Where do I begin? We all knew or should have known, but over half the country ignored the warnings. Old school Republicans like Liz Cheney, Chris Christie, Adam Kinzinger, all tried to warn us, but then paid the political price.

Other Republicans like Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Mitch McConnel, and others all spoke out against him after January 6th but then all bowed down and asked for forgiveness.

His own Vice President called him America’s Hitler before J.D. Vance fell in line and started kissing his ass and singing his praises on Sunday morning television.

Mike Pence used to do that. How did that work out for him?

It’s time to stop pretending that the Trump 2.0 presidency is just a glitch and that things will begin to right themselves after the midterm elections, and then even more so after the 2028 elections.

Will there even be a 2028 election?

President Trump himself tried to warn us. During the campaign he would often read the poem “The Snake” by Oscar Brown Jr.

If you’re not familiar with the poem it’s about a woman who finds a snake frozen in the snow. She takes the snake in to warm and feed him. Then after the snake gets healthy it bites her.

When she asks why he bit her, the snake tells her it was her fault. He said, “You knew I was a snake before you let me in.”

Trump read it as an anti-immigration warning. I think he was actually warning us about what he had in store.

Yes, we were warned. We saw the writing on the wall but half of the voters either weren’t paying attention, thought that the system of checks and balances would correct any problems, or are in on the con itself.

I was going to write that the history books will not look kindly on those who enabled our president to put troops on American city streets. A president who championed taking away health care to fund tax breaks for the rich. Who increased inflation due to his tariffs and made it much harder for our farmers to sell their crops overseas.

I’m not sure what the history books will tell future generations. Will the historians be free to tell the truth? He’s already trying to whitewash the stain of slavery. Will future history books praise our authoritarian leader the way North Korea, Russia, and China’s history books praise theirs?

We saw this coming but chose to ignore it. The way we choose to ignore the fiscal cliff Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the whole Federal government is teetering on.

As I write this, it’s the first day of the government shutdown. I am sitting at Cleveland Hopkins airport waiting to come home to Omaha. I sure hope all the air controllers showed up for work today and aren’t too distracted by wondering how long it will be before they see their next paycheck.

This government shutdown could have been avoided if both sides would work together. This didn’t just spring up on us. We knew this was coming. After all, we were warned.

Trump even warned us he was going to be a dictator. But over half the voters ignored it. They thought he wasn’t serious. They excused it by saying he said he’d only be a dictator for one day. I wonder how many of them still feel that way now.

Trump was supposed to make America great. Instead, he’s made us a laughingstock in the international community where people from other countries chuckle at our president stuck on an escalator. Where our generals sit in stone silence while the President and the Secretary of Defe… I mean Secretary of War, tells these battle-hardened warriors they need to toughen up and get in shape. Secretary Hegseth said women need to meet the same physical requirements as men. Our military will no longer be “woke” as he put it.

As far as I’m concerned, if an obese transexual woman knows how to operate a drone or fight a cyber-attack let her serve.

I have no idea how this is all going to end, but if history gives us any kind of a warning it’s going to get worse before it gets any better. If it gets any better.

I tend to be more of an optimist than a pessimist. But it’s getting harder and harder to think things will get back to normal.

But we can’t say we weren’t warned.

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.