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December 28, 2024 01:53 PM UTC

Just Another Very Fine Person Taking Donald Trump Seriously

  • 15 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Very Fine Person Patrick Thomas Egan of Mesa County, Colorado.

AP reports via CNN on an incident the week before Christmas involving a reporter for Grand Junction’s KJCT-TV, who was reportedly chased for miles and violently assaulted outside the station’s studios for the crime of being a reporter in “Trump’s America.”

A Colorado man is facing possible bias-motivated charges for allegedly attacking a television news reporter after demanding to know whether he was a citizen, saying “This is Trump’s America now,” according to court documents.

Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, was arrested December 18 in Grand Junction after police say he followed KKCO/KJCT reporter Ja’Ronn Alex’s vehicle for around 40 miles from the Delta area. Alex told police that he believed he had been followed and attacked because he is Pacific Islander.

After arriving in Grand Junction, Egan, who was driving a taxi, pulled up next to Alex at a stoplight and, according to an arrest affidavit, said something to the effect of: “Are you even a US citizen? This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!”

After this friendly exchange, Very Fine Person Patrick Thomas Egan reportedly followed the reporter to the station, tackled him outside the entrance and was in the process of choking his victim when station employees arrived to pull him off. The owner of the taxi company that employed Egan at the time of the alleged assault issued this statement:

“This type of behavior has no place in our society and I strongly condemn it. I deeply regret the harm and disruption this has caused the victim, his family and co-workers. Sunshine Rides has suspended Egan pending a full investigation, will assist law enforcement and will use this incident to re-emphasize our core values and expectations with our entire team.”

It’s good that the taxi company that happened to employ the alleged attacker is taking another look at their “core values and expectations” following this assault by one of their drivers. But this is also a moment to reflect on the extreme rhetoric directed against the press over the past year by President re-elect Donald Trump, who routinely referred to reporters covering his campaign as the “enemies of the people” and directed the crowds in attendance to enthusiastically sneer and jeer them. In this particular case, the reporter targeted for violence also had the disadvantage of not being white, which if you’ve seen the movie Civil War you are already aware tends to increase the risk of, to put it as politely as possible, bad personal outcomes in these situations.

Given the ferocity of Trump’s rhetoric against the media during his now-triumphant campaign for re-election, acts of violence by Trump’s supporters against reporters unfortunately cannot be considered unexpected. Despite this, it’s taken a week for this story to make its way to national headlines, after being originally reported by the Denver Post on December 20th. Part of this is due to the media outlet at the center of the story being unable to comment with the criminal case pending:

KKCO/KJCT vice president and general manager Stacey Stewart said the station could not comment beyond what it has reported on the attack.

But a violent assault on a television news reporter by a man screaming “this is Trump’s America now” fulfills some of the worst fears voiced by Trump’s opponents before the election. The cause and effect of Trump’s vitriol and this assault are too plain to ignore. This is not a moment to downplay such a horrible event in hopes it won’t happen again. In order for this behavior to stop, everyone in America needs to know the story of what Patrick Thomas Egan did to his local TV news reporter, and everything Egan said when carrying out the attack. Egan’s face should be in the national headlines, and Trump himself squeezed by an outraged public into condemning his actions.

That’s what ought to happen. In the worst case, what we’re seeing could be a chilling preview of the next four years.

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15 thoughts on “Just Another Very Fine Person Taking Donald Trump Seriously”

    1. Sorry, JIND. 

      Things do not look promising, but I can’t go there with you. It is NOT Donald Trumps’ America  and never will be. The victory belongs to the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and the  Evangelical Christian  Church coalition. They will shed FDFQ  as soon as he is no longer needed.

       

  4. When I was in the Marines, there was a running joke that every organization, no matter how elite, has some percentage of fucking idiots in it, even the Marine Corps. This guy must've been one of the fewest of the few and the proud. Fucking idiot.

  5. We all wonder why Trump says media is enemy. Your headlines scream Hate Trump Blame Trump. We hate Trump. Lmao.

    Yet 3/4 of Americans wised up. Thank God. 

    But I do agree the guy was an idiot but don’t blame Trump.

    2. Which 3/4 of Americans "wised up?" Trump won the popular vote by 1.5%. He didn't go over 50%. Tens of millions of Americans of voting age did not vote. 

      As a long time registered Republican who has never voted for Trump, I'm curious why you feel "don't blame Trump."

    3. So why are you ignoring the fact that Trump's win was actually narrow and by the slimest of margins comparatively speaking? Turnout was also very low compared to past presidential elections. Many polls also indicated that any other candidate was poised to beat Trump handily if Biden stepped down before the primaries. Less than quarter of the total population of Americans voted for him if we talk about absolute numbers. Majority of Americans didn't wisen up and voted for him, the ones that did mostly did it for mundane reasons, not becasue they actually like him, if exit polls and his still low approval ratings are to be believed. He's still unpopular and he'll most certainly see that plummet even more for anyone who's not a bootlicker. 

      Also, why not blame Trump? You and others like you have blamed Biden for eveything, even if you budgeted badly and couldn't buy these apparently golden eggs that were so expensive (but you likely think the economy is magically good now so who cares right?). Plus, if this was a Biden/Harris supporter instead, you would be having a field day. Crazy that normal people like you can condemn violence and extremists (but still imply that they deserved being attacked) but not the kingpin who's normalizing it. You're sounding like the type of parent that would condemn your kid's friends for being bullies but be ok with your own kid being the biggest bully of the group.

    4. 3/4 of Americans? Are you a liar or just stupid?

      (Polsters…This comment was designed to elicit a response from an idiot troll. Please excuse my indelicacy.)

    5. Trump's "mandate" — he got 2 million more votes than 2020, when he lost by 7 million, and won by 2.2 million over Harris.  But it isn't a massive endorsement of Trump. 

      • Most recent numbers I've seen from U of Florida's Election Lab:  63.88% participation, 156,302,318 ballots from the 244,666,890 voting eligible population.

      AP's current count (updated to Dec. 30, 2024)

      Harris:  75,015,834 votes (48.4%) — or 30.66% of the eligible voters.

      Trump:  77,302,169 votes (49.9%)  — or 31.59% of the eligible voters.

      An increase in Senate Republicans.  A decrease in House Republicans.  A very slight increase in state legislature Republicans. No change in the number of Republican governors.

      So, which 3/4th of Americans "wised up"?

       
       
       
       

  7. I shall decline the Foustian Bargain and blame Trump where blame is due. He's threatened to jail reporters, suspend broadcast licenses, investigate news outlets for treason, and he's made a statement saying he wouldn't mind if journalists get shot. From CNN (I know, I don't really like CNN either but they're citing someone else's research):

    Between Sept. 1 and Oct. 24, Reporters Without Borders found that Trump insulted, attacked, or threatened the press at least 108 times across public speeches and remarks, a figure that does not include Trump’s social media posts or comments made by campaign staff.

    Granted, the guy from Mesa County didn't have to do what he did just based on Trump's words alone, but nobody should deny that encouragement and normalization came from the top of the ticket.

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