Anti-Republican Conservatives?
Tom Becka, an Omaha Paradox
My instincts say this guy is a con job from the top to the bottom. He is superficial. He claims to be conservative but rarely misses an opportunity to criticize Republicans, cynics, and conservatives as well. Tom Becka was part of KFAB and moved to KPTM 42 Fox years ago (https://fox42kptm.com/station/people/tom-becka-09-12-2015). You probably caught his segment in the evening.
Becka has constantly taken issue with Republicans. He blames Republican “insurrectionists”, but if January 6 was an insurrection, would you not ban the political party behind it? Sorry, rhetoric only goes so far but Becka will double down. Perhaps some of the claims of voter fraud went a bit far but the Carter and Baker - 2005 - Building Confidence in U.S. Elections Report was put out over 15 years ago and mentioned concerns about mail-in balloting. Good luck on finding it on the internet. You will encounter many broken links as the report has nearly been scrubbed from the internet. Gees, I wonder why. And Becka will state there absolutely was nothing wrong with the election in spite of thousands of election processes being changed due to Covid. Drop-boxes in Douglas County are the result.
But Becka never liked Trump to begin with. I was in the anti-Trump camp when Trump ran in 2016 largely because he had supported Democrats in past, but a year into his Administration, I appreciated what he did from the Supreme Court to taxes. Yet, many Republicans and conservatives still take issue with Trump. They fit into about three categories.
Immigration: open borders or closed borders. Pro-immigration or anti-immigration. Neither of these really set the mold for what Trump wanted. He wanted the US southern border enforced like any other border in the world and borrowed ideas from Bernie Sanders and blue-collar workers who opposed excessive immigration. His detractors would always view Trump as racist because of this.
Isolationism: Trump wanted no more costly military interventions. He picked up on the issue from Ron Paul Actually, Trump wanted strategical and tactical approaches to defending US interests which is why he listened to military officials on the ground making daily decisions. Trump did quite well, but his detractors view him as an isolationist. Yet, Russian leader Putin never invaded any country while Trump was in power. Thank Biden and Obama for Putin’s excursions.
Tariffs on trade: many economic conservatives took issue with Trump on this but realized China needed to be contained. Also, economic conservatives were far more tolerant of Trump compared to others. Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore and Art Laffer helped Trump construct one of the most innovative and effective tax reforms ever (https://prescottenews.com/index.php/2023/01/24/opinion-its-official-trumps-tax-cuts-paid-for-themselves-stephen-moore/ and book https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250193711/trumponomics)
Years ago, I was so infuriated with Becka, I asked to meet with him to explain Club for Growth. He was cordial and polite but still did not get it. Many have accused Club for Growth of imposing a purity test when in reality, the group opposed economic idiots. Many elected officials could improve their economic standings on non-controversial measures but vote with their ignorance for bad ideas.
Becka seems to have found his niche ragging on Republicans in a purple county. He seriously is not interested in the Republican Party. He does not show up for events and he does not query much of anyone in the Republican party structure from what I can tell. He is just that boy who insists on crapping in the urinal and peeing on the floor. Hey, Becka, you are bringing everyone down! He is just a show guy and he wrote a book to prove his point (https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Business-Without-Show-Blockbuster/dp/0981546102). So, have to wonder, just how legitimate is anything Becka says. Beats me, but if he is conservative, it is too often superficial and ineffective.
I have no idea who he is, but--then--I won't be showing up for any more Republican meetings either after the one appalling example I attended here in Lincoln over a year ago. I don't want any part of a party that's run like that. The only reason why I'm still a Republican is so that I can vote in the primaries--and because the Democrat party is just that much worse.
But if there was another truly viable option, I'm sure that a lot of us would abandon them both without a backward glance.
You need to add a new reason to the list of major complaints now against Trump:
He has a terrible case of foot-in-mouth syndrome over his (mis)management of the COVID crisis/scam and the COVID shots. He keeps getting painted into corners by journalists where he's forced (or offered the opportunity) to defend his legacy on this--and he keeps going for it! I am seeing people who've supported him despite that legacy up until now turn on him with a vengeance over this.
The deaths and suffering this nastiness has wrought are totally inexcusable. I share their pain and I understand their anger. I wish--HOW I WISH--that Trump and other leaders in the GOP other than DeSantis would start to figure this out and get a clue. This is not a legacy that needs to be defended. It is a legacy for which they're going to need to go down on their knees collectively in repentance.
The ones who get there faster--like DeSantis--will have a political future going forward. I believed up until a few days ago that Trump did too, but--he isn't going to if he doesn't change his tune ASAP and start singing a new one quite loudly.
Never listened to Becca. I guess I didn’t miss much!