the bottom of the pack sits Congressman Troy Downing with a pitiful 16 percent approval, 15 percent disapproval and the vast number of respondents saying they don’t know. So much for the promised transparency and constituent communication.

Moving up from there, but not much, sits Rep. Ryan Zinke – in his second term — at 26 percent approval, only 4 percent above his disapproval at 22 percent.

Our senior senator, Steve Daines, doesn’t have much to pound his chest about either. His 31 percent approval is exactly three points above his 28 percent disapproval.

Then comes Sen. Tim Sheehy who, despite only his first year in office, winds up with 34 percent disapproval, exactly matching his 34 percent approval.

Polls are just polls, but tough to argue we’re “deep red” when Montanans say they overwhelmingly think politics is more polarized, but just aren’t that crazy about the job Republicans are doing.

But here’s the rub: Unless the Democrats and/or independents get their act together and field some electable candidates, we’re likely to keep these low-approval Republicans in office — blundering along, parroting MAGA propaganda, and selling Montana to the highest bidders like just another commodity.

Montana cities waiting on Trump to fork over $50k+ for 2018 rallies before Friday return

Montana cities waiting on Trump to fork over $50k+ for 2018 rallies before Friday returnDonald Trump (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski for AFP)

George Ochenski is Montana's longest-running columnist and a longtime environmental activist, concerned with keeping Montana's natural beauty clean and safe. He writes from Helena and appears in the Daily Montanan weekly.

Rude and uninformed, this MAGA senator is an embarrassment to his state

It really doesn’t matter if you’re lost in a MAGA fog trying to be a warrior for a deluded president — when Montana’s senators are on national news, they represent all Montanans to the world. And this week, Montana’s freshman senator, Tim Sheehy, embarrassed all Montanans with his rude, evasive, and uninformed interview with CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, one of the most professional and respected reporters in the world.

It’s hard to figure out just what Sheehy was doing when given an opportunity to discuss the effects of the fiscal impacts of the Trump administration’s budget cuts. What he did instead was pull a bully act and repeatedly interrupt, talk over, and ignore Collins’ questions.

The zinger happened when Collin, who had done her homework, reminded Sheehy that a billion-dollar Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub project that included Montana had been cancelled by Trump’s Energy Department — and did not exist in the GOP’s short-term funding bill sitting in the Senate.

Apparently Sheehy, for all his bluster and macho man attempts at dominating Collins, did not do his homework — and had no idea the project’s funding had been cancelled. Instead, he sat in stunned silence for several seconds, then once again ignored the facts to falsely claim that’s why the government shutdown should end. You can see the interview Collins posted on X here.

Fact is, Sheehy’s lack of policy experience — and apparent lack of knowledge on what’s going on with the impacts of the administration’s budgets on Montana and Montanans — was on full display for the nation and world. Although his job is to understand where, how, and why the federal government spends or doesn’t spend money Congress has appropriated, Sheehy was too busy playing-acting as an important senator to actually do the job of being a senator.

Adding to Sheehy’s obvious ignorance of the issue, Collins pointed out that Montana’s Gov. Greg Gianforte had previously praised the hydrogen hub project as providing “good-paying Montana jobs.”

While it’s bad enough Sheehy didn’t know what he was talking about, the image he presented of how Montanans treat other people was downright disgusting. Maybe it’s because he’s not lived in Montana for very long and doesn’t appear to understand that mutual respect is not only cherished in this state, but essential in the political and policy arena. He also appears not to know that Montanans have a national and international reputation for being considerate and helpful to those who visit our state — we’re not a bunch of MAGA mad dogs.

Nor would Sheehy address the fact that the GOP’s funding bill leaves 67,000 Montanans on the hook for vast increases in the cost of health insurance — from $145 per month with the tax credits to a whopping $645 without. While those very real impacts are the reason the bill is not moving in the Senate, all he wanted to do was bash Democrats for the shutdown, despite the fact they are in the minority in both chambers of Congress.

Ironically, while Montana’s very junior senator was busy ignoring the impacts to his constituents, Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray did address that enormous impact in a video forum with the head of the Montana Nurses Association and state Sen. Cora Neuman. Succinctly, Murray noted that Republican senators are “dodging the issue.” Indeed, Sheehy’s embarrassing performance completely validates that point.

