In a stunning revelation, Senator Jon Tester of Montana, widely seen as the most vulnerable Democratic senator facing reelection in 2024, privately praised a controversial poster depicting an eagle scavenging the lifeless body of former President Donald Trump. This revelation came to light through a written admission from Tester himself in his book, “Grounded: A Rural Democrat's Fight to Unite America” — a book that ironically preaches about healing the nation.
A Shocking Image
The controversy dates back to Tester's 2018 reelection campaign. Pearl Jam, the iconic rock band known for its left-wing political statements, held a get-out-the-vote concert supporting Tester. The event featured a striking poster designed by Pearl Jam bassist and Montana native Jeff Ament, a close friend of Tester. The artwork showed a dead Donald Trump being scavenged by a bald eagle, with the White House engulfed in flames in the background. Above this scene, a gleeful Tester is depicted flying his tractor over the chaos.
Outrage and Reactions
The poster instantly became a flashpoint of outrage. Tester's Republican opponent at the time seized on the image as a symbol of violence and extremism.
Tester's campaign quickly tried to distance itself from the controversy. Chris Meagher, Tester's former spokesperson, stated, “We never saw the poster before the show, and we don't like it. And we don't condone violence of any kind. Period.”
Despite the backlash, Ament remained unapologetic, defending the artwork as a form of expression. “The role of artists is to make people think and feel, and the current administration has us thinking and feeling… I welcome all interpretations and discourse. Love, from the First Amendment,” he told Rolling Stone.
The Backstory
The controversy resurfaced Thursday when the Washington Examiner's Gabe Kaminsky reported on Tester's initial reaction to the poster. The timing couldn't be worse, as it comes just weeks after an attempted assassination of former President Trump:
“As soon as word spread of how wild the posters were, fans stood in line for hours to buy them all up at $35 a pop. Christie showed me a copy, gritting her teeth,” Tester wrote in his book, referring to his then-campaign manager, Christie Roberts.
“And there's an unmistakable image of me, flying on my tractor above the fire and fury, waving with my two-fingered left hand,” the senator continued. “‘This is so … interesting,' I told Christie. Though the poster was off message, I didn't want to admit to her that I actually loved it. None of us knew about the posters before we saw them on sale at the concert.”
Tester also wrote in his book that “the big news” during the event “wasn't the music; it was the artwork.”
News of Tester's embrace of the artwork comes after the recent assassination attempt on Trump in Butler County, Pennsylvania. The senator said in July he was “appalled by the violence at the political rally” and wrote a letter to other lawmakers requesting an investigation into the event, which he called a “tragedy.”
Afterward, Donald Trump Jr. took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his disgust, stating, “It's sick and twisted that Dems like Jon Tester are always fantasizing about my father being killed.”
Pearl Jam's history of political activism is well-documented. Since their formation in 1990, they have used their platform to advocate for progressive causes, including abortion rights. In 2003, the band received criticism for a performance featuring a mask of then-President George Bush's face impaled on a microphone stand.
What It Means for Tester
For Tester's campaign, which is already seen as vulnerable, this could be a catastrophic blow. Recent polling shows him trailing Republican challenger Tim Sheehy by 6 and 5 percentage points in two separate surveys. With the Democratic Party's increasingly progressive agenda, Tester's run of good luck in libertarian-leaning Montana may be coming to an end.
As this controversy continues to unfold, the question remains: Will Tester's connection to this inflammatory poster and his history with Pearl Jam come back to haunt him?
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