Yesterday, Republican Greg Gianforte defeated Democrat Rob Quist in a special election to fill the Montana at-large House seat vacated by Ryan Zinke after he was tapped by Donald Trump to head the Department of the Interior. Gianforte’s win comes amid an eleventh-hour controversy over a physical altercation with a Guardian reporter who was pressing Gianforte to answer a question on health care. The confrontation, which was caught on audio, resulted in Gianforte being charged with misdemeanor assault.

Democrats have been working overtime seeking to flip seats in regions that heavily voted for Trump, and thus far have achieved little success. Yet this seemingly gift-wrapped controversy in an already tight race must have seemed like a golden opportunity to finally show that the Resistance™ was bearing fruit. In fact, the mainstream media did its utmost to assert that Gianforte’s action was proof positive of the Left’s charge that Trump has encouraged and perpetuated bigotry, racism and even violence across America.

In reality, Quist was a flawed candidate with a checkered past who simply didn’t cut it. Gianforte was a well-established, successful businessman who has heavily invested and helped to improve the economy of the state. He’d also previously run for governor. While failing to win, he proved he knew how to campaign. And really, outside of his body-slamming the reporter, he had few controversies.

Ironically, Democrats’ favored tool of early voting might have cost them the election. Prior to the assault, over a third of Montanans had already cast their vote. This incident proves to be a rather convincing argument against those proponents of early voting.

The most important point, however, is that while journalists bemoan the lack of trust Americans have for the MSM, all while blaming conservatives, talk radio and Trump, the truth is that most of the fault for the distrust rests with journalists themselves. When journalism becomes activism for leftist agendas, don’t be surprised when the populace stops trusting the media’s narrative. Gianforte did apologize for his actions against the reporter, who by the way had trespassed in order to badger the candidate, but many Montanans actually appreciated the candidate’s takedown of the reporter. Honestly, many in Montana don’t view the Guardian reporter as an innocent victim, but as a member of the MSM hell-bent on attacking Trump and conservatives.