During the summer of 2016 I was doing a talk radio program in Kansas City.  You will recall this was the time when the Donald Trump phenomime was really gaining steam.  I’ll admit I was and still am perplexed about the attraction to the former President, so I asked my callers to tell me what they saw in him that I wasn’t seeing. 

One of the answers has stuck with me all these years later.  A caller said that he liked Donald Trump because he can and I’m quoting, “say the things that we can’t say.”  I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that then, but I think I do now.

Donald Trump, and his followers like Steve Bannon have given people the go ahead to act crudely. To be uncivil. To make personal attacks acceptable.  It gave Trump wannabees like State Senator Steve Halloran the go ahead to insert another State Senators name as he read a violent passage about rape that he said was in a book that could be found in a public school library. 

Senator Halloran was trying to make a point about a book he didn’t think was appropriate for students.  A valid point that could be up for discussion. But he also used it to make an unnecessary personal attack on Senator Cavanaugh by inserting their name.  I say “their” name because there are two Senator Cavanaughs in the Unicameral. A brother and a sister.  It was assumed that he meant Senator Michaela Cavanaugh who has talked about being the victim of sexual assault and not her brother John. Senator Halloran has tried to cover his tracks by saying he meant John although I’m not sure how that makes things any better. 

Senator Halloran could have read that graphic excerpt and then said something like….         “ I ask my esteemed colleagues if they think describing  something as awful as rape in this specific detail is right for high school aged kids? Aren’t their books out there that can get that same point across without being so pornographic?”

Then the discussion would have been about what is and what isn’t appropriate for public school students and not about the ad hominem attack on the Senators Cavanaugh. An attack that that garnered national media attention and was criticized by members of both political parties.

But that’s how we are in politics today.  Civility be damned. So much for Nebraska Nice.

When I did that call in show in 2016 another caller said that he liked Trump because of all the chaos and name calling saying it was “great reality TV”.  I pointed out that it was not reality TV.  It was REALITY!  And the reality is Donald Trump has allowed politicians to say things they might not have said in the past.  The reality is that Donald Trump has allowed behavior that would have ruined a political career a few years ago to be tolerated and swept under the rug.

I don’t know Senator Halloran. I don’t know if he is really a nice guy that got all caught up in the moment, or a real jerk that enjoys saying rude, boorish, and crude things to members of a different party just because he can.  I do know that what he did on the floor of the Unicameral was uncalled for.

And yes, the First Amendment does guarantee his right to say those things, and I support that right.  That right is the same one I use to call out the term limited senator for his bad behavior.

 But I also support the responsible use of the First Amendment just as I support responsible use of the Second.  And it seems to me that too many people are defending classless, hurtful, comments by hiding under their First Amendment right.  Well with rights come responsibilities and Senator Halloran acted irresponsibly by editing the passage and making it personal.

This session is just about over, and Senator Halloran will not be back. The Unicameral will no longer have to deal with him.  They say the pendulum swings both ways.  Let’s hope  that the voters in his district replace the former farmer from Hastings with someone that has the brains and the decency to act in a manner becoming of a Nebraska State Senator.

Let’s hope that we can return to a time when people don’t feel that a Presidential candidate allows them to say the things they shouldn’t say.

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.