Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:46 and sunset is 8:15, for 14 hours, 28 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1774, British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
There are statewide stories this morning describing the critical reception that U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin’s First Congressional District received during his town hall in Elkhorn:
See Rich Kremer, US Rep. Bryan Steil met by hostile audience during raucous town hall, Wisconsin Public Radio, August 1, 2025. See also GOP Rep. Bryan Steil holds an in-person town hall event and is greeted with boos over Trump bill, Complaints about Trump dominate noisy listening session with U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, and Steil met with questions — and both boos and applause — at town hall in Elkhorn.
Four points for today:
First, many partisans live within information bubbles and echo chambers where no criticism of their views is offered. When they encounter a protest in person, it’s startling to them. They’re not used to replying with an argument because those they watch and read don’t do so. In imitation they respond only with a sensory preference (what they’re seeing is disgusting, nauseating, etc.). Some supporters of Steil were surprised in that way, and reacted in that way.
Those who are insulated and cosseted approach contrary arguments not as matters of reasoning but as matters of taste. We live in an era of a stunted, scarcely literate politics.
Second, when partisans encounter opponents, their surprise sometimes leads them to believe that the opponents must be paid, must be plants, and cannot possibly be a genuine opposition. That’s not true, and certainly not true here: Walworth County opponents of Steil don’t have any political money, and, in fact, don’t have much money otherwise.
Third, it’s easier to gather and protest when you have a specific time and place to meet, clear issues, and —this is key — a definite opponent. All those conditions were present here. (Steil knew this too, of course; both sides could see each other’s preparations on social media.)
Fourth, absent an unlikely order from the Wisconsin Supreme Court for congressional redistricting before November 2026, Steil has a good chance of being re-elected. A well-funded and savvy challenger is unlikely to emerge. (Rep. Van Orden of Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, by contrast, will face exactly that sort of challenger; even without possible redistricting he will have a rough go of it.)
The Best of the Night Sky August 2025: