Posted on 04/07/2016 7:42:11 PM PDT by GoKnow
Why so much emphasis on the results of the Wisconsin primary in which Trump’s lead narrowed by a mere 30 delegates?
Let’s put Trump’s loss into perspective by considering conditions unique to that State.
We all know Trump faced a negative onslaught from Wisconsin talk radio, with Levin & Limbaugh offering their own body slams. Not to mention Walker, Ryan, Priebus attacking Trump while exalting Cruz, day in and day out. Trump couldn’t breathe in or glance sideways without someone castigating him. Yes, he did commit some unforced errors, but this would be typical of any campaign.
I was raised in Wisconsin. It’s a depressing place to live, a provincial back water. Folks there for the most part don’t take much interest in the positive movements of mainstream America – and vice versa. People who want to make headway with their talents and potential get the hell out of there and don’t look back. Most never return.
For all intents and purposes, the Wisconsin GOP vote reflects the State’s native provincial mentality. I find it remarkable (but par for the course in the Badger state) that some 28,382 Wisconsinites actually voted for candidates who had already dropped out of the race, sending the message that they didn’t care a whit who won as long as they could register their provincial Wisconsin opinion.
All those votes for Cruz further illustrate how deep Wisconsin’s provincialism runs. These voters apparently weren’t cognizant of Cruz’s pitiful prospects going forward nationally. Or they did not care. Much of the vote was simply a spiteful, self-righteous “no Trump” vote; “we’ll show him about his bad manners and the hell with what happens after that.” Job loss, economic decline be damned. Many voters were so lacking in prescience that they obeyed Walker’s Cruz endorsement even as he prefaced it with the statement that none of the current candidates would be the nominee. They clearly had no clue or concern that a vote for Cruz was tantamount to a vote for Hillary and a third Obama term.
Walker, who exudes Wisconsin provincialism in spades, couldn’t get a foothold as a Presidential candidate on the national stage to save his soul. In fact, Wisconsin has never produced a President. Just a few failed candidates: Bob LaFollette in 1924 and, more recently, Tommy Thompson for a brief time in 2008. Ryan’s failed bid for VP extends the Wisconsin Presidential curse.
Is it any wonder? Historically, can you think of any Wisconsin-grown cultural/political icon other than perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright or Vince Lombardi or Joe McCarthy who has made a permanent mark on the American culture at large? Neither can I. (Orson Welles was born in Kenosha, WI, but moved to Illinois at age 4.)
And as for Reince Priebus, he will be gone and forgotten within a decade … or much sooner.
You say the Wisconsin results spell doom for Trump? DON’T BET ON IT!
Dane County fell all over itself voting for The Bern. Even Hillary got 17,000 more votes in Dane than she did against The Muslim in 2008.
Can you be serious? Trump’s downfall post Wisconsin is being gleefully projected on most of the Cruz web sites as well as talk radio. I’m a Trump supporter refuting those projections. I don’t feel like spending the next hour offering you links because you’re obviously out of touch and seem determined to stay that way.
Don't it, trader? :)
I myself wouldn't attribute "all those votes for Cruz" to Wisconsin provincialism.
I think these voters were FULLY cognizant of Cruz’s pitiful prospects going forward nationally.
That's because I think that a lot of the Cruz voters in certain counties were Democrats. :)
Wisconsin has an open primary, and the Democrat party has a big problem. Sanders and Clinton are beating the stuffing out of each other.
I suspect that to gain the party some breathing room, orders came down for the WI big city machines to deliver for Cruz.
It's not illegal, it's not vote fraud - it's just a cross-over vote.
Waukesha County, Wisconsin:
2016
Cruz 75123
Trump 27186
Kasich 18521
total: 120830
Sanders 26339
Clinton 24784
total: 51123
2016 total: 171953
2012
Romney 51329
Santorum 23874
other 7489
total: 82692
Obama 9442
total: 9442
2012 total: 92134
2008
McCain 28160
Huckabee 13926
other 1313
total: 43399
Obama 37662
Clinton 34009
total: 71671
2008 total: 115070
Fascinating numbers. Note the 20,000 disappearing Democrats from 2008 to 2016. :)
Also note that Cruz, a social conservative, wins YUGE over supposed "squish" Trump. Whereas in 2012 & 2008, the squishes Romeny & McCain stomp the stuffing out of social conservatives Santorum & Huckabee.
Did Waukesha County suddenly get religion? Not hardly...
I myself wouldn't attribute "all those votes for Cruz" to Wisconsin provincialism.
I think these voters were FULLY cognizant of Cruz’s pitiful prospects going forward nationally.
That's because I think that a lot of the Cruz voters in certain counties were Democrats. :)
Wisconsin has an open primary, and the Democrat party has a big problem. Sanders and Clinton are beating the stuffing out of each other.
I suspect that to gain the party some breathing room, orders came down for the WI big city machines to deliver for Cruz.
It's not illegal, it's not vote fraud - it's just a cross-over vote.
