These red state Republicans just proved they're cowards

Donald Trump doesn’t hide it. He insults, he lies, he scapegoats. Immigrants are rapists, murderers, invaders. Entire communities are reduced to caricatures. Facts are optional. Truth is inconvenient. His State of the Union address was a masterclass on hate and racism.

And here’s the tragedy: Montana’s delegation greeted it with silence.

• Steve Daines? Silent.
• Tim Sheehy? Silent.
• Ryan Zinke? Silent.
• Troy Downing? Silent.

Not a word of condemnation. Not a hint of pushback. Just polite quiet while bigotry spreads.

Lies dressed as policy

Trump’s words aren’t analysis — they’re performance. Numbers, evidence, reality — they don’t matter.

Immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than native-born Americans. They are more likely to work, pay taxes, raise families, and invest in their communities.

But that doesn’t fit the narrative, so Trump’s lies fill the airwaves. And when Montana’s elected officials stay silent, it’s as if they’re handing him the microphone, nodding along, and saying, “Carry on.”

Silence is consent

Let’s be blunt: Silence from our delegation is not neutrality. It is consent. It is complicity.

Every racist attack, every misleading claim, every smearing of a human being is amplified when the people elected to protect their constituents do nothing.

This silence has consequences. It tells Montanans that some members of our communities — hardworking nurses, farmers, teachers, business owners — are less worthy of protection, less deserving of respect. It tells them that when lies are shouted from the highest office in the land, their representatives will look the other way. That is not courage. That is cowardice.

Montana values? Show them

Montana prides itself on fairness, independence, and integrity. We claim to value honesty and community. And yet, when a national leader traffics in lies, fear and racism, our delegation acts as if the rules of decency don’t apply to them.

Silence is easy. Standing up is hard. But Montana deserves leaders who will speak truth to power, who will reject lies, who will reject racism in all its forms — even when it’s convenient to look away.

Trump’s racism is clear, Montana’s response is clearer

Trump uses incendiary language to divide. He spreads falsehoods to stir fear. He targets whole communities as if their humanity is optional. And Montana’s delegation? They respond with nothing.

Steve Daines. Tim Sheehy. Ryan Zinke. Troy Downing.

Silent.

No rebuke. No clarification. No defense of decency. Just a collective shrug while truth and humanity are trampled.

That is not leadership. That is surrender. That is a public demonstration that, for our elected officials, political convenience matters more than integrity, more than honesty, more than people.

The time for silence is over

Racism wins when good people say nothing. Lies thrive when leaders shrug. Montana can do better. We can demand accountability. We can insist that truth, fairness, and decency are not optional, even when the powerful try to make them so.

Montana’s delegation has chosen silence and complicity. Their inaction in the face of lies and racism makes one thing clear: We need elected officials who reflect Montana values — leaders who will speak truth, defend decency, and call out falsehoods wherever they appear. We are better than this. Montana deserves better than this. And we need officials who are better than this.

Montana, silence is not leadership.

• Doug James was born in Great Falls, Montana in 1957. He graduated from Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, with high honors, from Southern Methodist University in 1979. Doug earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Montana in 1982. After graduating from law school, he worked for the Montana Securities Department in the State Auditor's Office from 1982-1984. He has been in private practice in Billings since 1984. Doug is married to Kathy Webster James.