Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 59. Sunrise is 6:14 and sunset is 7:36, for 13 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon a waning gibbous with 98 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Plan and Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1958, the Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
One of the justifications for tariffs is to bring back manufacturing to states like Wisconsin. It’s ill-considered:
But one of the biggest barriers to bringing manufacturing back, both in Wisconsin and nationally, is a labor shortage.
Over the last decade, [founder of the Florida-based Reshoring Initiative Harry] Moser said employers have told him the U.S. labor market is “weak, both in terms of quantity of people and quality of people.” He said there have been efforts in recent years that have helped some, pointing to high school apprenticeship programs. He says Trump’s goal of bringing manufacturing back hinges on workforce.
….
In Wisconsin, a 2023 research report from WMC found the state’s median age was older than the rate nationally, and warned if the population doesn’t grow at a faster rate, workforce shortages would worsen.
“We don’t have enough workers for the jobs that we have, let alone if we want to grow a job (field),” [president of the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Kurt] Bauer with WMC said. “This is a significant challenge.”
One hears talk in Whitewater on recruiting for manufacturing before any other priority. It’s more a diversionary tactic than anything else; these gentlemen are simply looking for something, however implausible, to shift the conversion.
Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset is 7:35, for 13 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon a waning gibbous with 99.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1960, the United States launches Transit 1-B, the world’s first satellite navigation system.
In Whitewater, and towns across America, the Trump men put up signs reading “TRUMP LOW TAXES, KAMALA HIGH TAXES.” These signs were as ridiculous as they were false: Trump campaigned on tariffsandtariffs are taxes. (Yet the nature of an authoritarian populist movement like theirs is fallacies, fabrications, and as with their claims about COVID or election conspiracies, a refusal to accept contrary evidence.1)
In interviews with Urban Milwaukee, all said the new tariffs will fuel inflation, raising costs for local companies, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and consumers; and that the shock waves created by the policy have the potential to send the U.S. economy into a recession.
“It’s almost unanimous concern, and I have not spoken to any business leader that’s celebrating the tariffs,” said Dale Kooyenga, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, describing the responses he’s heard since the tariffs were announced.
The impact is registering immediately for some businesses, Kooyenga said. Like one local company he spoke with that placed a large product order. The tariff doesn’t apply to the date of purchase, but happens when the goods hit the dock in the U.S. “And so now that their order was so large and the tariff so large,” Kooyenga noted, “it creates significant cash flow issues in a time when interest rates are high.”
The new tariffs will produce a price shock for the local building and trades industry and construction budgets, said Dan Bukiewicz, President of the Milwaukee Building & Trades Council and mayor of the City of Oak Creek. “The reaction is not good,” said Bukiewicz. “From the contractors that perform construction work to small business owners that supply everything from safety vests to gloves, hard hats, safety glasses: [the price of] everything’s going up.”
See Graham Kilmer, Tariffs Will Hurt Business, Workers in Wisconsin (‘Local business, labor and university experts warn that tariffs will lead to a recession’), Urban Milwaukee, April 7, 2025.
All these loud and proud local anti-tax men supported a candidate who has now inflicted worse than anything they’ve ever complained about.
Watch the female lift up during mealtime to show off her two adorable owlets. The nestlings are 3 and 4 days old as of April 10. Brooding is done solely by the female, and she remains a near constant presence at the nest for at least two weeks until the owlets are large enough to spend some time in the box alone.
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:17 and sunset is 7:34, for 13 hours, 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is full this evening.
On this day in 1776, with the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
The real White Lotus in Thailand, Four Seasons Koh Samui, and Anantara Mai Khao Villas aren’t just stunning backdrops for HBO’s hit series — they’re home to Nok, a real-life sustainability manager protecting endangered sea turtles, giant monitor lizards, and native birds. As The White Lotus Season 3 wraps, we uncover the wild side of these luxury resorts and meet the woman fighting to preserve paradise behind the scenes.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:19 and sunset is 7:33, for 13 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
A detachment of troops of the U.S. 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, from the 6th Armored Division, part of the U.S. Third Army, and under the command of Captain Frederic Keffer, arrived at Buchenwald on 11 April 1945 at 3:15 p.m. (now the permanent time of the clock at the entrance gate). The soldiers were given a hero’s welcome, with the emaciated survivors finding the strength to toss some liberators into the air in celebration.
Later in the day, elements of the U.S. 83rd Infantry Division overran Langenstein, one of a number of smaller camps comprising the Buchenwald complex. There, the division liberated over 21,000 prisoners, ordered the mayor of Langenstein to send food and water to the camp, and hurried medical supplies forward from the 20th Field Hospital.
