Last updated on 2018-06-17
Neal Tapio has a strange attraction in both Aberdeens. Former South Dakota legislator turned Scottish theologian Steve Hickey supports Neal Tapio for Congress:
Tapio understands what makes America great—strange: where Hickey hears goodness and generosity, I hear fear and loathing of the other, irrational scapegoating, and appeals to booogeymen instead of practical policymaking? Sure.
Campaign ads paid for with his own hard earned money—Translation: Hardly anyone else is willing to support his campaign, so he has to empty his own pockets.
Says what needs to be said—like telling journalist Lori Walsh how to be a mom, even though she has kids and he doesn’t? Like Republican primary voters that their party is led by Clinton turncoats?
Perils gaining strength in and around our country—gaining strength? So Trump isn’t really making America great again? He’s just putting us in more danger? Or let’s just be honest: perils abound, always have, always will. Perils come and perils go. Barack Obama dealt with the perils of two wars and a global economic collapse and got us up and running pretty well. Donald Trump inherited Obama’s successes and is increasing the chances of war and economic turmoil while helping our geopolitical rivals. Tapio’s call to switch from investigating the clear and present dangers of Donald Trump and to go back to prosecuting Hillary Clinton shows that Tapio’s peril-to-America radar is broken.
Willing to stand alone against the political pressures in his own party—If standing against the Republican Party elites is your criterion for endorsement, why not achieve your goal more directly and vote for Democrat Tim Bjorkman?
Assure you he is a committed Christian—Tapio’s whiny fear and lies are not the Christianity I know and tolerate. Besides, Scott Westerhuis was a committed Christian. He stole millions, killed his family, torched his house, and committed suicide to escape justice. Professions of commitment to Christianity offer no clear guide to a public figure’s practical morality or political effectiveness.
Steve Hickey graces this blog with some intelligent comments. I continue to welcome such comments from a trans-Atlantic Aberdonian. But his comment in favor of Neal Tapio requires correction.
The lunatic fringe is revealing itself in SD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTFVMMCwsss
Wow, Mr Hickey. Wow. “you know, Neal is a fear mongering, fake christian, and racist — but I like him”
I wonder if Mr Hickey will be having Mr Tapio over so they can binge watch Handmaid’s Tale together.
When neither side is cheering you on, that means you are positioned just about right. This is where Neal sits and it’s a place I also know well.
And where most in South Dakota sit.
Mr. Hickey, sadly you may be right.
Neal Tapioca is on Mr. Hickey’s dream team for the Rapture. The holy rollers get all tingly inside when they think of Jews cooking in the fires of hell, kind of to finish the job their history books told them about their Anglo Saxon-Germanic race… The German history one of course, edition 1930-1945.
Jerry, I helped start South Dakotans for Israel. I’m not a Lutheran and have written terse words against Luther’s anti-Semitism and the 20th century bad fruit of it. And I reject the whole Left Behind rapture bit you mention and fit a classic premillennialism that you probably don’t understand.
Now, do you have anything constructive to add?
Steve, I accept you at your word that you reject the rapture/end times prophesy that many Evangelicals see the move of the Israeli embassy as ushering closer; can you also assure us that Senator Tapio also rejects that doctrine?
I am concerned by the use of “committed Christian” (in this and other current GOP campaigns) as dog whistle language. Are you asking for a implicit endorsement of that specific religious dogma (therefore rejection of all other) with support of Senator Tapio? Why choose the general term “Christian”; why not person specific Catholic/Methodist/Episcopalian/ . . . ?
Now that President Trump has hijacked the GOP, is it still fair to Consider Senator Tapoi a party “outsider?” I see that more as him being the center of the newly defined, national GOP — not SD conservatism.
Jerry,
The Fourth Reich dietary laws have changed. This time around Muslims are the designees for roasting. And the great purveyor of 3,000 publicly uttered lies in just one year is the water walker who will eventually lead a great military parade with Hillary’s head on a pike. It’s in the Book.
Hickey did some island hopping, got hungry and swallowed the Blarney Stone. Then he passes excess gas back to South Dakota.
Hickey’s endorsement of Tapio is precisely why South Dakotans should not only vote against Tapio, but actively campaign against him.
Politicians need to calm the fears of the public with plans of action to resolve their fears. Tapio is playing off the hate and fear mongering of Trump.
