March 29, 2016

"I’m a little surprised that talk show hosts would be supporting somebody. You’d think there’d be a certain impartiality."

Said Donald Trump as he encountered Wisconsin talk radio.

Trump did a show with Charlie Sykes yesterday not knowing that Sykes was a #NeverTrump guy until Sykes came right out and told him "I'm a #NeverTrump guy."

And Vicki McKenna said to him "You’re in Wisconsin, where it’s a different state, sir, than you might be used to." And:
“Look, if you’re going tobe the presidential candidate, you have to find a way to unify a whole bunch of people right now who are at each others’ throats,” McKenna told Trump. “And we feel it viscerally here because we went through the (protest) occupation in 2011 and a recall election in 2012. That’s the landscape you’re facing here when you’ve got Republicans acting like ‘recallers’ to other Republicans.”
Does Trump have the focus to understand Wisconsin? The linked article is by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert, who stresses "[t]he stand-alone nature of Wisconsin’s primary, where the national spotlight, more than a week of on-the-ground campaigning, a statewide anti-Trump ad blitz and a politically engaged, high-turnout electorate make for a volatile environment" and the "Upper Midwest culture where Trump’s flamboyant style of personal combat isn’t easily embraced."
If the front-runner can prevail in those conditions, it would be a huge blow to the “Stop Trump” movement. But if Trump loses, opponents will crow about his failure to win the kind of white, blue-collar “Rust Belt” state he claims he can wrest from the Democrats in November.

34 comments:

Oso Negro said...

Trump on Wisconsin: "Cheese! I love cheese! I love it!"

MadisonMan said...

@Oso, that attitude will get you a lot of votes in Wisconsin.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

So, is the idea that Wisconsin is just like the United States, only smaller?

chickelit said...

Wisconsin conservative pundits are looking isolated. They supported Walker with one voice in the past (as did I) but now -- with Walker out of the race -- they've been unable to transfer that enthusiasm to a national candidate (they think they have with Cruz but they haven't -- Cruz sounds and even looks like Joe McCarthy). Maybe the Sykes/McKenna/Bellings are holding out for Paul Ryan in the future. But if so - how parochial!

rhhardin said...

Does Trump know less than the radio host.

This has not occurred to the radio host, who is acting like a press guy.

tim maguire said...

So far, Trump has been very good at being whatever he needs to be to get attention and votes. The first thing I think when someone says "Trump can't be this or that" is that that person has a very superficial view of Trump's campaign.

Gusty Winds said...

Charlie Sykes' claim to Trump that Wisconsin politics is civil was an absolute joke. The left in Wisconsin in uncivil, and Sykes joins the fray from the right with terms like 'Unionista' and refereeing to the Milwaukee Journal as the 'Dead Tree'.

He is nowhere near above the fray.

I support Walker and Act 10. The managed to Eagle Scout his way through the mess.

But Sykes fed the flames along with everyone else.

traditionalguy said...

It looks like the Mystery Trump Defeater will be Reince Priebus. But first a Name Change Petition must pass the Super Secret Rules Committee in Cleveland. He will be renamed Reince Not-trump.

But at least he is a Natural Born American. The rest is details.

Gusty Winds said...

God Bless Wisconsin, but the new purple politics of the State have not transferred nationally on the Federal Level.

Walker looked like a deer in headlights on the early debate stages and sunk like a rock after leading in Iowa. Paul Ryan was treated like a school boy by Joe Biden in the 2012 VP debate.

Today is the first day I am disgusted with Walker. He will endorse Cruz. I don't expect him to endorse Trump. But John Kasich emulated Walker with success in Ohio. He is most like him.

I know for a fact that Walker attended the anti-Trump meeting of GOP leaders and Conservative Press on that Island of the coast of Georgia. Today he will sell his endorsement as part of the rally behind Cruz effort. It's pre-planned out of desperation.

Sykes and McKenna seem to be doing the same. They are taking marching orders.

Titus said...

Wisconsin....you are really not that important.

But this day is HUGE for them just like a Packer home game.

There aint much else to do in the state.

Rick said...

And Vicki McKenna said to him "You’re in Wisconsin, where it’s a different state, sir, than you might be used to."

A repellent combination of arrogance and provincialism.

Todd said...

"I’m a little surprised that talk show hosts would be supporting somebody. You’d think there’d be a certain impartiality."

Really? Has the man never watched Letterman? Johnny and Leno at least tried to look impartial. Letterman never did and he just got worst the longer the show was on.

Hagar said...

Why try to "understand" Wisconsin? Just accept that it is what it is and move on.

Besides, Madison is not "Wisconsin."

sojerofgod said...

Oh, I don't know. It is sometimes hard to take seriously a people who go to sporting events with giant plastic wedges of cheese for hats. Can you imagine the ancient romans doing such a thing?
Cheeseheads in the colosseum?

The rural plebs are revolting indeed.

Known Unknown said...

"But John Kasich emulated Walker with success in Ohio."

Not really. He went down in flames on Issue 5. 62-38%. The unions really poisoned the well.

bbkingfish said...

While in Wisconsin, Trump should solicit the council of the Great Unifier...Scott Walker.

traditionalguy said...

Seriously, Wisconsin is Scott Walker. They are both NICE except when the time comes to take the Niceness mask off and do something beside posture and virtue signal. Then they run away and hide.

