How Wisconsin Republicans View Trump’s Conviction

How did the remaining Republican members of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation react to the Trump trial verdict? It’s fair to say they were not pleased.

Here is the statement from Fifth District Rep. Scott Fitzgerald in a press release:

Democrats are so desperate to keep the limelight off of President Biden’s malfunctioning policy agenda that they’ve taken lawfare to a new low. The verdict delivered in President Trump’s trial today is an absolute sham and based largely on the ‘testimony’ of a convicted liar whose credibility sits about as low as it gets. The American people are watching closely—and what they see is complete abuse and weaponization of our government against political opponents.

Fitzgerald offers a theme that reappears throughout the Republican reactions to the verdict: that Democrats were a homogenous body managed by President Joe Biden.

A post on X (formerly Twitter) from Representative Tom Tiffany seems to be totally disconnected from reality:

In Joe Biden’s America:

-Political opponents are prosecuted.
-Terrorists are entering our country.
-The border is wide open.
-People cannot afford groceries.
-Real criminals get free passes.
-Americans are spied on by the deep state.

— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) May 31, 2024

Here is a statement from Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s press release:

It is a dark day for our nation. I am truly disgusted by the verdict that has affirmed the sham prosecution of the Democrats’ political opponent.

This decision by Democrats to institute a two-tiered system of justice has now put the United States on the same level as the Soviet Union. I remain committed to supporting President Donald J. Trump to victory in November and ensuring our justice system is held accountable for the clear bias they have presented through this process. This will not stand.”

But as the Badger Project reported, Van Orden offered some other “unhinged” quotes on Twitter: “In a string of nonsensical posts on X (formerly Twitter), the Republican and former Navy SEAL from western Wisconsin compared the judge presiding over Trump’s hush-money fraud trial to an obscure Nazi judge, called him “Communist Scum,” posted a U.S. flag adorned with the Soviet hammer and sickle, and equated President Joe Biden to murderous dictators like Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Adolf Hitler.”

Compared to that Representative Glenn Grothman was relatively restrained:

These charges would not have come up if Donald Trump wasn’t running for president. This conviction tarnishes America’s reputation in the world and is something that previously would only happen in a third-world banana republic.

— Rep. Glenn Grothman (@RepGrothman) May 31, 2024

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was in a similar mood:

After this travesty of justice, our judicial system will never be the same.

How can this not be considered the most egregious example of election interference? https://t.co/3qpXMhIETA

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 30, 2024

Finally, Congressman Bryan Steil issued perhaps the briefest response to the Trump guilty verdict: “I fully expect the verdict on New York v. Trump to be appealed and overturned.”

The theme of a Democratic conspiracy was repeated by WisGOP Chairman Brian Schimming:

This is a dark day for America. Democrats have weaponized the legal system with their politically motivated prosecution of President Trump. Today’s verdict is a national embarrassment. And voters will make their disapproval known this November when they vote to restore President Trump to the White House.

Not every Republican takes this position, but they tend to no longer be in office. Consider this more thoughtful response from former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson:

It is not easy to see a former President and the presumptive GOP nominee convicted of felony crimes; but the jury verdict should be respected. An appeal is in order but let’s not diminish the significance of this verdict.

In recent years, several deep-blue states, notably Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland, have elected Republican governors. In such situations they are allowed to sound a little different than the most fervent Trump supporters. One of these is Larry Hogan who was term-limited as governor of Maryland and is currently running for the Senate.

Shortly before the jury’s decision he put out a relatively mild statement on X:

Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process… We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.

This was enough to engender a furious response from Trump world. A top Trump aide, Chris LaCivita, responded, “You just ended your campaign.” Dan Cox, who beat Hogan’s candidate to succeed him in the 2022 Republican primary race for governor, but lost by a two-to-one margin in the general election, called on the state GOP to censure Hogan “for his despicable and disgusting announcement.”

There are several themes running through these responses. One is that Democrats are a monolith, that the case against Trump was motivated simply by a desire to hurt Trump’s chances of winning the upcoming election. They offer no evidence to support this assertion. There is no evidence that Bragg has enlisted in the Biden reelection campaign.

A more plausible scenario is that Bragg is a district attorney. Prosecuting crimes is what district attorneys do. Falsifying business records is a crime in New York. All 12 members of the jury, including two lawyers, agreed that the evidence presented at the trial was sufficient to prove that Trump committed this crime.

What we are seeing is projection by Trump and other MAGA Republicans of their plans if successful in the election. They accuse the Democrats of “weaponizing” the country’s legal system to serve partisan ends. Trump has made it very clear that he intends to use the Justice Department against his enemies if elected and to reject the election results if he loses.