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Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska had it : 鈥淚f the First Amendment means anything, it means you can鈥檛 body-slam a journalist.鈥�

Sadly, that lesson seems to be lost on some of Sen. Sasse鈥檚 colleagues. On Wednesday, Greg Gianforte was with assaulting a Guardian reporter while campaigning for Montana鈥檚 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yesterday, he that seat, and he鈥檒l now also be charged with defending the Constitution and its promise of ensuring a free and vibrant press.

The reporter, Ben Jacobs, approached Gianforte at a campaign rally in Bozeman with a question about the Congressional Budget Office鈥檚 assessment of the American Health Care Act. Gianforte, who has been dogged by questions about his stance on the bill throughout his campaign, apparently responded with violence. According to Jacobs himself, and confirmed by Fox news reporters who witnessed the event, Gianforte put his hands around Jacobs鈥� throat, threw him to the ground, and repeatedly punched him, all the while yelling, 鈥淕et the hell out of here!鈥� Jacobs鈥� recording of the event is chilling.

This was not an incident. Throughout Gianforte鈥檚 campaign, he has been hostile toward the media. The Helena Independent Record in an editorial piece yesterday that Gianforte 鈥渉as encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and even made a joke out of the notion of choking a news writer.鈥� Newspapers that endorsed Gianforte despite this record of hostility 鈥� including the Independent Record, the Missoulian, and the Billings Gazette 鈥� all their endorsements after the attack.

Recently, American officials have indulged an extremely disturbing predilection for intimidating members of the press. To take just a few examples: Earlier this month, a reporter in West Virginia was arrested for asking questions about the AHCA to two senior government officials in the state capitol. An Alaska state senator slapped a journalist over a story he didn鈥檛 like. Last week, Federal Communications Commission security personnel a reporter to the wall, and then they proceeded to stalk him out of the building for trying to ask a commissioner a question after a public hearing. Former House Member Michael Grimm was threatening to throw a reporter off a balcony and 鈥渂reak [him] in half.鈥� And journalists covering the protests of President Trump鈥檚 inauguration were and charged with felony rioting.

Unfortunately, our president has not been helpful in modeling respect for an independent media. President Trump, who famously the press 鈥渢he enemy of the people,鈥� has a well-known for calling out reporters in the midst of hostile rallies. Trump鈥檚 aide, Corey Lewandowski, was grabbing and yanking a reporter at a press conference 鈥� disproving Trump鈥檚 suggestion that she fabricated the incident.

We must hold our elected officials to a higher standard. When members of Congress take office, they swear an oath to 鈥渟upport and defend the Constitution of the United States,鈥� to 鈥渂ear true faith and allegiance to the same,鈥� and to 鈥渇aithfully discharge the duties鈥� of their office. Those are not empty words, but a promise to uphold the ideals on which this country was founded. Freedom of the press, which is expressly protected by the First Amendment, is one of those ideals. The press has historically served as an unofficial 鈥渃heck鈥� in our system of checks and balances 鈥� think , the , , and, of course, 鈥� holding those in power accountable for their actions. An attack on the press is an attack on our constitutional democracy.

If we鈥檙e going to entrust public officials with our rights and freedoms, they need to prove that they will uphold their oath. That means not only respecting but defending a free press. If politicians can鈥檛 live up to their word, we鈥檒l need to hold them accountable. Thankfully, we still have many superb journalists who are up to the task.