Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 6:47 and sunset is 6:43 for 11 hours 56 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1940, representatives of Germany, Japan, and Italy sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.
Over in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Derrick Van Orden finds himself in a competitive race against challenger Rebecca Cooke. Cooke is, by any measure, the better candidate. Van Orden has backed Trumpism dutifully, indeed servilely, during his time in Congress. Extreme populism isn’t Van Orden’s brand (whatever that overused term might mean), it’s his very nature.
The one position that Van Orden gets right is to be true to that nature:
RAJU: Only 33% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his job. Is he a drag in your district? VAN ORDEN: I am fully supportive of President Trump. And if that's not popular, that's just the way it is
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 27, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Van Orden at last finds one truth to which he can cling: that he was, is, and always will be an adherent of this objectionable man and that man’s objectionable ideology.
In this, and this alone, a Never Trump libertarian can come close to respecting Van Orden. No point in pretending that a leopard changes its spots; no point in even pretending to pretend.
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