Some months ago, in a radio interview to tout part of the Trump tax bill, the Whitewater Community Development Authority’s executive director Dave Carlson referred to Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner as ‘our guy.’
Sensenbrenner, a pro-Trump septuagenarian multimillionaire from a gerrymandered district, is – literally – Whitewater’s federal representative.
Sensenbrenner has never been – and never will be our guy (in a familiar sense). It’s a measure of how poorly Carlson understands Whitewater that he could look around this diverse city and still describe Sensenbrenner in any positive terms
Some prior remarks are still germane:
(Sensenbrenner votes in line with Trump’s positions 88.2% of the time; Sensenbrenner on 7.5.18, asking for support for Trump after an executive order reducing the effects of Trump’s own family separation policy: “I am waiting to hear any of my friends from the left stand up and say Trump did the right thing when he signed that executive order.” Sensenbrenner might as well ask for support for an arsonist who burns down house after house but then splashes a cup of water on the collapsing homes and expects praise for that meager effort.)
No bad empty economic deal (see About that Trump Tax Plan) will compensate for an even worse policy of authoritarianism and ethnic favoritism.
One now reads (thank you, Joe) that Sensenbrenner has reintroduced to Congress his BUILD WALL Act (‘Build Up Illegal Line Defenses With Assets Lawfully Lifted’). Sensenbrenner’s wall-building legislation is both bigoted and a futile waste.
F. James Sensenbrenner’s wall-building politics represent a threat to centuries of evolving American legal, political, and economic development – and they are a particular nativist threat to many residents of this city.
There should be – and so will be – no yielding on this point.
As for the Whitewater Community Development Authority, one can say that it’s been an ineffectual and wasteful failure for many years. Development without broad & meaningful improvement in household and personal income isn’t community development at all. See A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA.
Previously: About that Trump Tax Plan, On the Whitewater CDA’s Press Release (A Picture Reply Is Worth a Thousand Words, A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA, More About that Trump Tax Bill, The Trump Tax Bill: That’s Not Reform, The Trump Tax Bill: The Wrong Incentives, The Trump Tax Bill: Massive Federal Deficits, The Trump Tax Bill: The Illusory Pay Bump, and Reported Family Poverty in Whitewater Increased Over the Last Decade.
Turns out that there is not much middle ground. A lot of guys want to pick and choose what they want out ofTrump vs. what they don’t. Honestly some of us thought we could pick and choose the parts we liked and ignore the rest. Lots of people still think that out in public. When they are home they know Trump is a fool.
You took your website anti-Trump and kept it there. Turns out that was the right call. It was practical as well. (I am not trying to say you don’t believe what you write. It is obvious that you do.) I’m just saying that you were smart to take a firm stand. It’s probably better to write off the trumpkins since will come off badly anyhow.
Sad to say these CDA guys have no clue. The SS Whitewater sailed on that years ago. I get that you don’t like references to their pro-Trump stuff. yes, Trump+Sensenbrenner definitely make them look dumber. Even if they did not have Trump and company they would still be stuck. They can’t fix the the city with what they have going. Council members act like it means something but no one believes that bunk.