Nebraska lawmaker, a Republican, says his own party enables white supremacy

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Joseph Morton

WASHINGTON — Nebraska State Sen. John McCollister is speaking out against his own Republican Party and President Donald Trump.

“The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country,” McCollister wrote on Twitter Sunday night. “As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.”

In a phone interview Monday, McCollister said he has been concerned about the direction of his party for some time, but the horrors of people being gunned down over the weekend represented a tipping point.

McCollister's Twitter posts came after the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday that left 22 people dead and 24 injured. Authorities have linked the gunman to a manifesto posted online that railed against an "invasion" of Latino immigrants, particularly in Texas.


John McCollister

Read more: https://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-lawmaker-a-republican-says-his-own-party-enables-white/article_a5659ece-f553-5a44-b8c6-ac445c31de76.html

[hibbing]

1. While our idiot governor praises Trumpy at every opportunity n/t

[Ohiogal]

2. "Concerned,". "Troubled," "Disturbing"...

Gee, thems fightin’ words!

When are you and your party going to demand impeachment?

[Doc_Technical]

3. What do you think the Republican party has been doing for the last 50 years?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

[BumRushDaShow]

5. And just to underscore that, lest we forget

[Mr.Bill]

4. Well, he gets it.

It's not White Nationalism, it's White Supremacy.

[Wellstone ruled]

7. Well,last year at this time

as we crossed Nebraska,lot's of Confederate and Militia Flags flying along HWY 30 and 81 .

[jayschool2013]

17. That's the Western part of the state

Omaha is split 50/50 Democrats and Republicans. Nearly 1 million people live in the metro on the Nebraska side.

Lincoln is about the same split, though it just elected in a convincing vote a Democratic mayor. Slightly more than 300,000 people live there.

The rest of the state — the 450 miles west and north of Lincoln — consists of only 600,000 people, but 85-90 percent vote Republican.

Like the rest of the country, it's a rural-urban split, with Nebraska's urban areas consistently purple.

Remember, Omaha's Congressional district voted for Obama (giving him that Electoral College vote) in 2008. That could happen again in 2020 even if Trump wins the state convincingly. Lincoln's district might even be in play, but Lincoln's U.S. House district vote is negated and generally overridden by the other 300,000 people in that district, most of whom live in rural areas or small towns, and who vote overwhelmingly Republican.

[Wellstone ruled]

19. Sorry,those Hiways we use start at Grand Isle

to Columbus and north to Yankton. Been making this run for 16 years. This is our first year of not doing our Rellie Trek. We usually make a stop in Norfolk to visit a long time Business Friend and kind of get caught up on the Happenings. As you might be aware,81 is the Food Producer Hwy from the Kansas Border to the North Dakota Border. And our acquaintance said last year that he was more than concerned about Relationships with the Hispanic and the Somali communities and the White Locals. Being a retail business person,the subtle threats are just part of his day. But,he has seen a uptick in those verbal threats to his Sales staff.

[jayschool2013]

20. Sounds like an interesting trek

Good to see someone get off I-80 every once in a while, and you do it all the time.

BTW, it's Grand Island.

Peace.

[Wellstone ruled]

21. Know that it is Island,

been doing this route for twenty years. Where we lived it was known as Isle and the locals use the same.

[onetexan]

16. it's taken this long for him to realize this? well at least he's now speaking out, but so far it's

only him who is brave enough to speak the truth. None of them have any spine to stand up to this fool they enable.

[BlueWI]

6. Such a rare acknowledgement of the obvious.

Could it be a new trend? Republicans acknowledge that racist hate speech leads to racial violence?

Skipping sociology class has its consequences.

[ananda]

8. Just for the record.

This is the height of hypocrisy.

He just doesn't want the appearance of racism
and fascism.

All Reeps are racists and fascists. Some just want
to appear respectable.

[Wednesdays]

9. He'll be tossed out of the party in 3...2...1...

[kimbutgar]

10. I'm sure fat donnie will have one of his insane rallies in Nebraska and attack this truth teller

[brooklynite]

11. ...and the Nebraska GOP wants to kick him out

Link to tweet

So the Ohio GOP wants to kick out a Republican legislator for excusing White Supremacy and Nebraska GOP wants to kick out a Republican legislator for denouncing White Supremacy.

[DallasNE]

12. Background

John's father John Y. McCollister was the long-time Republican House member representing the Omaha area. This John is an old school Republican.

I don't know him well or even professionally. I know him from our workouts at the fitness center. He is a fiscal conservative but pretty progressive on the social issues. You might say that he is old school Republican so he no longer fits the mold of current Republicans that demand purity.

[Linda Ed]

13. RACHEL

Maddow revealed on-air that she reached out to thirty different Republicans in the House and Senate, hoping to find one who was willing to come on her show tonight and discuss current events. Not a single one of them was willing to take her up on it. Maddow is known as a tough interview, but still, she couldn’t find even one Republican in Congress to come on her show tonight – and we all know why. COWARDS!

[riversedge]

14. Congressional Repugs are in deep hiding! Tapper, last Sunday said he had asked Repugs to come on

his Sunday show, but all turned him down also. Cowards!

[The Liberal Lion]

15. Enabling is what they use to do

Since trump empowering would be a better word to describe what they now do.

[jayschool2013]

18. Omaha's Electoral College vote

Remember, Nebraska will split its Electoral College votes if a specific U.S. House district votes against the rest of the state.

It happened in NE-2 in 2008, with Obama getting that vote. That's the district dominated by Omaha. It's listed as +4 Republican, so not safe in the presidential race even if they re-elect Don Bacon for the House.

In NE-1, even though Lincoln is skewing more and more blue, the rest of the district is so red as to overwhelm liberal votes in the capitol city, which now has more than 300,000 residents.

NE-3 is hopelessly red.

(Go Big Red, but only in sports, of course)

[IcyPeas]

22. makes you wonder....

does mitch mcturtle send out a memo to everyone threatening them not to go on shows and/or speaking out? Or do they all just run and hide in their...... shells?