Montana Matt
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 30-45 |
| Home | Missoula, MT |
| Demographic | rural, white, libertarian-leaning |
| Lean | Strong Republican |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Flathead Wade |
Matt is a hunting guide and outfitter in western Montana who owns guns, works on public land, and distrusts federal agencies. He represents the libertarian Republican of the Mountain West, reliably for the party but never fully of it.
Who they stand for
Matt represents the gun-owning, government-distrusting voter of the interior West, in states such as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, who reads the Constitution as a list of things the federal government may not do. His decade opened with Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosures about surveillance and closed with the red-flag gun laws after the Parkland school shooting in 2018. In between, the ATF banned bump stocks under a Republican president, which told him the party was not his own cause. The pandemic mandates of 2020 and 2021 confirmed the rest of his suspicion of government. He helped give the Libertarian Party its best presidential result in 2016 and has voted Republican since, because the 2022 Bruen decision on gun rights came from justices Trump appointed.
Bitterroot Dale heard about Ruby Ridge and Waco on shortwave radio and stood apart from both parties. Flathead Wade was shaped by Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Matt reads about these subjects online and votes Republican while holding libertarian views. Unlike Texas Tom, Matt wants public lands kept public, because his livelihood depends on them, setting him against the land-transfer movement and the Bundys as much as against the Bureau of Land Management.
Playing to them
Matt supports a president who leaves guns, public land, and personal data alone: no new firearms law, no sale of federal land, no expansion of surveillance, and a shrinking tax bill. He is the one Republican persona who supports keeping public lands public, so a Republican who sells off public land or opens a national monument to mining loses his support as surely as gun control would. He will not forgive a red-flag law, a renewed Patriot Act, an ATF rule issued by decree, or a federal vaccine mandate, and he does not care which party is responsible.
His support for gun rights costs Plain Jane, Suburban Sarah, and Grill Dad Greg after a school shooting, and it costs Woodstock Allen at all times. His hostility to surveillance and to the FBI costs Military Mike and Beltway Barbara, who defend those agencies. A Democrat can hold his support by doing nothing on guns and much on privacy. No president can hold his support by doing something on either, because to Matt, passing any new law is itself the problem.
Where they live
The five states where Montana Matt makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Montana
- Utah
- Alaska
Lineage
Bitterroot Dale → Flathead Wade → Montana Matt
Same guns, same reading of the Constitution, a different enemy and a different information source each decade. Dale's enemies are the ATF and the FBI after Ruby Ridge and Waco, and he hears about them on shortwave radio. Wade's are the Patriot Act and the Federal Reserve, and he hears about them from Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Matt's are federal surveillance and red-flag gun laws, and he hears about them online. Each is less armed and more online than the last. Dale stood outside both parties. Matt votes Republican as a libertarian.