Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 6:15 and sunset is 7:35, for 13 hours, 20 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 26 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1845, the first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
A few political realities of our time are clear: (1) the GOP is a populist movement, (2) populist movements are authoritarian, (3) there’s no genuine bipartisanship with an authoritarian populist movement (as it insatiably takes, but does not give), and (4) local politics takes on the character of national politics.
Of that fourth point, there’s yet more confirmation today. The WISGOP is simply the local chapter of a national populist movement:
Following repeated spring election losses to Democrats, and facing a future without President Donald Trump boosting base turnout at the top of presidential tickets, the Republican Party of Wisconsin must increase its out-of-state fundraising, an internal review recommends.
The report was prepared by a post-election commission assembled by the party in the aftermath of several disappointing recent elections — notably three spring state Supreme Court races in which a Democratic-backed candidate decisively defeated one supported by Republicans. In addition to more aggressive fundraising, it also calls for better coordination with county parties and outside groups.
See Anya van Wagtendonk, After disappointing spring, Wisconsin GOP reconsiders fundraising, messaging strategy (‘The state Republican Party said it should be cultivating more money from outside of Wisconsin’), Wisconsin Public Radio, August 28, 2025.
Yes, indeed: the WISGOP needs out-of-state money and outside (often national) groups. Of course it does. Wisconsin’s elections, like those in so many other states, have become referendums on national politics. They’re referendums on national politics because Trumpism (a far-right populism) willingly accepts no limits on its own reach. Every topic becomes a matter for its intrusion and striving for control.
A single misstep from national GOP orthodoxy and their Wisconsin political careers would be over. Statewide WISGOP officials, once seen as significant in their own right, are now only mere foot soldiers in a national populist movement.
SpaceX’s Starship launches for test flight after setbacks: