6 July 2018 — 1425 mdt

They were proud to have been snookered

Airlines overbook flights to compensate for no-shows. And politicians overbook rallies to ensure there’s a full house and long lines of people who are turned away by the fire marshall. That’s what happened in Great Falls yesterday for President Trump’s anti-Tester rally. His operation was unrepentant about overbooking the rally — and, according to several news reports, people who had driven six hours or more to attend, only to be turned away, forgave his deceiving them.

That’s not surprising. Partisans who attend such affairs do not suffer from voters remorse. In fact, they’re kind of proud they were unwittingly conscripted into a scheme to produce an overflow crowd. They’re willing to endure the ignominy of having been snookered and turned away from the event, willing to have suffered the indignities imposed by the security measures that convert the community into a police state while the Great Man is present, because they can tell their friends and family they were part of a historic event.

So can the President’s critics who were penned up like cattle in the designated protest area.

As for Trump, he spent an hour praising Matt Rosendale, denouncing Sen. Jon Tester, and vowing to make American great again. No one was surprised by his remarks. And I’ll bet thousands of Great Falls residents were relieved when Air Force One took off for Washington, D.C., and the Electric City began returning to normal.