Trump scares them because he says the time to run away and hide is over.

Fabi said...

I thought Trump would win Wisconsin -- his hair looks like a built-in cheesehead!

Ann Althouse said...

Sykes made grandiose assertions about the civility of Wisconsin and immediately called Trump a "schoolyard bully" and a "giant fraud." Just outbursts of insults. Trump didn't do that to Sykes, even when Sykes taunted him about how he was a "#NeverTrump guy."

It makes very little sense to me.

The vanity of Wisconsinites who believe they are so nice has long amused/irritated me.

But I came here from the east coast. I'm from Delaware, New Jersey, and New York City.

rhhardin said...

Best cheese ever, amazing.

Diamondhead said...

They are both NICE except when the time comes to take the Niceness mask off and do something beside posture and virtue signal. Then they run away and hide.

This is beyond absurd. You're saying Scott Walker runs away and hides when it's time to do something? Have you been living under a rock the past several years?

Anonymous said...

So, it appears that the conservatives in Wisconsin are no more civil than Wisconsin liberals. Quelle surprise.

Gusty Winds said...

Wisconsinites are nice and civil when you're drinking a Brandy Old Fashioned at a Supper Club, chugging beer around a campfire, or rooting for the Packers. Everything is pretty benign. People are more social and open in those environments than the Chicago Suburbs where I lived previously.

But you CANNOT talk about politics. There is nothing civil about it.

Chuck said...

Trump repeated, with Vicki McKenna, his lie that Ted Cruz "started" the fight involving the candidates' wives, and that "of course" Cruz coordinated with the Make America Awesome SuperPAC, and anybody would be "naïve" if they failed to understand it.

I say that it is a lie on Trump's part because Cruz has categorically denied it, the SuperPAC has categorically denied it, and Trump has produced zero evidence that he is right. Trump never seems to understand that federal election law would prohibit such coordination. No one, anywhere, has supplied any basis for Trump's charge.

And Trump also repeated his lie that someone purchased the copyright for the pictures of Melania, to use them in the anti-Trump ad. That's an even bigger lie, because instead of there simply being no proof from Trump, there's actually conclusive proof that Trump is being untrue.

The photographer from the British GQ shoot has said that he didn't authorize the SuperPAC's use of the photos, and that he's even considering legal action over their use.

Trump, again, is lying.

I am ever-more shocked at the way that Trump rumbles through news cycles with no check; he must have a surprisingly weak and/or impotent staff, which doesn't check him on these impulses.

Chuck said...

Ann Althouse said...
...

But I came here from the east coast. I'm from Delaware, New Jersey, and New York City.


...and Ann Arbor. ;-)

Brando said...

"I am ever-more shocked at the way that Trump rumbles through news cycles with no check; he must have a surprisingly weak and/or impotent staff, which doesn't check him on these impulses."

By all accounts he has very few actual advisors, and the handlers he does have are more entertainment industry types (like from his reality show) rather than political and policy advisors. Like Obama, he made it clear that he knows more than any advisors do (though at least Obama actually HAD advisors!). Which is just as well--I can't picture him listening to anyone who tells him he's wrong about anything.

His appeal is that he's the "drunk Thanksgiving uncle" who just says whatever comes to mind and is adamant about it. For some, that's refreshing--how un-PC! Of course, those of us who respect "un-PC" like it when "un-PC" is not also "factually incorrect". But for a plurality of GOP voters, they're getting their comedy routine and hope to take it to the White House.

Danno said...

Ann said ..."The vanity of Wisconsinites who believe they are so nice has long amused/irritated me."

And I thought most Minnesotans always bragged about their "Minnesota Nice" attitude, which I think is completely phony and in reality a display of their passive-aggressive" traits. In looking, I see Minnesota Nice even makes it to the Urban Dictionary as a thing.

Rick said...

they're getting their comedy routine and hope to take it to the White House.

Electing a president for entertainment recalls Idiocracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

Danno said...

Amanda said...So, it appears that the conservatives in Wisconsin are no more civil than Wisconsin liberals. Quelle surprise.

If you really believe that, watch some of the video that Meade and Althouse captured during the recall campaign. I'm sure your provided talking points won't cover this.

Chuck said...

Brando, have you seen the story on one of the little-known feminist blogs, by the former communications director for the nascent Trump Political Action Committee (now inactivated, I gather, but I'm not sure), who revealed that Trump never expected to get this far; that he hoped to finish second, with something just above 10% of the votes, and that he operates (exactly as you say) with a tiny staff of people mostly from his television production days and his regular office staff? That Trump truly has no idea what he'd do if he were elected? She says she is now frightened by the prospect of Trump getting the nomination.

It can be found here:
http://www.xojane.com/issues/stephanie-cegielski-donald-trump-campaign-defector

Hagar said...

Biden, Christie, and Trump.

mccullough said...

No one knows what they'd do if elected. Campaigning has been divorced from governing for a long time, even putting aside the unexpected events that arise during a presidency. Detailed policy proposals are a waste of time since what gets through looks very different.

jg said...

Chuck: "lie ... lie ... lie ... lie ... lying"

Riveting stuff. Very useful. Thanks.

rcocean said...

People forget how liberal Wisconsin is. They're more like Minnesota than Indiana. Since 1972 they only voted for a Republican POTUS two times, Reagan in '80 and '84.