(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Immigration is no longer a part of the playbook, it is the GOP playbook – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'February', 'Russell Rowland'] Date: 2024-02-13 Last night I attended a gathering in a private home to meet Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for governor. It was held at the home of a friend of mine, and when I pulled up and parked, a couple was parking just across the street at the same time, so when I started walking toward the house, I said hello, as we do here in Montana. They didn’t respond, which I thought was odd, especially since they followed me up to my friend’s door, so I knew they were going to the same event. I have interviewed Ryan twice now, once just before his book, “Gunfight,” came out two years ago, and then again just a couple of weeks ago. Ryan is an outgoing, friendly guy, who is willing to talk or listen to anyone. So after 45 minutes of small talk, Ryan stood up and gave a speech. Among his other qualities, Ryan is also very straightforward about what his values are and about what he wants to accomplish. So his speech was direct, positive, focusing on the problems he sees in Montana, mainly the fact that the current administration seems to be determined to put our state up for sale, while at the same time increasing the cost of living here for those who can least afford to pay extra. There were probably 40 people gathered in my friends living room, slightly cramped, with many standing, but everyone was attentive. There were lots of heads nodding. But when Ryan opened the floor to questions, after a couple of fairly predictable ones, the man who I had tried to greet coming in raised his hand, and the tone of the gathering suddenly took a dark turn. This man claimed to have no party affiliation. “I’m not a Trump guy, I’m not a Biden guy. I make up my own mind. But I want to know what you intend to do about the thousands of immigrants who are coming into Montana. They’re building houses for these people in Billings as we speak.” His wife sat glumly beside him, nodding with the authority of someone who has done extensive research on the topic. Busse was diplomatic in his response. He acknowledged that the border situation is a huge problem. But he rightly pointed out that this is not a state issue. That it’s a federal issue that even if he was governor, he wouldn’t have any power to do anything about it. But the guy wasn’t done. He tried again to bring the discussion back to these people who are coming. “They’re here!” he said, as if he’s been keeping watch, perhaps with a clicker, counting them as they cross the border. Ryan tried again to make the point that as much as he understand the frustration, it’s not in his jurisdiction. I was impressed that he didn’t bring up the fact that the Republicans in Congress just voted down a bipartisan bill that would have taken specific aim at the problem. I’m sure he suspected where they conversation would go. To the dismay of many in the room, the next man who spoke took up the same issue and went even further. He identified himself as a former L.A. police officer, and he shared a story about arresting a Mexican, who told him “I’m here to rape and murder as many people as I can. This is my country now.” There were now audible groans in the room, and as this man went on to predict how “these people” are coming, and how dangerous they are, someone finally shouted, “Is there a question in all this?” Here’s what became clear to me during this evening. This is no longer a page from the Republican playbook. It is now the entire book. Ignore every serious discussion about problems that exist, problems that need to be addressed in our state, and throw the whole narrative off course with yet another discussion about the boogeymen that are coming to take everything away from us. Of course, this has been brewing for years now. And it’s also certainly not a new strategy. Dozens of books and articles have been written about the “us vs. them” approach that has become not only normal, but expected. I have been interviewing people involved in the political landscape in Montana on a new podcast, “The State of Montana” (https://russellrowland.substack.com/podcast), and it’s a common theme among the people I’ve interviewed. They are hearing it all over the state. People are tired of this routine. But I hope that as we progress through this campaign season, more people will be willing to call these people out about diverting our attention from the real issues that face our state. We have serious problems with our health care system. We have an administration that is taxing our people out of their homes, despite the fact that Republicans have declared themselves to be anti-tax for decades. Their actions do not match their rhetoric. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/02/13/immigration-is-no-longer-a-part-of-the-playbook-it-is-the-gop-playbook/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/