Trump's America First economic nationalism agenda has been almost entirely abandoned, courtesy of by the Wall Street crew he's turned the presidency over to and, in retrospect looks like it was never anything more than a shiny lure laced with racism and xenophobia to win votes in the hard-hit industrial Midwest where Hillary's dull centrism wasn't resonating. Wisconsin is a good example. No one believed Trump would win there, but his America First messaging caught on with enough people to give him a narrow 1,405,284 (47.22%) to 1,382,536 (46.45%) over Clinton-- just 22,748 votes. Neither Hillary nor Trump was popular in Wisconsin. Trump lost the primary to Ted Cruz 531,129 (48.2%) to 386,370 (35.1%). Bernie did best of all-- beating Hillary 567,936 (56.6%) to 432,767 (43.1%). Bernie won every county in the state but one. Keep in mind, Obama beat McCain 56-42% in the state and beat Romney 53-46% there.Yesterday Trump went to Kenosha in Paul Ryan's district to sign an executive order at the headquarters of Snap-On Tools that pushes the abandoned agenda-- buying American products and hiring American workers. Maybe no one bothered to tell Trump that his party has killed it in the House. In fact, it was Paul Ryan who killed it. The same Paul Ryan who managed to avoid being in Kenosha with Trump yesterday.Trump's executive order primarily rails against low wage workers coming into the country-- something which the Establishment Republicans will protect with their dying breath regardless of what Trump wants-- and seeks to make changes to a visa program that brings in high-skilled workers. The second part asserts that government agencies will be held strictly accountable for buying products made in America-- so no products made by Trump's own companies. "President Trump has tasked the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross [part of Team Putin] with revealing all the agency findings and submitting a report to his desk within 220 days. This report and its recommendations will serve as a blueprint for additional executive and regulatory actions to further strengthen Buy American as well as guide possible legislative proposals."Kenosha has long been a strong Democratic bastion but last November Hillary managed to lose it to Trump 36,025 (47.5%) to 35,770 (47.2%). Bernie had taken the county 57-42% in the Democratic primary. He took 14,612 votes there to Trump's 11,139. In 2012 Obama won Kenosha 56-43%, Tammy Baldwin won it 54-42% and progressive Democrat Rob Zerban won the county against Ryan 41,101 (52%) to 36,092 (46%). Zerban won there despite cold-hearted DCCC efforts to sabotage him and protect Ryan.Marquette Law School's latest poll shows Trump with a 41% approval rating in Wisconsin-- with 47% disapproving of his job performance so far. Among independents, 44% disapprove and 38% approve.
Asked what they would like to see Congress do about the 2010 health care reform law, 6 percent favor keeping the law as it is, 54 percent would keep and improve it, 28 percent favor repealing and replacing the law and 8 percent would repeal and not replace the law....Sixty-six percent of respondents say undocumented immigrants who are currently working in the United States should be allowed to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Seventeen percent say these immigrants should be able to stay as guest workers but not apply for citizenship and 14 percent say they should be required to leave the U.S. In October, 62 percent supported eventual citizenship, 19 percent favored a guest worker status and 16 percent thought undocumented immigrants should be required to leave the county.Asked about the administration’s steps to accelerate the deportation of people in the country illegally, including those who may not have committed a serious crime, 43 percent support deportations while 50 percent do not. Support for deportations is 85 percent among those who think undocumented immigrants should be required to leave the country, 60 percent among those favoring a guest worker program and 30 percent among those who think there should be a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.Asked about building a wall along the entire border with Mexico, 37 percent support constructing a wall while 59 percent oppose doing so. Among those who approve of the job Trump is doing as president, 75 percent support the wall while 20 percent oppose it. Among those disapproving of Trump’s handling of his job, 8 percent support the wall and 91 percent oppose it.
It would have been embarrassing-- if any of these people were capable of embarrassment-- for Ryan to have been at the event yesterday. He has successfully been purging Buy American provisions from procurement legislation and union members are aware of that. In December Ryan was able to take Buy American provisions out of a major water infrastructure bill. When I asked another Wisconsin congressman, Mark Pocan (D-Madison) he was still angry about it. "It is unthinkable," he told us, "why Congressional Republican Leadership removed the permanent 'Buy America' requirement that was voted on and passed by the Senate in the water infrastructure bill. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state like the Neenah Foundry are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that help ship jobs overseas." Soon after Pocan drafted and sent a letter to Trump asking him to live up to his campaign promises about protecting American workers from the excesses of GOP extremists. He was joined by 19 colleagues in urging Trump "to strongly enforce Buy America provisions in government procurement policies and promote Buy America rules in legislation advanced during your administration."He told the press that if Trump "is concerned with livelihood of American workers, he should take steps to ensure the Buy America Act is strongly and meaningfully enforced. Last week, House Republican leadership removed a provision to permanently require American steel and iron be used in our country’s water infrastructure. It is unthinkable for House Republicans to eliminate these Buy America requirements after they were voted on and passed by the Senate. President-elect Trump can and should ensure that enforcement of the Act is strengthened. It is his duty to stand up to Congressional Republican leadership when the allow taxpayer dollars to go to companies that ship jobs overseas. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. House Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that costs our country jobs. I hope President-elect Trump will ensure what happened to the Water Resources bill doesn’t happen again- we need a firm commitment from both parties to buy American." Pocan says neither Trump nor anyone from his Regime responded to his letter. "Reviewing Buy America policies does little to keep the promises Trump made to Wisconsin workers. Many people in our state are feeling economically strapped and a short visit to my hometown of Kenosha to shake some hands will not ease that stress. We desperately need immediate, strong, and meaningful Buy America policies to ensure that American tax dollars go to companies that employ American workers. But in his first months as President, we’ve yet to see Trump take meaningful action on Buy America. While Trump is announcing this Executive Order in Speaker Paul Ryan’s District, Republicans in Congress remain firmly opposed to expanding our Buy America standards. Instead of standing up for American workers, they consistently rally around legislation that strips these requirements and sends taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. I hope that the President will stand up to Speaker Paul Ryan and follow this review of Buy America policies with real action that will help the hardworking families find economic stability."Gwen Moore, who represents Milwaukee, also signed onto Pocan's letter. Not only did't Ryan, but none of the Wisconsin Republicans in Congress did. Trump can toss around the slogans all he wants-- and maybe he'll fool some of the "poorly educated" he claims to love and base his "movement" on-- but the reality is that Ryan and the House Republicans are killing the very agenda Bannon persuaded to Trump pretend he believes in.2018 could be a good electoral cycle for Wisconsin Democrats. But the DCCC has nixed backing any candidates in the state. Once again, they won't allow anyone to run against Ryan and have discouraged candidates against Sensenbrenner, Duffy, Grothman and Gallagher. It's who they are, what they are and what they will always be. It's why the lose and lose and lose and lose and why losing is built into the organization's DNA and why everyone who ever works for them is re-egineered to be a loser. The DCCC-- the best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party.Grothman & Duffy cluelessly basking in the Trumpiness
