Governor Gianforte Shares President Trump’s Impact on Montana

Governor Gianforte was recently in Great Falls for the Janicki groundbreaking ceremony. While he was in town, I had a chance to catch up with him in-studio for a one-on-one interview.

Among the questions I asked, I had to include one about President Trump.

Governor Gianforte Shares President Trump's Vision for Montana and America

Governor Gianforte and I discussed a variety of subjects including Oregon's push to criminalize hunting and fishing and AI data centers.

I also had a chance to ask him about President Trump and what the president has said about Montana and its future:

Chris: Because you've had so many opportunities, Governor, to meet with President Trump. What kind of feedback or comments has he given to you about Montana's future when you have those conversations? Because I think a lot of Montanans are curious about what the president feels about Montana and what he expects from us in the future?

Governor Gianforte: Well, the president loves this country, loves every corner of it. And he's a business guy. I'm a business guy. And I ran for office on a really simple platform, which was, if I went into a rural community during the campaign and there were 100 people, and I asked, how many of you have kids or grandkids that don't live here anymore? 100% of the hands would go up. Our economy was not living up to its full potential. And I thought it was incumbent, and this is why I ran, to strengthen our economy, mostly by getting out of the way, because business owners know best. Let's let them keep the fruits of their labor by reducing taxes. Let's reduce regulations. And it's working. And just like we're seeing a resurgence across this country because of what President Trump has done with lower taxes and less regulation, we're seeing a revival of our economy in Montana.

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Recently, Montana was designated the fifth fastest growing economy in the country. We're number three in the country for wage growth. And we're one of only two states in the country where wage growth has exceeded inflation over the last five years. Our economy grew at a 16% rate when the national average was 10%, more than 50% more than the national average. That's a big deal. And we're celebrating Janicki today. We're cutting the ribbon on the new Amazon facility here. And this is Amazon's sixth facility here. They now employ 800 people in Montana. They've invested over $200 million in Montana, Amazon has - and earlier this week, I cut the ribbon on the new mill in Radersburg that's manufacturing antimony. Now, not everybody knows what antimony is.

Chris: No, I was just about to ask that.

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Governor Gianforte: We have a mine up in Thompson Falls. It's operated by U.S. Antimony Corporation, publicly traded company. And they had just won a $245 million contract with the Department of War. Antimony is in primers in ammunition. It's also used in fire retardant, and it's used in some semiconductors. So U.S. Antimony, with the opening of the mill in Radersburg, they've invested over $6 million there.

They now have the only vertically integrated mine to the mill, to the smelter operation for antimony in the world. It's right here in Montana.

Chris: That sounds very intricate.

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Governor Gianforte: And this is really an issue for national defense. So we're seeing a big interest in critical minerals. Antimony is a critical mineral, necessary for our war fighters. And I think, so we were thrilled to do that.

So, I think my full-time job now is like cutting ribbons and breaking ground.

Chris: And has President Trump expressed any optimism or any comments about where Montana could be in the next few years? I mean, I know there's a lot on the agenda, and you guys are working hard, but what is it?

Governor Gianforte: Well, we have, let me just say, we have had great working relationship with the Trump administration. Tom Schultz at the Forest Service, Brooke Rollins at Department of Ag, Secretary Burgum at Interior, just Lee Zeldin at EPA. And I think the President's mostly focused on, right now he's focused on Iran.

Chris: Oh, sure!

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Governor Gianforte: And Ukraine. And continue to protect the integrity of our elections. And this is the beautiful thing about this country is that each state is really a laboratory of experimentation. Montana is pursuing a path of conservative policies, lower taxes, less regulations, and the economy's responding. We're not seeing that so much in these crazy places like Oregon or, you know, we're celebrating Janneke. There's a reason why they didn't expand in Washington state. It's high regulation, high taxes. Same thing when the governor of Colorado decided to outlaw semi-automatic weapons. I called all of the gun manufacturers in Colorado and said, come back [to Montana].

We love our Second Amendment in Montana. We had six firms come for site visits and say, we're done with Colorado. So, there is a stark contrast between these high regulation, high state tax states, high tax states, and Montana, where we're lowering taxes and reducing regulations. So, the American dream is more attainable for folks.