A Divided GOP cannot win

Mark Belling was Correct

The divided GOP cannot win

I don’t usually agree with much, if anything, Mark Belling writes on this page. To my surprise, his latest column contained much I found to be correct. 

He correctly points out the dysfunction that is the hallmark of the current Wisconsin GOP leadership which led to former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly’s victory over Waukesha Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow in the February primary election.  

Belling correctly points out that Democrats helped Kelly defeat Dorow out of a recognition that Kelly will be easier to defeat in April. Afterall, Kelly lost his re-election bid to Justice Jill Karofsky becoming one of the few sitting Justices to fail to retain his seat. Liberals and moderate independents can win statewide elections when they unite. 

Kelly’s extremist views and writings are well known and easy targets for Judge Janet Protasiewicz. His clear association with the GOP’s election denier faction, his open support for abortion bans and his employment with the Wisconsin Republican Party make his claims of impartiality laughable. His prior result driven decisions on the Court in support of GOP positions speak volumes. 

Belling’s commentary also highlighted the fractured nature of GOP leadership and non-existent party unity as a root cause of Dorow’s defeat. This ties well into the dislocated nature of the national GOP which has also lost its way.

The small GOP majority in the House of Representatives seems consumed with fighting culture wars and finding ways to disrupt legal accountability the former president will certainly face as the indictments start coming. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy cannot find a way to get his troops to do anything constructive to address the problems facing the country, assuming he wants to do that. All that seems to be coming out of GOP leadership is obstruction and obfuscation. They cannot even come up with a proposed budget that makes coherent sense. 

Nationally, the GOP is looking at a presidential election next year with no clear candidate. The former president loses traction daily as his state and federal legal problems increase. His base remains rabid, but increasingly confused, as their leader’s messaging becomes more inconsistent, if not incoherent.

Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nicky Haley recently threw her hat into the presidential ring, clinging to her association with the former president who appointed her as UN Ambassador while claiming to distance herself from “leaders of the past.” She has not offered anything of substance to close off her past connection to and support for the former president or chart a new way forward.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as a front runner candidate once he declares his intention to run. He too is bereft of a sound policy platform save for the culture wars he continues to wage against Disney World, the LBGTQI community, “woke” liberal educators, and books he does not like. The former president is already attacking DeSantis, vowing to stop him in his tracks. The evident vitriol will keep the extreme GOP base from getting behind DeSantis. 

Lacking so far are any potential GOP candidates who might be willing to completely disassociate themselves from the extreme GOP base and run on a fresh set of principles and policies with which one might be able to have a constructive debate. There must be moderate, thoughtful Republicans willing to take the risk that their party might be open to a new way forward. 

The fractured opposition gives Democrats on the national stage a way forward to a second Biden-Harris term with continued economic improvement, more infrastructure repair, more federal judicial appointments and maybe even universal healthcare. 

Former Judge Protasiewicz’s victory will shift the ideological slant of our Supreme Court and, hopefully, pave the way forward for legal reproductive healthcare and fair congressional and state legislative districts which will help return Wisconsin to the progressive traditions which made us a beacon of freedom for the rest of the country