Chemtrails, Kings and Gay Marriage
Montana Republican Legislators Attempt to Set World Record for Batshit Crazy
Montana Democrats may not hold the majority in the legislature, but they have effectively spent the first three quarters of this session addressing problems and working to pass common-sense laws that meet the needs of Montana citizens. Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, a group of Montana Republican legislators is on track to set a world record for bizarre-batshit-crazy.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming. After all, this is the party of Rep. David Moore, who just a few years ago made a serious push to ban yoga pants and any other clothing that “gives the appearance of or simulates a person’s buttocks, genitals, pelvic area, or female nipple.” This Montana Republican legislation would have imposed a penalty of $5000 or five years in jail for women wearing Lululemons or bikinis on the Blackfoot. While this is obviously insane- and I say this in my truly shocked voice- how is it that THIS is the party that just made inroads with young male voters?1
This year, some of those young men, now secure in a tempting sea of yoga pants, are Republican legislators. One is Braxton Mitchell, a 24-year-old Turning Point USA MAGA firebrand from Columbia Falls with a history of anti-gay slurs and support for the Proud Boys.2 Mitchell jumped right into this session with a bill that (drumroll please) fixed property taxes? Addressed the school funding shortfall? No, Braxton’s critically important House Joint Resolution 7, co-sponsored by most of the crazy caucus, directed the Montana legislature to spend time debating and voting on ordaining Donald J. Trump with three pages of strange third-world flattery, including official Montana recognition of “President Trump's visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to conservative principles that resonate deeply with the proud citizens of Montana, reflecting shared values of individual liberty.”3
Apparently, those “shared values of individual liberty” do not extend to choice of religion because just a few days later Lucas Schubert, the 19-year-old Republican from Evergreen who also made a floor speech in which he refused to support funding law enforcement for “Indican country because it is a woke resolution that omits requesting money for the MAJORITY of people in Montana,” introduced HJ22; “A Joint Resolution of the Senate and House of Represenattives of the State of Montana acknowledging the Kingship of Jesus Christ,” and his bill had16 co-sponsors.4
For Montana Republicans, it's evident that the term “individual liberty” in Mitchell’s HJ7 certainly does not extend to gay marriage either. As proof, early in the session, Bob Phalen, R-Miles City, introduced SJ15, a resolution urging the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn its Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Phalen and 11 of his fellow Republican senators contended that Montana should have the authority to make same-sex marriages illegal based on the argument that “The Obergefell decision was illegitimate because two of the justices in the majority ruling, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, had previously officiated same-sex weddings.”5
In what appeared to be a legislative bright spot, and after more than a decade of dedicated effort, this week, Democrat Senator Shane Morigeau was poised to successfully obtain recognition for Indigenous Peoples Day in a state with twelve tribes and a native population of nearly 7%. Yet, even in times like this, you can’t keep the Republican craziness down. In a strange attempt to sabotage the bill or simply wave the anti Indian freak flag, Senator Ed Byrne, R-Bigfork, inserted a last-minute amendment demanding that Columbus Day be listed as a holiday before Indigenous Peoples Day. Perhaps he and the 27 others who voted for his amendment believe Columbus stumbled onto the Bahamas in 14,920 BC?
While It’s true that all of this batshittery is very impressive on it’s own, House Republicans truly outdid themselves late this week, when they tackled the heavy burden of a decades-old darling of hardened conspiracy theorist everywhere - you guessed it, chemtrails!6 And they did not just debate SB473; they thoughtfully opined on the science of “airborne geoengineering,” eventually obtaining 45 votes to outlaw, umm…airplane condensation in the sky.
Perhaps the entire crazy approach to Republican governance in the statehouse can be summed up by Representative Jedediah Hinkle’s impassioned chemtrail floor speech, “I don’t know a lot about this issue, but it’s undeniable that this is going on.”
https://time.com/3705394/montana-yoga-pants-ban/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/20-year-old-maga-pol-montana-state-rep-braxton-mitchell-declares-war-on-antifa-and-it-backfires-horribly?source=articles&via=rss
https://legiscan.com/MT/text/HJ7/id/3096889
https://legiscan.com/MT/text/SB473/2025
I wish I could say I'm glad I don't live in Montana, but I live in Florida, so I got nothin'.
Regarding chemtrails—“I don’t know a lot about the issue, but I’m sure it’s going on.” Jeezus, how do you run a functioning country with dimwits like this in charge.