Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) praised an apocalyptic Pearl Jam concert poster in 2018 that depicted the death of former President Donald Trump, he wrote in his 2020 book. Down to Earth: Rural Democrats’ fight to unite America.
During Tester’s last reelection campaign, a poster for a get-out-the-vote concert by Pearl Jam for the Montana Democratic candidate featured a dead Donald Trump with an American bald eagle eating his body. Tester is close friends with Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, who designed the poster.
WATCH — Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy talks about how he’ll beat Jon Tester in Montana:
Tester’s campaign, not Tester himself, only denied the posters after media attention shone on the controversy. Two weeks after the document was made public, Tester has still not personally denied it.
The 2018 tester campaign be criticized Despite the poster’s violent imagery, Senate Democrats in battleground states seemed to enjoy the artwork, according to a 2020 book. Feet on the Ground: Rural Democrats’ Fight to Unite a Divided America.
of Washington Examiner It turns out that testers “really liked” the Pearl Jam poster.
“Once word spread about how wild the posters were, fans lined up for hours to buy them all at $35 a pop. Christy showed them to me through gritted teeth,” Tester wrote.
“And there’s the unmistakable image of me riding a tractor over the flames and fury, waving with my two-fingered left hand,” Tester added.
He said, “‘This is so… interesting,’ I said to Christy. I didn’t want to admit to her that I actually liked the poster, even though it was so far from the message. None of us had heard of it until we saw them for sale at the concert.”
Tester went on to write that the “big news” wasn’t the concert, but the “artwork.”
Tester’s appreciation of violent, anti-Trump artwork comes in the wake of the recent shooting of former President Trump.
Tester wrote that he was “appalled by the violence at a political rally” and called for an investigation into the shooting.
Tester has also made violent calls to attack President Trump.
In 2019, Tester said the best way to defeat the 45th president was to “punch him in the face.”
“Even in states where Donald Trump won big, I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by running away from Donald Trump. I think we should go back and punch him in the face. I mean, the truth is this guy is bad for the country,” Tester said.
“Mr. Tester’s violent rhetoric against President Trump is sickening,” said Mike Berg, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Said In a statement.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter. Sean Moran 3.