We hear so much from this rightwing party, from its leaders and activists across the nation, state, and city about low taxes. And yet, and yet, they supported the leader who said time and again that he would raise tariffs. These tariffs are taxes on Americans. Across Wisconsin, the Congressional Republicans who’d scream and squeal at the very mention of taxes are now silent:
A handful of Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing to give Congress more oversight over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, but Wisconsin’s Republicans are not among them.
In interviews with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state’s GOP delegation largely dismissed questions about legislative oversight, instead praising the president for imposing the levies — some of which were temporarily paused this week — on scores of foreign trading partners.
Sen. Ron Johnson, the only member of the delegation to publicly express concerns over the tariffs, on Thursday predicted measures aimed at giving Congress a bigger role in the tariff process would fail. And Wisconsin’s House members stood in line with Trump’s moves this week that have shaken global markets.
“I like the way it’s playing out, actually,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald said Tuesday, when asked if Congress should play an oversight role on the implementation of the tariffs. “I think after a couple days, it’s playing out pretty well.”
Fitzgerald: not merely ignorant, but confidently proud of it.
Note well: At no time, over these many years, have any economic concerns that I have expressed at FREE WHITEWATER ever been about my situation; this libertarian blogger has no personal complaints to make. (Nor would I make them here, even if I had any.)
It’s simply the case that so very many loud & proud anti-tax men are silent on tariffs (being too ignorant or too hypocritical to admit how destructive they are).
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset is 7:31, for 13 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 837, Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (3.2 million miles).
Yesterday’s post here at FREE WHITEWATER was about Scott Walker’s irrelevance to current Wisconsin politics. See Scott Walker, Man from Another Era. Bruce Murphy, at Urban Milwaukee, has a revealing post about how Walker tried, and failed miserably, to become relevant again. (As Murphy perceptively notes, the story depends on accepting the veracity of Walker’s account of Walker’s behind-the-scenes conduct.) Murphy lays out the details:
Musk’s approach, if we can believe Scott Walker, came from a plan hatched by Walker and the former Republican governor’s political consultant Keith Gilkes. Their pitch was for Musk to get involved in the Wisconsin race as he did in the presidential race in November. “You were effective in Wisconsin, and you can be effective in this race again in Wisconsin,” Walker said he told Musk.
Except. Musk spent money on a presidential race that polls showed was very close and with Trump leading. A relatively safe investment. And a race so close that the Musk super PAC canvassing voters door-to-door could get a big return from turning out a relatively small number of voters compared to the total number voting in Wisconsin and other swing states in November. Trump won Wisconsin by just over 29,300 votes, a margin of less than 1 percent.
Which is a very different situation than the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. The state’s previous high court race, in 2023, with the abortion the key issue, was an 11% loss for the conservatives, with liberal Janet Protasiewiczdefeating conservative Dan Kelly by more than 203,000 votes. Granted, Schimel was a better candidate than Kelly, but abortion was still going to be a major issue in this year’s election. Moreover, we now know that Republicans knew Crawford was ahead in the race and their polls showed Schimel’s high point in the polls was five points behind. In short, this would not be like the presidential election, where a relatively small increase in turnout could decide the election.
Astonishing. This could have been Walker’s plan: it is, after all, Foxconn-level thinking. If Walker is to be believed, Walker was able to persuade Musk to waste tens of millions on a race that Schimel was losing and was likely to keep on losing once the radioactive Musk became involved.
Walker likely did concoct this plan, and get Musk to go along. There is, after all, no evidence whatsoever that the only person who could have concocted a worse plan was involved in the Wisconsin election.
Wednesday in Whitewater will see evening showers with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:22 and sunset is 7:30, for 13 hours, 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 89.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin and one-time presidential candidate, spoke in Madison this week. Walker is the president of Young America’s Foundation. It’s a position far from the current center of Republican gravity (in Wisconsin or nationally): far past the asteroid belt, much closer to Neptune than Earth. Walker has a well-paid gig, wears a tie, and appears occasionally to speak. He’s also desperate to trim any position he ever had to remain topical. Here’s Walker describing Trump’s anti-market tariffs:
MADISON – Former Gov. Scott Walker says he’s no fan of tariffs but he’s willing to give President Donald Trump’s gamble on taxing foreign imports a chance.
Walker spoke Monday night to about 100 students and members of the public gathered at UW’s Grainger Hall for an event hosted by Young America’s Foundation, of which Walker is the president.