As Hickey is in a foreign land separated by at least one large body of water, doesn’t that make him the ultimate outsider in Douth Dakota politics?
I mean, posters here have complained about me, incessantly Grudz, and Donald Pay way out there in Wisconsin as being outside interlopers. Debbo gets her share of grief, as well.
But but Doctor Newquist, Pastor(sic) Jeffress said this “Trump Choosing a ‘Jews Are Going to Hell’ Evangelical to Pray at the Jerusalem Embassy Is Offensive. But It’s No Accident
Pastor Robert Jeffress also thinks Islam is evil, Mormons belong to a cult, Catholicism is a product of Satan’s genius and ‘gay is not OK.’ But what’s a bit of bigotry and theological anti-Semitism between pro-Israel friends?”
Steve Hickey writes:
I’m a former member of the Lutheran denomination but a continuing advocate for Luther.
During the prime of his Christian ministry, Martin Luther vigorously defended Jews from anti-Semitism. He apparently turned hostile toward them during the last ten years of his life, when he was tormented by a variety of severe physical illnesses that may have affected his mental health. I’d posted this brief defense of Luther on John Tsitrian’s blog in 2015:
http://theconstantcommoner.blogspot.com/2015/08/its-okay-to-hate-jews-martin-luther.html?showComment=1440048738655#c9041452548332075120
I’m not a Republican, so I’m not eligible to vote in the U.S. House primary, and I’d probably vote for Shantel Krebs if I were:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2018/01/29/mickelson-hopes-to-kill-third-parties-with-minimum-membership-requirements/#comment-96028
With that said, I find Steve’s endorsement of Neal well-written and persuasive. It raises my opinion of both of them. Neal probably draws a lot of encouragement from the fact that he has a friend willing to stand beside him when he’s taking incoming fire from all sides.
Ah yes…. Tapio’s banner ads include such Christ-like phrasing as “America First” and “Build The Wall”. That’s probably how Jesus would talk if he were alive today because if there is one thing I know about Jesus it is about how concerned he was for keeping brown people away from him.
Oh wait.
Steve, are you saying most in South Dakota sit where neither side is cheering them on?
I share Steve’s sympathy for outsiders. However, some candidates earn their place outside and should be left there. Tapio earns his outsiderdom with paranoia, falsehood, disrespect for the Constitution, and a lack of practical policy problem-solving.
It’s hard for any Protestant to completely dismiss Luther.
But let’s also remind ourselves that declaring a candidate a committed Christian really has no place in a free pluralistic nation whose Constitution specifically forbids any religious test for public office.
So Steve. As a Christian do you support Trumps plan to take children away from their parents who are here illegally and put them in concentration camps? I’m guessing Tapio is all for it. As long as these kids are brown it’s ok.
I dunno about everyone else, but I am like totally shocked (not even) that Mr. Evans would support the conservative communism that comes from both Neal Tapioca and Mr. Hickey. It truly says a lot about how far down the rabbit hole America has slipped. Somehow, when I read their praises to one another, I think of Mark Mickelson and the CAFO’s stink he represents. The Red Wave indeed.
All religion poisons everything.
Religion is a crutch for the weak minded.
Cory – I’m saying most of South Dakota isn’t as hyper partisan as everyone here, nor everyone over at DWC. I’m saying populism is alive and well in SD. Issue by issue is how we roll and depending on the day we are at odd with someone’s party platform. No box fits us.
Craig – America first isn’t anti-Christian. God raised up Abraham to be a great nation and from him would come a company of great nations. It’s precisely how history has unfolded. It’s not a sin to aspire to godly greatness; goodness and generosity. Part of the blessing of God is his favour and protection, which has historically come in the form of discerning gatekeepers and walled cities. If you lock your doors at night then you need to stop making the comments you are making. You lock your doors because you love not because you hate. There are people inside who you care about and you know there are people out there with evil intentions.
Owen, I don’t support separating families. And do support a path toward citizenship for many of those already here (not all, ie MS-13 types need to go) and a shut tight border with a vibrant and welcoming legal immigration process. These are things your team believed in less than a decade ago before your irrational, deep-seated spite and malice for Trump possessed your judgment. I don’t believe your concentration camp rhetoric. You sound like a left wing Alex Jones, or basically a CNN disciple. Toss out the race card “brown” and you lose in my book. This isn’t about race. It’s about national security and against open borders. There are BBC headlines here in Europe saying multi-culturalism is a failure. I’m not sure that’s right. I do think there are real problems trying to include Islamists in the lovely melting pot. Wish that wasn’t the case, but it is. Europe is falling, in fact some say it has fallen. My life is full of people of all races and colours. Yours is pretty white??? So drop the “brown” comments.
