Tim Sheehy, the Republican Senate nominee in Montana, has been caught utilizing racist stereotypes to check with Native People. In line with audio launched final Thursday by Char-Koosta Information, the information outlet of the Flathead Indian Reservation, Sheehy claimed at a Nov. 6 fundraiser that he likes to model cattle with tribal members on the Crow Reservation, saying it’s “a great way to bond with all the Indians out there while they’re drunk at 8 AM.”
In a second recording, from Nov. 10, Sheehy claimed that Crow members generally greet him by throwing beer cans at his head.
“If you know a tough crowd, you want to go to the Crow rez,” he mentioned. “They’ll let you know whether they like you or not if there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head.”
If any of the Crow members heard how Sheehy was speaking about them, it’s not laborious to imagine they may throw one thing.
Sheehy is a trust-fund cowboy whom Republicans recruited, pondering he was an excellent guess towards Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Any candidate who can drop $2.6 million on his personal marketing campaign in a state the place the whole inhabitants is simply over 1 million is the sort of candidate the GOP loves.
Regardless of these supposed credentials, and earlier than his leaked racist remarks, Sheehy was beset with issues, like allegedly defrauding his staff out of hundreds of thousands. Then there was the weird incident during which Sheehy first mentioned that he had shot himself within the arm whereas visiting a nationwide park, then later claimed it was a struggle wound he collected in Afghanistan. Sheehy additionally had the gall to assert that Tester wasn’t an actual farmer, calling Tester’s multigenerational, 1,800-acre farm was simply “a weed patch.”
However Sheehy’s racist feedback are of a special caliber.
On Wednesday, the Related Press reported that the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, which represents tribes and First Nations within the western U.S. and Canada, has reprimanded Sheehy for perpetuating stereotypes about Native People. Council Chairman Bryce Kirk has requested Sheehy to formally apologize.
“You ask for our votes and then you go to your fundraiser, ironically with alcohol flowing and laughter at our expense behind closed doors, and you insult us with a stereotype that only seeks to severely diminish and dishonor our people,” Kirk wrote in a Tuesday letter to Sheehy’s marketing campaign. “The Crow people are not your punchline. Native Americans are not your punchline.”
Up to now, Sheehy has issued no such apology. However Sheehy spokesman Jack O’Brien claimed that the phrases captured within the recording don’t precisely painting the Republican candidate
“What folks are insinuating about him, that’s just not who he is,” mentioned O’Brien. Which is the sort of factor individuals are inclined to say when caught expressing overt racism.
On Wednesday, the story began drawing extra nationwide consideration. The New York Occasions notes that Native People make up 6% of Montana’s inhabitants and that Sheehy’s remarks could have destroyed any progress Republicans have made in reaching out to Native American voters.
Calvin Lime, who lives on the Blackfeet reservation in northern Montana, mentioned the remarks had been a “slap in the face,” and particularly unlucky as a result of the Crow Tribe was one of the crucial outspokenly pro-Trump tribes.
“Was” could be the operative phrase in that final sentence.
Republicans recruited Sheehy as a result of they view Tester as one of the crucial weak Democratic senators up for reelection in 2024. However Sheehy retains taking pictures himself within the foot.
