Yep - Dan jumped the shark - I find it refreshing to have a Republican running who isn’t afraid to get in the fray when the leftists get pushy...we need more fighters and less “lovers”.
It’s pretty stupid to allow yourself to be goaded into beating up a reporter.
The reporter went into the situation hoping to create exactly the result he got, and it worked. You can use a microphone and an aggressive question in such a way that you can trigger a person’s fight or flight midbrain response, and that would appear to be what happened here. Gianforte clearly chose fight, not flight.
Whether it hurts him or not electorally, it certainly brands him for better or worse. In the same situation, not sure I would have reacted any differently though.