Apparently being a U.S. senator has gone to Sheehy’s young and inexperienced head. But he’d best remember he’s representing Montanans on the national and world stage — and that we treat others with respect and expect the same from our senators.

George Ochenski is Montana's longest-running columnist and a longtime environmental activist, concerned with keeping Montana's natural beauty clean and safe. He writes from Helena and appears in the Daily Montanan weekly.

These acts of defiance show the MAGA cult is cracking, from Montana to DC

Late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel could barely get the words out of his mouth when he had to say: “I agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

It was his second time this month, he noted, and added, “I need something to wash out my mouth.” But in truth, the issue at hand, which is access to health care, is no laughing matter.

Greene’s latest defection from the MAGA cult of loyalty for which she has been a leading figure popped up in an exclusive interview with CNN in which she didn’t beat around the bush concerning the effect of the House-passed budget bill that, due to not reauthorizing Affordable Care Act subsidies, has caused the shutdown of the federal government.

“Everybody is just getting destroyed” Greene told reporters. “This cliff is coming for millions and millions of Americans where their health insurance premiums are about to skyrocket. Republicans, you have no solutions. You haven’t come up with a new plan in place, and we’re not even talking about it, and it is hurting so many people.”

Greene’s concerns are at odds with the narrative the GOP is trying to spin on the shutdown — namely that it’s all the fault of Senate Democrats. Instead, Greene says the health care crisis now facing millions of Americans, including her kids and constituents, is a direct threat to Republicans in the polls and voting booths.

It’s worth noting Greene is also one of four Republican House members who signed the discharge petition to force the release of the Epstein files, telling The Hill: “I think when it comes to women being raped, especially when they were 14 years old, that’s pretty black and white.”

Moreover, she said Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to keep the House shut down was “wrong” and they should reconvene to take care of the vast spectrum of Congressional business.

For his part, Johnson doesn’t want to reconvene the House due to the recent election of a Democrat who, when sworn in, will provide the final signature to force Johnson to deal with the “Epstein bomb”.

What could this MAGA rebellion by Greene have to do with Montana? Well, it’s not so dissimilar from a group of nine Republicans who broke with their own leadership over any number of issues. Chief among them was health care, and support for a bill by fellow Republican Ed Buttrey to lift the pending expiration of Medicaid expansion for low income people that the Senate’s GOP President, Matt Regier, opposed.

Like Greene, Buttrey noted that health care was critical and Republicans had no other plan:

“We have 10 years’ worth of data that shows that the program we designed is working and working well. There’s no need to change it, it’s a savings to our budget, it is providing help for people all across the state, it’s helping save our rural health care facilities. Why would you want to change that or come up with another plan?”

It’s fair to say the GOP tends to “keep its soldiers in line” when it comes to supporting or opposing leadership positions. Yet, just as Greene defied Johnson on Medicare funding and Donald Trump on the Epstein files, Buttrey and his nine “rebels” defied their own leadership and governor to support Medicaid expansion.

None of this spells the end of MAGA, of course. But it shows that when it comes down to the critical issues that affect the citizens of our nation and state, party affiliation is not and should not be the determining factor — especially when it comes to taking care of each other.

George Ochenski is Montana's longest-running columnist and a longtime environmental activist, concerned with keeping Montana's natural beauty clean and safe. He writes from Helena and appears in the Daily Montanan weekly.

Finally somebody is putting spoiled child Trump in his place

Every kid has heard “No means no!” when they want something their parents don’t think they should have. This week that phrase got a couple high profile uses when Canada’s new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, told Donald Trump right to his face that Canada was not and never would be for sale and Montana’s Congressman Ryan Zinke forcefully said “no” to the sale of public lands in the West.

In this day and age seeing U.S. politicians keep their campaign promises — or honor their oaths of office — is becoming increasingly rare. But on “keeping public lands in public hands,” Rep. Zinke did just that.

The measure in question was part of the “big, beautiful bill” touted by Trump to give yet more tax breaks to the already wealthy. The new twist was to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of federal lands in Nevada and Utah for mining, logging, drilling and development to finance those tax breaks.

Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior, has publicly declared public lands and resources as “natural assets” that can be used to pay down the national debt. Consequently, GOP Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah inserted the public land sale as an amendment since it was not contained in the original draft of the bill due to bipartisan opposition.

