Ready to break with Trump? Or has John McCollister (R-Omaha) already broken with him?Nebraska's 20th state Senate district is in western Omaha. About 90.35% of the voters are white, 3.65% Hispanic, 2.7% Black and 2.11% Asian. The current senator, John McCollister, won the seat in 2014-- when Blue Dog sometimes Dem/sometimes Republican Brad Ashford was termed out-- and was reelected last year. A member of the Republican party, he describes his political orientation as "center-right." He's definitely been sounding more "center" than "right" on Twitter lately.On Sunday evening he pretty much sounded like he had had it with Trump. Narratively, he wrote:
The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country. As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.I of course am not suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacists nor am I saying that the average Republican is even racist.What I am saying though is that the Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity inside our party.We have a Republican president who continually stokes racist fears in his base. He calls certain countries "sh*tholes," tells women of color to 'go back' to where they came from and lies more than he tells the truth.We have Republican senators and representatives who look the other way and say nothing for fear that it will negatively affect their elections.No more.When the history books are written, I refuse to be someone who said nothing.The time is now for us Republicans to be honest with what is happening inside our party. We are better than this and I implore my Republican colleagues to stand up and do the right thing.We all like to cite Abraham Lincoln’s Republican lineage when it is politically expedient but NOW is the time to ACT like Lincoln and take a stand.
Aside from tending to vote frequently with the Democrats in the state legislature, he's been acting very un-Republican since early in the month, first when the partisan Supreme Court pro-gerrymandering decision came down. He seemed mortified. A week and a half later, he was not a happy camper about Trump's attacks on Ilhan, AOC, Rashida and Ayanna-- and tweeted about it in no uncertain terms. "This is what racism looks like... There are no ambiguities," very much in variance from the official Republican Party talking points, which were supposed to cover up for Trump.And all month he was tweeting about Global Warming, early in the month that "Climate change is the central issue of our time and as we approach the 2020 election, we MUST elect politicians that take it seriously." His state senate district lies entirely within the 2nd congressional district. The incumbent, Republican Don Bacon, absolutely does not take Climate Change seriously. The Democrat challenging him, Kara Eastman, absolutely does. "If someone running doesn't list it as a main priority, vote for someone who does. If a politician denies the CLEAR science, vote for someone else and tell everyone else you know to do the same." He was, in effect, urging his constituents to vote Bacon out and replace him with Kara Eastman. Three weeks later, he was tweeting about Climate again: "Climate change deniers display the same scientific understanding as flat earthers." And he included a picture, pointing out the foolishness of the Republican Party position. (He has also told people that last year he voted for Kara Eastman instead of Don Bacon.)
