GOP Divisions Doom Election Chances
Trump’s endorsement won’t help
Tim Michels is running for governor in the GOP primary election set for August. He certainly is a gambler. He is running as an outsider, successful businessman and Army veteran, all of which are winning positions in electoral politics. He took the extra step, which may well doom his chances to replace Governor Evers in November, by securing and flooding the airways with his endorsement by the former president.
Trump’s endorsement certainly helps Michels with that segment of the GOP base who continue their delusional worship of the former occupant of the White House. They tend to vote in primaries, especially those that mark the battleground for control of the GOP party apparatus and funds. Michels’ endorsement also all but killed the candidacies of Kevin Nicholson and Tim Ramthun, who were counting on getting it to boost them into the top of the ticket. Neither will go anywhere without it.
Michels’ losing gamble of embracing the former president will become evident if Michels wins the August primary and faces Evers, one on one, in the Fall. I suspect that the anti-Trump wing of the GOP will abandon Michels’ radical shift to the far right and either not vote at all or switch their vote to Evers. Michels could have won the primary without endorsement but threw the dice anyway. We don’t need a gambler in the Governor’s chair.
Trump’s numbers continue to fall and, while he is helping win some GOP primaries, his continued influence is waning here and across the country. The continued prosecutions of far-right insurrectionists and the public hearings by the bi-partisan Congressional committee investigating the January 6th invasion of the Capitol will certainly speed up the decline of Trump’s brand of politics.
Former Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch is the GOP establishment front runner. She brings all her Scott Walker baggage while branding herself too as an outsider who will take on the anonymous Madison liberal mob. That is a curious position since majorities in the Wisconsin legislature and of the state Supreme Court Justices are conservative Republicans. Given our gerrymandered legislature, both majorities are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Wisconsin Republicans remain divided and lack a coherent, unifying platform that could deliver an electoral victory in the Fall. The party division continues with GOP primary challengers going after current GOP legislative leaders, including Speaker Robin Vos, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMehieu, over “Big Lie” issues with the 2020 presidential election.
Fortunately for the rest of us, that division will result in continuing the Wisconsin tradition of divided government with one party in control of the legislature and the other party controlling the executive branch. The part that is missing from this traditional division is the willingness of both parties to work together to solve common problems.
The mystery in all of these shenanigans is why the GOP continues to shoot itself in both feet. There have been times in our history where principled people with different political philosophies have come together to serve the common good. The most recent version of that kind of governance was dealt a serious blow when then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich launched his brand of “take no prisoners” politics. His early victories solidified political action geared towards gaining power for power’s sake that took over Wisconsin GOP politics under Walker. Power then became used to accumulate more power, not to fix roads, improve schools, combat poverty, provide healthcare or solve other common problems.
We need a return to bi-partisan governance that respects our differences while seeking common ground to solve common problems. Hopefully, it won’t be the ongoing COVID pandemic or a mass shooting at a Wisconsin elementary school that drives Republicans and Democrats to the same table.
Time will tell.
