Thanks for starting your week with The Western Word! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

• 25-30,000 Attend Rally?
• Montana Fundraising
• 2026/27 NBA Season
• One More Thing

25-30,000 ATTEND RALLY?

President Donald Trump told another whopper about crowd size. This lie was about the attendance at the Kalispell rally:

Trump: I’m watching the news. They’re saying something’s happening. You know what’s happening, these big monster rallies. Montana was unbelievable, in the middle of this beautiful massive open plain, we had. 25-30,000 people show up. (Source)

Several sources say about 5,000 people showed up in Kalispell. (Source) (Source) (Source)

That is a pretty low turnout for an event being held in the MAGA backyard.

MONTANA FUNDRAISING:

The Flathead Beacon is reporting that Democrat Sam Forstag outraised Republican Aaron Flint by nearly $1 Million in the western district Congressional race.

Forstag seems to have momentum as we approach two weeks until election day. The novelty of the MAGA movement is starting to wear off, exposing the deep economic and political damage Trump’s leadership has caused the nation.

In the U.S. Senate race, the Flathead Beacon reported Republican Kurt Alme’s campaign itself raised $880,805.03 in the time frame between the start of July and end of September, while Democrat Seth Bodnar’s campaign raised more than $1.4 million. Bodnar’s campaign lauded that number in a press release, stating Bodnar outraised “both of his opponents combined.”

Check out the complete report from the Flathead Beacon HERE.

2026/27 NBA SEASON:

Heads up, NBA fans!

The NBA regular season starts tomorrow (Tuesday) (Oct. 20). The regular season is scheduled to run to April 11, 2027.

For more information, click HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

I just found the scariest costume for Halloween this year! I’m going trick-or-treating as a diesel fuel pump.

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##