Under normal circumstances, the president of the United States praising a congressman for assaulting a member of the press would be considered poor form. In fact, one might go so far as to say it’s something a normal president would straight-up never do, particularly against the backdrop of news about a journalist (and U.S. resident) being killed inside a foreign consulate for the crime of criticizing an authoritarian regime. But Donald Trump is not a normal president, and so on Thursday night, while endorsing the re-election of noted criminal Greg Gianforte to represent Montana’s at-large congressional district, Trump had this to say:

“Greg is smart. And by the way, never wrestle him . . . Any guy that can do a body slam, he’s my kind of guy . . . I was in Rome, with a lot of the leaders from other countries, talking about all sorts of things, and I heard about [Gianforte body-slamming Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs for asking a question about health care]—and we endorsed Greg very early, but I had heard that he body-slammed a reporter, and he was way up—and I said—this was like the day of the election, or just before—and I said, ‘Oh, this is terrible. He’s going to lose the election!’ Then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute. I know Montana pretty well—I think it might help him.’ And it did!”

To be clear, Trump wasn’t worried about the moral implications of assaulting a reporter—only that having done so might cost a Republican an election. Of course, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the president, who has called the media the “enemy of the people,” would have such a take. When you’re covering for Saudi Arabia over the death of a dissident journalist, who many believe was murdered and hacked to pieces on the orders of the crown prince, beating up a member of the press is practically considered best practice.