Whenever I’m confronted with another disjointed rant from Bob Bonney in the Chinook Observer, the theme song from “The Twilight Zone” starts playing in my head and I can hear Rod Serling’s words… “You are traveling through another dimension…”

Mr. Bonney has a long history of spewing partisan nonsense with little regard for the truth. His world is black and white, no shades of gray. You are either a proud, self-proclaimed conservative or you are a bleeding-heart liberal who is the cause of all our problems. That is the limit of Bonney’s intellect. He does not entertain any idea, any thought that conflicts with his conservative views and he darn sure doesn’t believe anything that the “liberal media” have to say.

In Bonney’s defense he does fit the demographic of those prone to accepting and projecting right-wing propaganda. He’s a white male with only basic education and limited income. His strong conservative opinions force him to ignore the reality he sees in favor of the one he imagines.

An article in Psychology Today examines the conservative brain and comes to some interesting conclusions. It seems Bonney’s brain is to blame for his conservative convictions so it is not all his fault and he may in fact be treatable…

“Science has shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening. A 2008 study in the journal of Science found that conservatives have a stronger physiological reaction to startling noises and graphic images compared to liberals. A brain-imaging study published in Current Biology revealed that those who lean right politically tend to have a larger amygdala — a structure that is electrically active during states of fear and anxiety. And a 2014 fMRI study found that it is possible to predict whether someone is a liberal or conservative simply by looking at their brain activity while they view threatening or disgusting images, such as mutilated bodies. Specifically, the brains of self-identified conservatives generated more activity overall in response to the disturbing images.”

So you see, Bonney’s brain exaggerates his fear causing him to have a skewed view of the world around him. This helps explain his irrational and often contradictory statements both present and past.

For example, I recall clearly how Bonney used to rail against Obama for his use of executive orders. Now that Trump uses EO’s routinely Bonney never complains about it. I remember Bonney ranting about Obama creating too much debt yet here we are under Trump with a 77% increase in the deficit and trillions more being added to our debt. Bonney doesn’t say a word about it.

Bonney, in his latest rant, tries to blame the Democrats for not passing immigration reform. He gives a factually challenged account that fits his agenda but does not match history. In reality, there were 60 votes in the Senate to confirm immigration reform on two occasions, once in 2006 and again in 2013. Both times the House Republican majority refused to take it up. Both times it was the GOP who killed immigration reform. Why? Because they don’t want it solved, it’s their boogeyman, it’s their red meat.

We heard much from Bonney about what he did not like during the Obama years. He was a frequent critic who parroted GOP propaganda like a good conservative.

Now Trump is president and Bonney is eager to tell us how much he likes him. He’s a successful businessman, according to Bonney, even though he has gone bankrupt six times and no U.S. Banks will lend to him. Bonney goes on to claim that Trumps economic policies are bringing companies back to the U.S. after so called predatory trade practices drove them away. The truth is there has not been a large influx of companies to the U.S. as Trump promised. Instead we continue to send thousands of jobs out of country as auto makers and other manufactures grapple with Trump’s trade uncertainty. Manufacturing in the U.S. is actually mired in their deepest slump since the great recession.

Hundreds of Farmers each year are filing bankruptcy as a direct result of Trumps trade war. Taxpayers are bailing out the rest of the farmers to the tune of $16 billion this year after paying them $12 billion last year. I can’t imaging Bonney would have thought this good policy under Obama but he says nothing about it now.

It is this hypocrisy that makes it difficult to take Bonney seriously.

After all the trash he talked about Obama, Bonney now supports a self-proclaimed sexual predator who has cheated on all his wives and pays off porn stars. He supports a man who has multiple, credible accusations of sexual misconduct levied against him. A man who stated that he just grabs women because he can’t help himself and they let him because he’s famous.

Bonney supports a bigot who was sued for housing discrimination in the 1970s and called Mexicans rapists and murderers in 2015 with a long history of racial improprieties in between. Bonney supports a man who had children ripped from their parents and thrown in cages without even the basic necessities.

Can you imagine what Bonney would have said if these facts related to Obama instead of Trump? Or perhaps not. Perhaps Bonney shares Trump’s objectionable views.

That’s why we don’t hear any condemnation from Bonney about Trump, he’s Bonney’s kind of guy. Two peas in a pod.

In closing, I’ll remind Mr. Bonney that no one has to convince him that they are patriots. Bonney does not define patriotism for me or any other American. Patriotism is a truly personal experience that has as many definitions as those who embrace it. Until Bonney realizes that he will be forever lost in his twilight zone.

SCOT CALHOUN

Long Beach