Democratic Party of Wisconsin
Press Release

Wisconsin Republicans are All Aboard the Trump Train

Donald Trump's dangerous, sexist, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric didn't stop Republican leaders in Wisconsin from eagerly jumping on the Trump train.

By - May 6th, 2016 11:01 am
Donald Trump. Image from campaign website.

Donald Trump. Image from campaign website.

MADISON – On Tuesday, Donald Trump successfully completed his hostile takeover of the Republican Party by winning the Indiana primary which forced out his two main rivals and all but secured the Republican presidential nomination. Donald Trump’s dangerous, sexist, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric didn’t stop Republican leaders in Wisconsin from eagerly jumping on the Trump train. 

“Throughout the entire primary season, Democrats have acted presidential, sharing ideas on how to make the economy work for everyone, make higher education affordable, raise wages for workers, increase access to quality and affordable healthcare, and invest in hard-working families through paid family leave,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair, Martha Laning, said on Friday. “Any responsible leader can see that Donald Trump is dangerous and lacks both the judgement and the temperament to be president. His nomination is a result of the Republicans elevating extreme voices and using divisive campaigns for years that sought to exploit unfounded fears for political gain. Republicans in Wisconsin should rip up their tickets to the Trump Train.”

Immediately after it became clear that Trump would be their Party’s nominee. Sen. Ron Johnson, Gov. Scott Walker, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Rep. Kathy Bernier and WisGOP 3rd Congressional District Chair all climbed aboard the Trump Train despite months of The Donald denigrating women, promoting misogyny, and exploiting cultural fears in the pursuit of getting elected. Their support is a clear indication of what the Republican Party has become, a party so concerned with grabbing power that they’ll allow a bombastic billionaire to bully his way to the Oval Office. 

Even Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest ranking elected leader in the Republican Party, can’t bring himself to denounce dangerous Donald Trump’s pursuit of the Presidency. Yesterday, Ryan announced that he wasn’t ready to support Donald Trump as the Party’s nominee, but noted that he hoped to support The Donald if he could unify the party. Speaker Ryan declined to mention any specific policy or platform change Trump would have to amend to garner his support, even as voters have heard outlandish and dangerous ideas from Trump like refusing to rule out using nuclear weapons on European territory or his proposal to take away a woman’s right to make her own health choices and punish women who had abortions. 

“As Republicans attempt to reconcile their failed strategy of running to the extreme, fervent base of their own Party during the primary, one thing is clear: Donald Trump is a dangerous candidate who should not be a serious consideration for the highest office in the nation. Our country deserves a President with the experience, intelligence and class to serve as leader of the free world. Republicans who board the Trump Train or fail to denounce Donald Trump and his candidacy in an outright manner are doing a disservice to Wisconsinites and their country. Thankfully we have two outstanding Democratic candidates for President who will continue to treat the office with the respect we all know the position deserves. Democrats will be united and hold Donald Trump accountable every day until November 8th.” concluded Laning. 

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

4 thoughts on “Wisconsin Republicans are All Aboard the Trump Train”

  1. Al Lindro says:

    This is an hilarious punch line:
    “Our country deserves a President with the experience, intelligence and class to serve as leader of the free world. …. Thankfully we have two outstanding Democratic candidates for President who will continue to treat the office with the respect we all know the position deserves.”

    Unless an independent “white knight” arrives on the scene shortly, or one of the current candidates is replaced for whatever reason (legal, health, revolt, scandal, etc) I will be perched atop a barstool all day on election day and nowhere near a polling place. Vote for Trump or Clinton? I don’t think so. I’m done being an enabler?

    Maybe NEXT time there will be a legitimate POTUS candidate running outside the 2-party system. Whomever that might be, he/she would be a shoo-in to win.

  2. Vincent Hanna says:

    A shoo-in? That seems unlikely. Depends on the candidate, but third party attempts in the past haven’t worked out very well.

  3. Al Lindro says:

    This topic would be ideal for a corner tavern discussion, Vincent! First off, I will concede the “shoo-in” point to you. Should have said, “probable favorite, if the outsider candidate(s) were ‘generally acceptable’ in the eyes of many voters.”

    Sure, 3rd party runs have been generally unproductive, but I am essentially discounting those because: Can you recall there ever being the level of dissatisfaction/unease with the D and the R candidates by virtue of their (un)trustworthiness and/or style and/or track record (or lack thereof)? Was there ever the same level of voter disgust with unproductive DC-based partisan antics? Has there ever been a campaign so dirty/slimy as the one (I predict) we are likely about to embark on from these two unsavory characters?

    I’m not proposing another “party” be ushered in. It would be in tune with the “No Labels” movement or more locally “Blue Jean Nation”. I’m saying a nonpartisan effort, focused on promised principles of governance, reform, and not financed by any “interest groups” or corporations. If you want to give it a name that captures the essence it would be something like “principled populist movement”; NO caps, intentionally.

    Let’s say, just for grins, tomorrow’s headline reads: “Richard Bloomberg and Wesley Clark Affiliate For 2016 Bid as President and VP Candidates”. What percentage of the vote do you think they’d get in November? Fast forward to 2020, if you wish, when they or a couple of “equivalent” names could actually participate from the get-go in 2018 leading into that election. What say you then?

    This, in my opinion would have been the PERFECT election cycle to pull it off, considering the splintering of BOTH parties, Dems into Socialist/Independent vs. Establishment Status Quo, and Reps into TeaParty/Trumpsters vs. Establishment Do-Nothings. Opportunity lost.

    ps… For the same reason that fewer and fewer of the younger generation are interested in either union membership and/or corporate-loyal careers, which is to say they don’t trust or want to be tied into big organizations, I think the big party affiliation thing will wither even further.

  4. Vincent Hanna says:

    I don’t think a Bloomberg/Clark ticket would do all that well. I don’t think the former is very popular for one thing. Also, No Labels has not gained any traction at all since it was first launched quite some time ago, despite lots of media attention and our highly partisan times.

    I wasn’t old enough to vote in 1992 or 1996 (I really started paying close attention to politics around ’99 or 2000). Are things significantly nastier now than they were then?

    It seems unlikely that all of those splinter groups would rally around one candidate.

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