But, he said, Trump is doing what he believes needs to be done to get America back on the same playing field as everyone else. Walker said that if anyone had read Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” they would know he’s a fan of tariffs.
“I think that can end up being a good thing as long as we eventually get the free trade because again, then Americans can compete,” he said. “We can innovate.”
Walker is for free trade, unless Trump believes otherwise. Disorder can be a good thing as long as we get order again eventually, filthiness can be a good thing as long as we get cleanliness eventually, illness can be a good thing as long as we are healthy eventually.
It would be better to have order, cleanliness, and health from the start. Walker’s too weak, too needy, to speak sensibly.
Search efforts continued early on Wednesday after more than 100 people died in a nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic. The popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez was performing at the Jet Set nightclub when the disaster took place shortly after midnight on Tuesday and was among those killed. Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the roof collapsed at about 12.44am on Tuesday. The club had capacity for about 1,700 people. Nearly 100 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:29, for 13 hours, 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 83 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Tech Park Innovation Center Advisory Board meets at 8:30 AM, the Public Works Committee at 5 PM, and the Community Development Authority at 6 PM.
On this day in 1820, the Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.
There are updates on the careers of influential two Wisconsinites.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who led a widely derided review of the 2020 presidential election, searching for evidence for baseless accusations of fraud, will have his law license suspended for three years, according to a stipulated agreement between him and the state Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR).
Law Forward, the progressive voting rights focused firm, filed a grievance against Gableman with the OLR in 2023. The OLR filed a complaint against Gableman in November that alleged, among other counts, that he had failed to “provide competent representation” and to “abstain from all offensive personality” and of violating attorney-client privilege.
The allegations against Gableman stemmed from his treatment of the mayors of Green Bay and Madison, whom he threatened with jail time during his review, false statements he made during testimony to legislative committees, violating the state’s open records laws, breaching his contract with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and, when OLR began investigating him, “making false statements” to the investigators in an affidavit.
As part of the stipulated agreement, Gableman admitted that “he cannot successfully defend against the allegations of misconduct … and agrees that the allegations of the complaint provide an adequate factual basis in the record.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will have to approve the agreement between the parties, as is likely. A three-year suspension is lenient; Gableman’s conduct merits permanent disbarment. Vos, regrettably, remains in office despite his own role in selecting (and tolerating too long) Gableman’s cascade of lies.
Bradley also has been floated as a contender to replace retiring federal judge Diane Sykes on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which would be a lifetime appointment.
She told Wispolitics she is focused on Wisconsin at the moment.
Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:26 and sunset is 7:28, for 13 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1862, at the Battle of Shiloh, the Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
Referendums. One referendum for the City of Whitewater (Police & EMT personnel) and one referendum for the school district of which the city is the largest part are now behind us. Agreeably, happily behind us.
Both were important to their proponents, the Police & EMT referendum being especially so as it was operational. A referendum that retains or adds people (adding in this referendum to adjust workloads) is more important than capital improvements or modifications to public property. The loss of the municipal referendum would have increased burdens on the workforce (as rejection would have worked an attitudinal burden all its own on existing employees).
The community gets more personnel and the personnel know that the community appreciates the need for more personnel. These are each gains for Whitewater’s residents.
Of the district’s capital referendum’s merits, by contrast, it seems clear to me that enough could’ve been done with far less.
Taxes. An anti-tax wave swept Whitewater in the early winter and into the new year, but it did not change the result of either referendum. In January it looked to me as though it would sink both referendums, but by March that seemed less probable. The Police & EMT referendum was easily better offering. That city referendum seemed secure to me by March. We’ve no polling for the Whitewater area, but it’s likely the anti-tax faction saw what it wanted to see among like-minded residents, and ignored or distorted contrary indications among others.
The herding and magnifying influences of Facebook, especially, leave people thinking their views are more widespread than they are. It takes time and effort Facebook does not require (and does not provide) to assess opinion accurately. Facebook is often like a man who goes into the woods, makes a lot of noise, and then looks around for how many birds he can count. By then, only the loudest or deafest ones remain.
Rearview Mirror. These were important topics for the community, and yet, and yet… this libertarian blogger will be happy that they’re over.
Before us persist issues and conflicts in the city to address now that these referendums are behind us.
Veluwabbit (Lagomarsupialis veluwensis) spotted in the Netherlands on April 1st:
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 51. Sunrise is 6:27 and sunset is 7:27, for 12 hours, 59 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 65.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1865, at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia, during the Appomattox Campaign.