Waukesha County, Wisconsin:
2016
Cruz 75123
Trump 27186
Kasich 18521
total: 120830
Sanders 26339
Clinton 24784
total: 51123
2016 total: 171953
2012
Romney 51329
Santorum 23874
other 7489
total: 82692
Obama 9442
total: 9442
2012 total: 92134
2008
McCain 28160
Huckabee 13926
other 1313
total: 43399
Obama 37662
Clinton 34009
total: 71671
2008 total: 115070Fascinating numbers. Note the 20,000 disappearing Democrats from 2008 to 2016. :)
Also note that Cruz, a social conservative, wins YUGE over supposed "squish" Trump. Whereas in 2012 & 2008, the squishes Romeny & McCain stomp the stuffing out of social conservatives Santorum & Huckabee.
Did Waukesha County suddenly get religion? Not hardly...
Wisconsin has not gone GOP since Reagan, back when New York and California went GOP.
My sister runs a voters precinct in Madison in a very Democratic neighborhood. Of the 485 votes or so (approximate number), just 55 (exact) went to GOP candidates. Trump got 24; Cruz 22 and the remaining nine were split up among Kasich, Rubio, Carson, Paul, Christie etc. All the other votes in that precinct went Democratic. She’s been running this precinct for the past 30 years and said the very small percent of GOP votes in this case was typical. So at least in that precinct it doesn’t look like there were any crossover Dem votes for Cruz.
Actually, in the Lefty stronghold of Dane County, the Sanders-Clinton contest attracted 24,000 MORE Democrat votes than in the 2008 contest between Obama and Clinton:
Dane County, Wisconsin:
2016
Sanders 102585
Clinton 61072
total: 163657
2008
Obama 95416
Clinton 44187
total: 139603
The commissariat wasn't going to bother with the Pubbie Mundane candidates. They left that chore to Milwaukee & Green Bay.
Yes, you’re right.
I can’t believe what’s happened to my home town. It’s not the city I grew up in.
Of course that is utter nonsense and those espousing that view knew it was nonsense as well.
Lets forget Wisconsin and Utah now and move on. Looking backwards wont help, let’s look forward and learn from it. Listening to Trump on Long Island a night back shows it’s clear he has. That county in WI is the same as the southeast of Iowa, the northeast of Virginia, coastal South Carolina, greater Salt Lake City. There’s no way those peeps are voting for HRC or Bern. It’s over. Move on.
You wasted an hour on this “straw man fallacy”.
It was a small potatoes state that Trump was supposed to lose. All media hype and much ado about a nothing candidate. All this help and Cruz still can’t get any momentum going??? SAD
Wisconsin is a wonderful place to live.
Well, actually I have relatives there and they say the same thing depending on where one lives. I have visited and the people seem nice but as my relatives say it is Wisconsin nice.
No actually I didn’t waste any time. One more comment:
Perhaps you don’t understand the meaning of the word “provincial.” You would need to know that before grasping solid examples I’ve given supporting my argument. Any further discussion from me WOULD be a waste of my time and that’s not going to happen.
You present a “straw man premise” and then proceed to rip it apart.
Your arguments are fine as they should be considering you presented a proposition that is ridiculous that only the most deluded mind would believe in the first place.
It’s not difficult to make a compelling case against something that’s preposterous to begin with.
Give me just one example of someone with an iota of respect or gravitas in the political arena that has stated that “Trump is doomed” because of his loss in Wisconsin.
No? Bet on trends! Trump continuing down, Cruz trending up. In campaigns, momentum is everything.
Trump was smart enough in early States (except Iowa) to get bots to vote early before the Wilder effect set in and voters began see through the Fabulous Wall, tough guy, everyone else is a liar Carnival Pitchman BS.
Trump will have to win 90% of remaining delegates to hit 1237. His % trend has been going down and is now around 35% in each Primary.
Ryan nominating Cruz supporters need to get up to speed.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/04/07/campaign-ad-new-paul-ryan-video-raises-questions/
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/275496-hatch-potential-for-ryan-to-be-drafted-at-convention
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/05/forget-trump-paul-ryan-is-the-likely-gop-nominee-commentary.html
Many Many more telling you their plan. Whatever deal Cruz made with the GOPe to stay in after losing the south and keep Trump from winning outright apparently did not include Cruz being the Nominee.
Right.......
Sounds like a great scenario DONEald has conjured up, except for one little thing, the Rules (Rules? Trump don’t need no stinkin rules!).
Ryan nor anyone else not getting 8 State majority can be placed in Nomination until many ballots down with no one reaching 1237. Cruz will win nomination on the 2nd ballot.
Trump has zero chance unless he magically comes up with 1237 before Convention and 1st ballot. Although that was the Plan, which Cruz promptly wrecked, now only a blinded Trumpbot would think he can now get to 1237. It was great fun Donald, now go back to bilking little Ol Ladies out of their homes and running that Trump University scam. PT Barnum, Bye Bye.
What rules? As the RNC has made clear there are no rules until the rules committee makes them Nothing from 2012 including 40 (b) exists at this time.
No take off the GOPe blinders and stop backing the GOPe machine please.
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