Jim Beam column:Independent thinkers are rare
Moderates are leaving Congress as fast as chickens would run from an open coop. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who said his fifth term would be his last, is among the latest.
The Advocate last week ran two columns talking about moderates leaving Congress.
Kathleen Parker wrote about U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, announcing he wouldn't seek re-election after President Donald Trump threatened to support primary challengers to any Republican who dared oppose his Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Parker said a lengthening line of dropouts that GOP members like to call RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — have left office since Trump first became president.
Steve Roberts in his column said, 'While Trump had promised to protect Medicaid funding, Tillis argued that his bill would eventually deprive almost 12 million Americans of health care coverage, including 663,000 in Tillis' home state.
Tillis joined all 47 Democrats and Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins in voting against Trump's BBB Act. Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote to pass the bill.
The Nebraska Examiner quoted Bacon when he announced he was leaving Congress who said, 'I hope to be remembered for … I'm a Christian, first … American, second … somewhere down here being a Republican. It's about doing the right thing .. I'm a traditional conservative at heart.'
Like Louisiana's Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, Bacon cast a pivotal vote for President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill that put him at odds with Trump.
After the vote, Trump criticized Bacon during a May 2022 visit to Nebraska, calling him 'bad news.' His political team worked for years to recruit potential GOP primary challengers.
The Examiner said, 'But Bacon kept winning and continued to publicly spar with Trump…'
Bacon did vote for the BBB Act and was criticized for it by some national and Nebraska public officials.
NBC News in a story about Bacon's retirement from Congress said he spent 30 years in the Air Force and specialized in intelligence matters. He is a retired brigadier general who did four tours of duty in Iraq and also spent time in Afghanistan.
The NBC report said Bacon is one of the few sitting Republicans willing to publicly criticize Trump who has a reputation for retaliating against his enemies and ending their political careers.
Bacon insisted that neither the public feuds with Trump nor the violent threats he and his wife have faced had any impact on his decision to leave Congress. He said he didn't have the 'fire in my belly' for another congressional run.
The news about Bacon caught my attention because, like me, he is a strong defender of Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has a photograph on the wall of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And he has consistently been critical of Trump's handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Trump's 'appeasement' of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered a pause in sending a shipment of missiles and ammunition to Ukraine and Bacon said whoever ordered the weapons pause should be fired.
Bacon said, 'If Ukraine falls, the world's a more dangerous place. I really don't understand why President Trump doesn't see that. And if Ukraine goes down, Moldova will definitely fall. I think Georgia is in trouble.'
Although he said he was embarrassed to say it, Bacon said, 'President Trump has done worse than Biden (on Ukraine). I don't like it. He seems to have a blind spot with Putin. I don't know what purpose it serves to withhold weapons to Ukraine and not see that Putin is the invader.'
Trump has since resumed weapons for Ukraine, but the delay has been costly in terms of lives lost and damage in Ukraine.
Bacon added, 'I do believe that if I was president, I'd be trying to provide Ukraine with every weapon they needed to convince Putin he has no chance to win.' He added that he wished GOP Vice President JD Vance 'saw the Russian threat a little better.'
Tillis confirmed where this country is at the moment when he said, 'In Washington over the last few years, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.'
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com.
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