A few quick observations:
Dorothy Day. Whitewater is divided into several factions, a divide that has grown wider over the last twenty years. The best outcome for Whitewater, after the Great Recession especially, would have been for Whitewater to have had a local version of Dorothy Day. That moment never came, and the recession of the Aughts became the lost years of the Teens, the rise of rightwing populism, a pandemic, another recession, and now a return to a populism more virulent than the last.
We are past the point when someone other than Dorothy Day, herself, could bridge the gap between defenders of the constitutional order and authoritarian populists. This political conflict will end only when one side prevails; pretending otherwise is delusional and attempting otherwise is futile. While not every event will be political, there’s no solution apart from the political.
City and Environs. The most obvious political observation one might make in our area is that the City of Whitewater is a center-left community and the nearby towns within the Whitewater Unified School District are on the right. The gap has grown between the city and these towns, and by now I would have thought that every man, woman, child, and household pet understood as much. Still, there’s room for empirical inquiry.
Coalitions. Whitewater has had, this last generation, a type now nearing endangered status: the supposed independent, or even Democrat, who aligns with conservatives (in this town, special interests) on major policies. These remaining few will keep pretending (of course they will) but stark political times make their kabuki evident for what it is. A soft-spoken liberal in a rightwing coalition is rightwing. No one owes anyone else his or her LARPing and cosplay. You are your vote, you are your coalition.
Fallacies and Denials. The people who brought you a politicized Christian theology, pandemic denialism, a recession thereafter, and claims that a violent insurrection was an act of love, now bring you an authoritarianism that offers nativism, book-banning, closet-confining, and a crackpot economics. The mix: fallacies of Tu Quoque (diversionary arguments by claims of hypocrisy), Whataboutism (diversionary arguments by claims of unrelated events), and a closed system of belief (where evidentiary counterexamples are denied or redefined beyond recognition).
The School District. Voters returned both board incumbents to office, and approved a large referendum. There’s probably more than one conservative who’s wondering what happened. I’ll answer only for my own view of the outgoing administration. Of my views of this administration, I have been clear: These Aren’t the MAGA Claims You Were Looking For and “Nice Person, But…”
These posts came in March 2024, when conservatives still held a majority on the board. For months prior, they had the chance to use that majority in the service of open government. They couldn’t muster four votes to rebuke a ridiculous defamation effort against a boardmember and send the current administration on its way. Should have been then.
I don’t think that the city saw the 2025 election this way, but I do: a conservative board didn’t act in 2024 when it should have, and a center-left board didn’t act as it should have in the year since. (No doubt, some rationalized this as a necessary defense against an instability that might have produced reactionary policies.)
The district instead should and can have open government and a community united against reactionary policies. Both, not either.
The district has been these recent years, all around, a dog’s breakfast.
Ramen, Japan, black ramen, broth, dashi, tonkotsu, miso, chashu, instant noodles… mmm, who’s hungry? We love this food, and in this week’s Great Big Story, we explore how ramen became a global phenomenon. From the world’s most remote ramen shop to Toyama’s famous black ramen and the rise of instant noodles. Join us as we dive into the history, flavors, and culture of Japan’s most beloved dish.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:29 and sunset is 7:26, for 12 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 54.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1938, two days after the Nationalist army occupied the Catalan city of Lleida, dictator Francisco Franco decrees the abolition of the Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia), the self-government granted by the Republic, and the official status of the Catalan language.
Our people have a centuries-long tradition of protest. Today, across this continent, Americans will exercise that right against Trump and Musk. There are both in-person and virtual events to which the American people are cordially invited. (You don’t need to be a Democrat, as I am not. Patriotism is your only necessary credential.) There’s no location for Whitewater, but other nearby by locations await (including Walworth, Janesville, Stoughton, Beloit, and Madison):
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!
A beginning only: every movement and every coalition has a beginning. Start, then keep going.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:31 and sunset is 7:25, for 12 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 45.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1865, a day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, President Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
In this last generation, Whitewater, Wisconsin has felt the effects of national calamities: the Great Recession, a pandemic, an insurrection, and now a trade war.
In each case, a small group of local men and women carried on as though local affairs were paramount1; in each case, they did so while conditions in the city grew worse from those national calamities.
Now comes another calamity, and with it a few likelihoods.
Those who supported the authoritarian movement that made a pandemic worse, inspired an insurrection, the return to power of a would-be king, and now a global economic crisis will never admit that they were wrong. Never. They wanted this and they will continue to want this, all of it.
