Hold on. He body slammed him? What?
Now I have a picture in my head of Gianforte being followed by the reporter, walking into a dark alleyway, the reporter losing him, only to suddenly hear him shout "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME??" on top of a lamp post above his head, and then belly flopping onto him.
Meanwhile in Greece someone blew up a former prime minister.
That's, um, one way to win an argument.
Regrettably we don't have any video of this incident. I'm not sure why he decided to use a body slam. If I had to pick a technique to use I think it would be a head butt.
It's a politician that lost his temper and acted foolishly. That's notable. But it's not what's interesting to me. What's interesting is going to be the voters reaction to it. Ideally voters would decide to vote for a candidate who uses less body slams and more words to win arguments. Trump has spent the last year calling the Press the enemy of the American people. A lot of his supporters are buying into it. It wouldn't surprise me if this actually helps him win.
The penalty for assaulting someone like this is a maximum of $500 or six months in prison. If, hypothetically, a politician could get a 5 point bump in the polls for a stunt like this then it's probably a prudent thing to do so. It kind of reminds me of early American history when dueling was legal.
Poll