Opinion: The new American politics: Bald-faced lies and body-slammed journalists

The assault on a political reporter who prosecutors say was attacked by a Montana congressional candidate Wednesday night was, in some ways, the predictable outcome of a disturbing turn in American politics that accelerated with the rise of Donald Trump. Anger and contention have always been part of our politics, but targeting journalists for physical abuse takes us into a different realm.

Actually, two different realms. We’re all accustomed to political campaigns and elected officials trying to spin events to make them seem as positive as possible. But Republican candidate Greg Gianforte’s staff released a flat-out lie in describing what had occurred in the incident with Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs, which Jacobs had recorded and which was witnessed by other journalists. Gianforte, in the audiotape and the witness accounts, clearly flipped out and attacked Jacobs.

Here is Jacobs’ audio:

Here is the Fox News account of what happened:

And here is the statement from Gianforte’s campaign:

That bald-faced lie issued by the Gianforte campaign is clearly contradicted by the audio and eyewitness accounts. Trumpian in its cynical brazenness, it is indefensible to accuse someone — journalist or no — of committing a crime (“Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist”) while knowing full well that the details are fabricated.

Equally indefensible is assaulting journalists just because they ask questions. Gianforte’s case — he has been charged with misdemeanor assault — is part of a recent wave of physical confrontations that grew out of the corrosive Trump campaign, in which the candidate urged supporters to rough up hecklers and pointed out journalists at events for supporters to target.

As president, Trump described the media as “the enemy of the people,” a totalitarian phrase freighted with an ugly history of violence and suppression.

Jacobs’ matter, unfortunately, isn’t the only recent incident in which journalists have been interfered with physically while doing their jobs. Just last week, a reporter for Roll Call in Washington, D.C., complained that two plainclothes security guards pinned him to a wall, followed him to a men’s room, then physically ejected him from the building after he tried to ask a question of Federal Communications Commission member Michael P. O’Rielly.

Earlier this month, a reporter in West Virginia was arrested, handcuffed and jailed for eight hours by state police after persistently trying to question Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, in a hallway of the state Capitol.

Reporters also have been arrested trying to cover public demonstrations. While charges usually get dropped, the reporters still are effectively barred from reporting on the event because they have been placed under arrest and removed from the scene.

A campaigning politician physically assaulting a journalist moves us into even darker territory, made all the more so by some of the public reaction to it. While most responses have been suitably condemnatory of Gianforte, Republican political leaders have been slow to speak out (House Speaker Paul Ryan finally did late Thursday morning).

Twitter users, meanwhile, were busy, with most condemning the attack — but some backing it. Clearly, America is on its way to being great again.

Scott.Martelle@LATimes.com

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