Following Big Sky stop at Yellowstone Club fundraiser, rally gathers thousands, runs more than five hours long after a day-long tailgate at MSU
By Jen Clancey and Jack Reaney
By 10 a.m. on Friday, a line had formed outside of Montana State University’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, where former President Donald Trump would host a rally in 10 hours. The parking lot exhibits the hallmarks of a Trump event—bedazzled baseball caps donning his name and “Make America Great Again,” golden honey in bottles shaped like the former president, and a paint job on the door of a pickup truck likening him to George Washington.
In the thick of it, wearing a long, gray beard stood Niles Jones, 60, of Kalispell, who said he’s 100% in support of Trump.
“I like his policies. I like what he’s done the first four years he was in office—he said what he’s gonna do, and he did what he said he’s gonna do,” Jones said.
This was Jones’ first Trump rally. He said his coworkers showed up at 1 a.m., and they all slept in the parking lot. Jones was “in awe” of the widespread showing of support for Trump.
The rally was also a first for Sarah Torres-Black, 45, another Kalispell resident. She believes Trump was effective during his last term.
“He helps the community. He helped the lower class. You know, I’m lower class, and he was really—during the Covid thing—really nice,” Torres-Black said.
She stood near the front of the line, camped out since before 8 a.m., and said everyone is friendly, helpful and easy to talk to. She’s excited that Trump decided to visit Montana.
“It’s really nice, you know, because Montana don’t get a lot of recognition. You know what I mean?”
‘The most important election in our country’s history’
The rally itself began shortly after doors to the arena opened at 6 p.m., and as a result of Trump appearing roughly 90 minutes behind schedule, it was after 11 when the event let back out into the cool, gusty Bozeman night.
The Bozeman visit follows time spent at the Yellowstone Club for a large fundraising event. According to an invitation for the event, the fundraiser required a $100,000 minimum donation and included dinner and photos with the former president. The 25-car motorcade passed through Town Center following the event, and briefly paused traffic as it passed through Gallatin Canyon yesterday afternoon before he arrived at MSU.
Miss Montana USA, Shelby Dangerfield, sang the national anthem as attendees removed cowboy and MAGA hats alike. From 6:15 to 8:30 p.m., Montana republicans discussed border security, economic woes under democrats—namely President Biden, Sen. Jon Tester, VP Kamala Harris and her presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—as well as law and order, education versus indoctrination, gender norms, and most prominently, Tim Sheehy in his race against a three-term senator in Tester.
Troy Downing, Montana state auditor running for U.S. House of Representatives in Montana’s eastern district, said the U.S. needs a president who puts his fist in the air and fights. The crowd, still trickling through security to fill the upper bleachers, began chanting, “Fight!”
Montana’s Attorney General Austin Knudsen berated Walz and Tester.
“The closer it is to election day, the more Jon Tester pretends to be a republican,” Knudsen said, praising Sheehy.
“I don’t speak badly about somebody’s physical disability but [Tester’s] got the biggest stomach I have ever seen.”
Donald Trump, during Bozeman rally
Attendees lifted red and blue campaign signs when Rep. Ryan Zinke began his speech. “We need a commander-in-chief that knows the difference between our enemies and our friends.”
Zinke called this November “the most important election in our country’s history.”
Sen. Steve Daines called the event “Jon Tester’s retirement party,” and got the crowd chanting to build a wall at America’s southern border.
At 8:50 p.m., Gov. Gianforte took the stage. He said Kamala Harris’s border policy is as effective “as a screen door on a submarine.” Before introducing Tim Sheehy onstage, Gianforte explained the significance of the U.S. Senate election in western Montana for republicans. “When we elect Tim Sheehy, we have won back majority control of the U.S. Senate.” The audience roared in response.
Sheehy said that the U.S. is at a crossroads. “How is this economy taking care of you?” Sheehy asked. “It’s not.”
Echoing Gianforte’s remarks on republican power in the senate, Sheehy urged the crowd to avoid Tester.
“You need to deliver [Donald Trump] the senate by retiring Jon Tester,” Sheehy said. He added that he himself is a “common sense” politician, and plans to restore Montana to what he said Montanans are looking for.
“Cops are good, criminals are bad, boys are boys, girls are girls,” Sheehy said, a return to the way he began his speech—a joke about the pronouns in his last name.
Trump addresses Montana
Applause showered and echoed through the stadium as Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” played in tune with Trump’s footsteps toward the microphone at 9:28 p.m.
“I was all over your state today,” Trump said. “Everything takes two hours… I gotta like Tim Sheehy a lot to be here.”
“It’s a big state. It’s a beautiful state. And we won it every time by a lot,” Trump added.
Trump would eventually end his speech at 11:10 p.m., speaking for nearly an hour and 45 minutes.
The past month of the 2024 election season has been rife with historic events: It’s been 28 days since a July 13 assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania grazed Trump’s ear. Eight days later, current president Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, and this week on Aug. 6, Kamala Harris was named the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
Trump searched for a sticky phrase when he discussed Harris at Friday night’s Bozeman rally. “We’re going to evict crazy Kamala, reverse the Kamala crash, avoid the Kamala chaos.”
Various speakers shared language about Harris on Friday, calling her “weak”, “failed,” “radical” and “dangerous.” Trump added that Harris is “dumb.”
Sen. Jon Tester was another target of Trump’s harsh words.
While discussing Harris’ stance on the southern border, he called Tester an ally of Harris and remarked on the senator’s appearance.
“I don’t speak badly about somebody’s physical disability but he’s got the biggest stomach I have ever seen,” Trump said.
“Tester and I have nothing to do with each other and if you watch his commercials you can forget it,” Trump said later on. “He never votes for me … that guy voted to impeach me, stomach brimming out like a big slob.”
Trump also promised to prevent low-income housing from being built next to suburban neighborhoods, and to support a mass deportation policy. He called America “a failing nation” and blamed it on the Biden administration.
Toward the end of his remarks, he began urging supporters to register and plan to vote.
“So in conclusion, from Bigfork to Billings, from Glendive to Great Falls, and from Big Sky to right here in Bozeman. This state was built by some of the toughest men and strongest women ever to walk the face of the earth,” Trump said.
“Montana is the land of cowboys and cattle hands, ranchers and farmers, frontiersmen and soldiers, adventurers and pioneers who… carved out a life in one of the most beautiful places in all of God’s creation,” he concluded.
With the Nov. 5 general election 87 days away, Bozeman earned a small chapter in American history as national politics sprung close to home.
