The Western Word is coming to you from deep inside an underground bunker in Montana – where we’re helping to deprogram the Trump cult one column at a time…

Welcome to another exciting edition of Caught My Eye (CME)!

CME is the once a week column that is posted every Friday morning. This is when I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week.

Here are the topics that “Caught My Eye” this week:

• State of the State
• Kevin McCarthy
• Marjorie Taylor Greene
• My Pillow Guy
• One More Thing

STATE OF THE STATE:

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R) gave his first State of the State address Thursday night. About 15 minutes into his speech, it turned boring. Then it went on and on and on.

The address had to be pretty exciting for Republicans. Gianforte is the first Republican governor in 16 years, so the conservatives in the legislature are going insane thinking of bills to introduce from the conservative angle.

The main thing I took from the address was that it was a super-spreader event for COVID-19. Many people in attendance did not wear masks. I did not see much social distancing, either. They acted like there was no pandemic. They acted like dumbasses.

Gianforte closed his speech with:

If there’s anything this year has taught us, it’s that Montanans can handle anything. We met the test.
The state of our state is strong, but it’s more than strong. The state of our state is resilient.
And we are ready for our Montana comeback.
Like Montanans at home tonight, we will go forth from here, ready to face what tomorrow brings. We will overcome whatever confronts us together, because the Montana way is to help each other. And because we are resilient.

Here are some media reports on the State of State Address:

• Associated Press
• MTN News
• Lee Newspapers

You can read the transcript HERE.

KEVIN MCCARTHY:

It was kind of like a scene from the Godfather with former President Donald Trump playing Don Vito Corleone and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss the future – maybe his future.

I bet this was a long trip for McCarthy.Will there be a horse’s head in his bed in the morning?

According to CNN, Trump’s Political Action Committee Save America sent a statement out to the press about the meeting:

“They discussed many topics, number one of which was taking back the House in 2022,” the statement read. “President Trump’s popularity has never been stronger than it is today, and his endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time.”

I can imagine Trump saying that for his endorsement, “Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.”

Trump is not going away. He made McCarthy an offer he could not refuse…

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE:

The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have a problem. The problem could affect them nationally, too. The name of the problem is Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is a U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district.

She’s also a nutjob.

Columnist Karen Tumulty writing in the Washington Post described her this way:

Before she was elected last year, QAnon devotee Greene made a name for herself by spreading bonkers conspiracy theories, including that the school shooting tragedies in Newtown, Conn., and Parkland, Fla., were staged.
She has also embraced another one claiming that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton murdered a child during a satanic ritual and drank her blood.

Can you imagine the pain she is causing the families of Sandy Hook and Parkland?

Tumulty also wrote that newly unearthed are social media postings in which Greene appeared to endorse, through likes and shares and comments, the idea of executing Democratic leaders.

She should not be a U.S. Representative. She should be in jail.

Sadly, in some areas of our country, there are those who wholeheartedly agree with Greene. I’m sure there are a few people who believe her way now serving in the Montana Legislature.

MY PILLOW GUY:

Reuters reported this week that Twitter has permanently suspended the account of My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell for repeated violations of the company’s policy on election misinformation.

It was also reported by Reuters that Lindell used his personal Twitter account, which had nearly half a million followers, and the My Pillow company’s account to spread unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Trump.

I don’t like fake news and call out people who post fake information on my timeline. I must admit Twitter is pretty boring without Donald Trump and members of his cult.

We still have U.S. Senator Steve Daines and U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale, plus some wackos in the Montana Legislature posting silly stuff, so all is not lost.

ONE MORE THING:

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key
– Already Gone (Eagles)

## WEAR A MASK ##