I’d be willing to bet that almost everyone reading this column has at one time or another gotten into a political discussion on social media.

I’d also be willing to bet that the person you were having that discussion with was someone you knew whether they were a close friend, family member, or casual acquaintance.

But because of the career I’ve chosen and the position I’ve put myself in, I can often end up in an online discussion with complete and total strangers. These are people I don’t know in real life who want to challenge me on my viewpoints.

Recently, I got into a conversation with a man who wanted to know my views on why I thought the immigration system was broken. I pointed out that this country was built by immigrants, and that the Senate had come up with a bipartisan agreement to help fix some of the problems, but that candidate Trump didn’t want to fix the problem. Trump wanted to use it as a campaign issue.

Well, the discussion soon devolved from there. He accused me of being a liar, used numerous MAGA talking points, and called me a liberal. When I said I was more of what the Republican Party used to be, he responded with one word… “Bull.”

That ended the conversation. But I kept thinking about it. I wrote him back the next day and said that I’d be willing to meet him for coffee and have a face-to-face discussion if we both promised to listen to each other. I didn’t expect us to change each other’s minds, but at least have a civil exchange of ideas.

After a day or so, he responded and agreed to meet.

I’ll admit I had no idea what was going to happen once I got there. Would he be some angry red baseball cap-wearing far-right extremist? Would we accomplish anything with this encounter? Would we find common ground, or would it end up as a shouting match? It wouldn’t surprise me if he had similar concerns.

Unsure of what I’d walked into, I found him to be a good guy. He said he wasn’t MAGA, yet he used all the MAGA talking points.

He blamed Nancy Pelosi for what happened on January 6th. He claimed that she blocked the National Guard from coming in. I asked him if Trump could call in the National Guard for California; why couldn’t he do it to protect the Capitol? He had no response, but I thought I saw a light bulb go off in his head as he gave it some thought.

I was not surprised when he told me that he’s never voted for a Democrat, but I was taken aback when he divulged that, in hindsight, he could have voted for Obama.

I found out that he gets most of his news from YouTube and social media. He asked why there weren’t any real journalists anymore. He listened when I pointed out that there are some great journalists doing incredible work under difficult conditions. I doubt he believed me.

As we parted ways, he told me he was an Evangelical Christian. I asked him how he could support a man like Trump who has been married three times, cheated on his wife with a porn star and was a convicted felon.

He admitted that he had cheated on his wife and that he too was a felon, but was never caught. I guess that made Trump relatable to his life.

I don’t know if we accomplished anything, but I felt good about our conversation. Voices weren’t raised, we didn’t call each other names, or dismiss the others’ views out of hand. We were two Americans who had diametrically opposed ideas of what America should be.

I recently wrote a column about what I’m seeing as a lack of humanity in society today. Perhaps if we spent more time with humans and less time with computers, humanity might make a comeback.

He didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him, but we both had preconceived ideas of each other based on social media posts. And those preconceived ideas weren’t favorable. But when we met face to face, we found out that we are both good guys. Neither one is the enemy; we just have different opinions of what is happening in America.

He didn’t convince me of anything, and I doubt I changed his mind. I’m going to continue to speak out about the dangers I see with this administration, but I’m going to try to have more face-to-face conversations and less time arguing online.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.