Montana’s Congressman and former Secretary of the Interior called the move to sell public lands “a red line” and was adamant: “It’s a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever.’’ As Zinke explained his firm opposition: “I prefer the management scheme and I give as an example a hotel. If you don’t like the management of a hotel, don’t sell the hotel; change the management.”

At almost the same time, Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney was using almost the same words in his White House meeting. After listening to Trump’s blather about how Canada should be our 51st state, how much he “loved Canada” and how erasing the “artificial” border line would make one beautiful piece of real estate, Carney used Trump’s own real estate line to fire back: “As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. We’re sitting in one right now. Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale, won’t be for sale,” adding: “Canada’s not for sale. It never will be for sale.”

Carney won office largely on his opposition to Trump’s intentions to take over Canada, saying during the election that: “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen.”

Both Zinke and Carney are dead right. Polls show 74% of Americans oppose the sale of our public lands — and Carney’s election speaks for itself. He won by fighting Trump’s nasty threat to take over our northern neighbor that 77% of Canadians oppose.

For a guy who’s always been told he can have everything he wants, the double-barrel blast should be a wake up call. The world is not one big real estate sale to be marketed solely to make greedy billionaires even more money. Kudos to Zinke and Carney — and hopefully a sign to the rest of Congress and the world that it’s time to tell our spoiled child of a president “No means no!”

MAGA politics seem to be losing some of the shine

The state and nation’s voters are, as usual, deluged by a tidal wave of campaign promises from candidates as the November elections draw near.

And as usual, we are being promised far more than these candidates can or will deliver should they attain the offices they seek. But after the absolute debacle of the Trump/MAGA/insurrection administration — and evidence of failing campaigns by those who followed, supported, or emulated those extreme positions — it appears voters have wised up to the fact that their promises are as phony as the inflated assets valuations that now have their grifter-in-chief sinking in a quicksand of legal woes.

It’s telling that a desperate GOP is withdrawing tens of millions of dollars from political races in which the far-right candidates parroted MAGA’s extreme agenda that seeks to divide Americans based on any number of issues. Wrong skin color or race? Love someone of the same sex? Came from a “s–hole” country? Want to control your own body and decide when or if you want to have children? Won’t give the Q-Anon one finger salute at MAGA rallies? Think the climate crisis is real?

The reasons go on and on but the bottom line remains the same — if you’re not with us, you’re against us. But lo and behold, it would appear there are far more voters who are not marching in goose-step with the MAGA crowd, and who believe in tolerance, acceptance and common humanity. And that’s causing Congressional Republicans to distance themselves from those positions.

But at this late stage of the game, even those candidates who are trying to scurry away from their far-right primary positions are facing the ugly reality that they’re likely to lose. Why? For the simple reason that the vast majority of American voters and businesses prefer stability and predictability to insurrection, lawlessness and disregard for future generations.

Montanans, sad to say, are having their own experience with broken promises from the GOP politicians. Nothing speaks to their arrogance and ignorance more than the on-going debacle that now sees the Secretary of State spending $1.3 million dollars and rising to defend unconstitutional laws passed by the last Republican-dominated legislature. We were told those laws were necessary to ensure “voting integrity.” But disenfranchising voters, eliminating same-day registration, and making it harder to vote not only does the exact opposite, it’s unconstitutional to boot — which is why they’re now being halted in court.

One may wonder why these chest-pounding right-wingers would find the necessity for such anti-voter laws given their sweep of statewide offices in the last election. But as the MAGAs crash and burn across the nation, perhaps they’re worried the voters here might also have had enough of their incompetence and deception in governance.

The list is long and runs the gamut from not even responding to requests for information as required by Montana’s constitution to basically telling the public to take a hike on wolves, bison, environmental protection, and a host of state “services” as agencies roil in disarray.

It should come as no surprise that if you put “anti-government” candidates in office, they’re going to run government so poorly that citizens are dissatisfied. Not that they offer any viable alternative except anarchy…and that’s really not cutting it in these days of global, national, and local challenges to our society and planetary life-support systems.

November will tell the tale — but at this point it looks like a tale of woe for the GOP/MAGA platform.

George Ochenski is a longtime Helena resident, an environmental activist and Montana’s longest running columnist.

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