Trump Assassination Attempt: Sen. Jon Tester’s “punch him in the face” remark in the spotlight
Video has surfaced of Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, saying of former President Donald Trump, “you need to go back and punch him in the face,” and that the former President was “bad for the country.”
A long stream of inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials and media directly targeting a political figure has now culminated in an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump July 13 at a Pennsylvania rally. Tester’s remarks, among many others', are now in the spotlight. 
The Story
As officials have expressed sympathy for the president, critics are noting the run-up before the shooting of violent rhetoric against a political candidate, dominant in the polls, and calling for accountability.
Tester’s remarks are part of a pattern of violent and suggestive political rhetoric on the part of democrats and Never Trump Republicans. The Biden campaign pulled outbound communications and ads in the wake of the shooting. Only days before the shooting, Biden said on a call with donors it was time to put Trump in the “bullseye.”
The scandal-plagued Lincoln Project, a ‘Never Trump’ Republican group, used similar language, running ads that painted a dystopian portrait of Trump’s America.
Montana Stakes
“I think you need to go back and punch him in the face,” stated sitting Senator Jon Tester in a televised interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “The truth is this guy is bad for this country.”
Strikingly, MSNBC pulled host Joe Scarborough, known for his incendiary cries of “fascism” and saying democracy is under threat, and the Morning Joe broadcast from the air in the wake of the July 13 shooting. The shooter wounded Trump and killed Corey Comperatore, a Pennsylvania fire chief standing behind the president.
This says a lot about Morning Joe pic.twitter.com/kpUqM4BGIr
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 15, 2024
Tester has in the past also repeated baseless claims that the former President is a racist. Meanwhile, the President’s polling among African Americans has skyrocketed.
This leftwing fraud wants to trick Montanans into believing that he's a "moderate" who supports my father's policies. Don't buy it for a second. Tester is a Biden rubber-stamp and anti-Trump radical! https://t.co/KbVM2e9URl
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 2, 2024
In the decade since Trump’s entry into politics, his opponents have directed extreme and antagonistic language his way. Tester’s remarks are part of a pattern of breathless and mendacious language from officials and media against the former President.
Tester’s comments include describing a physical assault of the President. And on July 13, consistent vitriol escalated to violent action when an assassination attempt was made on Trump’s life.
America has long been the home of diversity of thought and mutually respectful disagreement. But in recent years, the mainstream media and Democratic politicians have directed insensitivity, condemnation, and vitriol at President Trump — even conflating him with Hitler. Inflammatory statements made by democrats, some republicans, and media have now come at a price with the return of political violence to American politics.
Now, liberal platitudes such as “words are violence” find the shoe on the other food. In common law and American legal traditions, neither silence nor speech constitutes violence. But just this weekend, threatening rhetoric and actual violence have collided — and critics are pointing out a causal link between cries for violence and the events of July 13.
President Biden named Donald Trump “the greatest threat to democracy,” in a recent social media campaign. Tester calls Trump “bad for this country.”
In response to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, Tester’s office released a measured statement, saying the Senator is “appalled by the violence.” Yet in the wake of an assassination attempt on the former President, the progression to violence towards Trump appears to be the fruit of mendacious and inflammatory rhetoric.
Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy. pic.twitter.com/RmQ2okYrYG
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 26, 2024
The Fallout for Montana’s Senate Race
With Biden’s mental fitness for office in question, down-ballot races, such as Montana’s Senate race, are in turmoil. Many commentators suggest the victorious photo of President Trump emerging from the fray of the attempt on his life, fist in the air, effectively sealed his victory in November.
Trump easily defeated Hillary Clinton in Montana in 2016, and Biden by narrower, but similar, margins in the state in 2020.
With Trump displaying more energy than ever, and with the first millennial VP pick, Tester will have to overcome the hurdle of Republicans’ incredible energy and Vance’s youthful vitality as Montanans look down the ballot.
Will Tester find himself in conflict with Montana voters who have voted twice over in favor of Trump? In any event, the incumbent Tester, who has become synonymous with Biden’s campaign, will have to overcome a legacy of incendiary rhetoric and baseless claims in order to hold on.
