You know things are bad when Republicans make backroom deals with Democrats to betray a conservative Republican governor.

That’s what happened in Oklahoma in May.

The Republican-led House and Senate made a “deal with the devil” to overturn the budget bills that had been signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a genuine conservative.

The good old boys in the GOP decided they would try to take advantage of Stitt and concoct a budget without his input. They did. It passed and he vetoed it. Then, with the help of the most liberal Democrats in the Legislature, they overrode Stitt’s veto.

The budget they passed gives more money public education. It deters the ongoing effort to fully fund the retirement accounts for policemen, firefighters and teachers. And it strips money away from highways while promising to let the highway department borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to make up the shortfall.

Being a registered Republican doesn’t mean you are a fiscal conservative. There are only a  few left in the House and Senate. The Republicans in charge have one goal – grow government so they can hold on to power.

And they are very good at passing historically big budgets while borrowing billions.

Here’s the problem. Because of the revenue shortfall due to the coronavirus, those same Republicans will be soon be seeking a huge tax increase. They just recently passed the biggest tax increase in Oklahoma history. Like their new Democrat buddies, they are on the tax-and-spend bandwagon.

Oklahoma was making progress. We dumped most of the conservative lawmakers to make room for liberals registered as Republicans.

Gov. Stitt is a breath of air but the Republicans and Democrats have him in their crosshairs because he is too conservative.