Reporter gives broken glasses to museum

The Guardian newspaper -- whose reporter Ben Jacobs was assaulted by the Republican candidate, and now Montana's new congressman, Greg Gianforte -- says that Jacobs now has replaced the glasses that were broken in the attack.

Jacobs has agreed to a request by the Washington, DC media museum, The Newseum, to donate his broken glasses to the museum to be displayed in their collection. They are, after all, a relic of a physical attack on a journalist by a candidate for the U.S. Congress.  And it occurred the day before the election, which Gianforte went on to win, although early voting by two-thirds of the voters makes any effect hard to measure.

The attack was not just a shove or a slap.  According to eyewitnesses in the room, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs around the neck with both hands, threw him to the floor, then piled on top of him and was slugging him.   This was a startling first in memory -- and it happened in a climate where President Donald Trump regularly denounces the press and claims that they are the enemy.

Congressman Gianforte has a court date to answer to charges of misdemeanor assault.  Lest you forget, or simply don't care, Mr. President, we are still a nation ruled by laws, not by brute power.