17 October 2018 — 1521 mdt
Progressives will gather, rally, march, and vote,
to protest Trump's hanger speech in Missoula
President Trump is scheduled to speak to Republicans at 1830 MDT tomorrow at the Minuteman hanger at the Missoula airport. Air Force One, the Boeing 747 that still sports the livery chosen by John F. Kennedy, will serve as the backdrop. It’s a photo op reminiscent of George W. Bush’s notorious “Mission Accomplished” photo op on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003.
Trump’s mission is drumming up support for Republican All Hat Matt Rosendale, the drone shooting state auditor and former legislator who’s trying to replace Sen. Jon Tester in the U.S. Senate, and perhaps to give a boost to Rep. Greg “The Bodyslammer” Gianforte. Trump will speak, pose for photographs, then board Air Force One for Arizona, where he’ll attempt to drum up support for Rep. Martha McSally, the former A-10 pilot who’s running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake.
Missoula is a liberal city, but the counties surrounding it are deep red. If reports of high interest in attending Trump’s speech are correct, Highway 93 is going to be jammed with MAGA hatted Republicans bound for Missoula to catch a glimpse of their hero and his thatch of orange hair flaming in the setting sun, and to cheer him as he bombards Tester and the Democrats with fusillade after fusillade of calumnies and imprecations.
Love Trumps Hate
Earlier in the day, at 1430 MDT, progressives will assemble at Playfair Park for a peaceful protest that’s part teach-in, part speechifying and rallying, part marching and political action — the most powerful kind of political action that can be taken: they’re marching to the polls to cast ballots. There’s a quasi-religious aspect to it — perhaps openly spiritual is a better tern — that reminds me of the civil rights movements of the nineteen fifties and sixties.
Missoula Rises website has the details. The event has the blessing of Missoula’s Democrats. It also has my blessing.
It will be interesting to see whether the Rises crowd outnumbers the Trump crowd. I doubt that it will. And I have doubts that the crowds will be counted by independent investigators using photographic methods (UMT has the resources to count the crowds).
There are reports and rumbles that some anti-Trump activists may be contemplating an action at the airport, and that some have secured tickets to the event. It would be a shame if the Antifa and authoritarian left raise a ruckus that reinforces Trump’s message that progressives are attempting to seize the government by mob rule.