Thanks for starting your week with The Western Word. Here are the topics for today’s common sense commentary:

• Zinke & Olszewski
• Sheehy’s Emergency Landing
• Deal or No Deal 
• NBA Play-In Tournament
• One More Thing

ZINKE & OLSZEWSKI:

Congressman Ryan Zinke went after fellow Republican Dr. Al Olszewski in a commentary published in the Daily Inter Lake.

Olszewski is running against Aaron Flint (plus Christi Jacobsen and Ray Curtis) in the Republican primary for Montana’s First Congressional District – a seat that Zinke currently occupies. Zinke is not running for reelection. Flint is Zinke’s choice.

Zinke contends that Olszewski is not telling the truth and had this to say:

I’ve heard enough. Dr. Al Olszewski has spent the better part of a decade lying to Montana, dividing conservatives and has used his post as county GOP chairman to pull good candidates down, rather than working to elevate all. He personally has lost three consecutive primaries for U.S. Senate, governor and Congress, and now that he’s running for Congress against Aaron Flint, he’s up to his lies again. The only thing stopping Al from being a career politician is the common sense of the Montana voters.

Zinke goes on to list several lies that he believes Olszewski has told.  Zinke closes his piece with several accusations: 

Al is on his way out at the county party, but not before endorsing himself for Congress and, to my understanding, funneling thousands of dollars from the committee to his own campaign. This is the kind of dirty, swampy tactics he claims to oppose. Montana deserves to be represented by someone who is truthful. We may agree or disagree on policy, but we should all agree that we can do better than lyin’ Al.

You can read the complete commentary from Zinke HERE. 

Olszewski responded to Zinke on social media:

When you can’t win on ideas, you fall back to destroying the other person’s character at all costs with lies and deceit. Today Congressman Zinke weighed in on the 2026 Republican primary for the U.S. Congress MT-01 seat which he is vacating.

If we were losing in the polls, you wouldn’t be hearing this kind of slander. For those of us who understand the ugly side of politics, this is a sign of a dying campaign trying to claw back against the candidate who is winning. So thank you, Congressman Zinke, for your admission that I am the candidate to beat.

You can read Olszewski’s full response HERE. 

There sure are a lot of angry Republicans this primary season. Someone is going to have hurt feelings the day after the June primary. The fences may never be mended. 

SHEEHY’S EMERGENCY LANDING:

In case you missed it, several sources, including NBC Montana, reported that a plane piloted by U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and a co-pilot made an emergency landing near Ennis Friday afternoon after experiencing a mechanical engine failure.

According to Sheehy’s chief of staff, Mike Berg, the senator was conducting a routine flight training exercise he completes twice a year at the time of the incident. Neither pilot was injured. (Source)

Sheehy should probably get an A++ for his grade. 

DEAL OR NO DEAL:

Vice President JD Vance met with Iranian officials for about 21 hours this past weekend. They could not make a deal. (Source) According to President Trump, the sticking point is that Iran is not willing to give up nuclear ambitions. 

Supposedly, the ceasefire will continue, but who really knows at this point?

Trump did announce on social media:

Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. 

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation.

It’s quite a mess the President has gotten us into. 

NBA PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT:

In case you were wondering where to catch the NBA Play-In Tournament, you will need to subscribe to Prime Video to watch.  

The NBA Play-In Tournament features the Nos. 7-10 teams in each conference battling for the 7th and 8th playoff seeds. The games will be played Tuesday, April 14 – Friday, April 17. 

More information can be found HERE. 

ONE MORE THING:

The difference between Iran and Vietnam is that Trump knew how to get out of Vietnam.  

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##