Those who cannot see past Townline Road won’t develop broader horizons. It’s all roads, press releases, and sanewashing with that crew. They’ll keep thinking that if you talk to a hyena in a soft voice that foul creature will give up meat for vegetables. They’d probably keep thinking this even as that carnivore crunched on the nearest human femur2.
There are, however, many more residents in this city, in this state, and this nation who will stand opposed to wholesale ruin.
Of that ruin, there are months and years of damage3 ahead, with this only a portion:
Is “recession” now spelled T-A-R-I-F-F?
Markets were gripped by the recession trade after President Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday threatened a global trade war. Treasury yields, stock futures and the dollar all plunged.
This isn’t mere market hyperbole. Thursday was only the sixth time in history that the S&P 500 had fallen more than 4% while the dollar also fell more than 1%—with investors shocked that the greenback had failed in its usual role as a safe haven.
The carnage in the markets might be just the beginning: If the biggest U.S. tax rise since at least the 1950s causes the economy to shrink, stocks and Treasury yields still have a long way to go down.
As recessions take hold, stocks are hit both by lower earnings and by lower valuations, as spending falls and savers switch to safer assets. Defensive stocks better able to maintain sales—such as sellers of food and other household staples—beat those selling optional purchases such as luxury goods and cars, known as cyclicals.
Thursday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:33 and sunset is 7:23, for 12 hours, 51 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 34.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1865, Union forces capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.
In October, writing about the scariest things in Whitewater for the year, this libertarian blogger listed the two worst threats to the city as special interests and nativism. Later, in February, I wrote that there was now only one notable kind of conservative in Whitewater, as only the conservative populists matter politically (‘a conservative might imagine himself as something else (a traditionalist or a deal-maker), and might be something else, but only in his house or in his head’).
There’s always someone who thinks that this predatory movement will see the error of its ways. It won’t, not now, not ever. It may lose its grip on the nation, but it will fall to a majority of others outside that movement to turn it aside.
Those who’ve gone this far, these dead-enders, will never repent of the their conduct, of the damage they’ve caused others.
On the contrary, they’ve never been more assured, more self-justified, than now.
The most conservative justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — she is — seems upset:
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Crawford: "I think the way Judge Crawford ran her race was disgusting…I'm not looking forward to working with her. She's bought and paid for by the Democratic Party."
Via Vanessa Kjeldsen
Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 6:34 and sunset is 7:22, for 12 hours, 48 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 22.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM, the Public Arts Commission at 5 PM, and the Starin Park Water Tower Committee meets at 6 PM.
The Wisconsin event of the moment: Susan Crawford — intelligent, knowledgeable, and of a proper judicial temperament — won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In every way that could possibly matter, she was the better candidate.
Jupiter and the crescent moon start off and end the month together. Find out where to see Mars and Venus as well. The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of April 21-22. Amazing globular cluster M3 is also available for skywatchers this month.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:36 and sunset is 7:21, for 12 hours, 45 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 14.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
It’s also — to borrow a phrase I’ve heard more than once from people close to the campaign — a “giant political science experiment.”
What happens when you spend far more money than anybody ever has on a judicial election?
What happens when you do it in America’s most competitive state?
What happens when you do it at a moment of extreme political polarization?
What happens when the world’s richest man makes the election his personal project?
What happens when voters are told that an election for Wisconsin Supreme Court is really about Donald Trump (at a time when Trump is gradually becoming more unpopular)?
What happens when all this occurs in the fever pitch of the most turbulent launch of an American presidency in anyone’s memory?
Gilbert’s implication that these questions are meaningful is false, and worse than false, it’s nonsense.
We are well past the point of ordinary political assessments through the concepts of conventional political science (let alone a political consultant’s views, honest to goodness). There are serious men and women who look at these days and see attempts to overturn the constitutional order. America now has a large authoritarian movement, a large authoritarian party, obedient to an authoritarian leader.
Gilbert, like many of yesterday’s men and women, cannot grasp how much the nation has changed. Poor man lost his paradigm and can’t see as much. Less political consulting and more political philosophy might have avoided this myopia. America, Wisconsin, and Whitewater are chock-a-block with people like this1.
Many other men and women, across all America, will make the difference in the years ahead. A few national figures are familiar, but many others will emerge, in places and circumstances yet unknown to us.
______
Especially: Those who seek bipartisanship with jackals, hyenas, and wolves will only find themselves no longer bipedal. Every town has too many versions of Senator Schumer. ↩︎