Grud – such foolishness out of you and one day you’ll agree with me on that, and I’ve read your comments for years now…. has anyone every told you that your old guy misogyny schtick isn’t cute?
For all… being a Protestant or a Catholic or a Methodist or a Lutheran has nothing to do with being a committed Christian.
Tapio can’t even come up with original slogans. He’s a leech.
Steve, true, there’s nothing wrong or un-Christian in locking one’s doors to keep one’s family safe. However, bearing false witness against one’s neighbors is.
Steve-I don’t believe you’re a racist but you are supporting a racist in Trump.
I’m not throwing out the race card out. Just a fact. Trump wants to waste money on a stupid wall and he wants to separate children from their parents. He calls these people animals and I’m not supposed to mentioned race? That’s the usual right wing cop-out.
I agree that we need immigration reform and Obama tried to do it. But as usual he was blocked most of time by Republicans.
I also agree that bad people have to go. By the way MS-13 was created in Los Angeles
How much will a wall on our northern border cost? If we are going to be a walled country it makes sense to have walls on both northern and southern borders.
I wrote a comment which was lost in the ether of the interwebs… so I’ll try this again.
Steve – I find the analogy of locking doors and border walls to be invalid. The reality if someone is breaking into a home, aside from an event such as a medical emergency or being stranded during a South Dakota blizzard and needing shelter, we can assume they have ill intent. Thus 99% of the time, the person breaking into a home is there to commit a crime such as burglary, assault, or worse.
On the other hand, can we say that 99% of the time illegal immigrants flowing over the border do so because they are intent on committing violent crime against the citizens of the US? No… in fact (contrary to what Donald Trump may say) studies show they commit such crime at rates below the general population. So it isn’t the same threat. Most of those people are merely trying to improve their lives or make a better life for their families. They aren’t “bad” people and they are often making a difficult decision that they know will result in a lifetime of hiding and fear, but yet they do so because the alternative is likely to be much worse.
Beside that, we know a significant amount, and by some accounts the majority of illegal immigration into our nation stems from those who enter the country legally and overstay their Visas. There are also those who enter through other methods such as cars, planes, boats etc. none of which are impacted by the wall.
So if a wall won’t address the majority of our illegal immigration, why should we devote tens of billions of dollars towards it? Why do people like Trump and Tapio place so much emphasis upon it? I believe the wall is nothing more than a symbol and it is meant to (both physically and figuratively) divide us. It may also act as a bit of a dog whistle to the racists among us who Trump seems to cater to.
It is no secret how Trump feels about minorities. There are dozens of examples of his racist behavior and comments. He has called Mexican people drug dealers, criminals, rapists and animals, he has attempted to ban brown-skinned people from our nation, and he has referred to those people as being from “_hithole countries” (unclear if Cory has a filter for such terms but I think we all know what I was quoting). Yet Trump, or others that support his view, don’t appear to offer solutions for immigration itself. Perhaps those tens of billions of dollars could be used to actually help humans and to improve lives.
We can still patrol our borders and we can still address illegal immigration, but a wall isn’t the most efficient use of our resources. Those that desire walls should dig deeper and explain what their ideas are for improving lives and addressing the underlying factors that drive people to enter our country illegally. I find it upsetting that they seem to ignore this. It is like a doctor treating the symptom while ignoring the disease and wondering why there is never any improvement.
So with that said do we really think Jesus would build that wall? I’m told he was a carpenter rather than a mason… so perhaps he would be building ladders instead. Something to think about.
“Mr. President, tear down this wall” – republican Ronald Reagan.
What happened to the republican party between Reagan and Trump?
trump isn’t hyperpartisan?? as well as tapio.
I know the arguments that trump is not partisan. he is a racist criminal. GOP are a bunch of criminals. The ones who aren’t like the GOP guy who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPA) are leaving. That’s called integrity, GOP.
trump shafted pay day lender victims, as well as for profit college students. so far. yet hickey campaigns for tapio, campaign chair with a glaring hook in his mouth emblazoned “trump”. steve, you exerted a lot of crossfire hurricane effort on the right side. your credibility is suspect.