So the governor from Wisconsin is throwing his hat in the ring, becoming the bajillionth person to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States. People who are not politically bent -- in other words, the vast majority of this country -- think he's just another chump, one that has an equal chance with all the other chumps in the GOP clown car to get the nomination next year, and not one to pay attention to at least until the summer before Election Day. But for me and other people who are in the know and want to know, Walker is the most dangerous candidate in the field. And in my mind, he becomes the one to beat.
For those who don't know, Scott Walker, as soon as he became governor in 2011, has been on a determined mission to bust unions, and unfortunately, he has done so successfully, despite protests that include nightly rallies by thousands at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. Nevertheless Walker, along with Republican majorities voted into both houses of the state legislature, enacted laws that have virtually destroyed collective bargaining rights in the state, rendering it into a right-to-work (for less) state, just like the South.
Moreover, he has privatized many properties that used to belong to the state, many of them to companies that appear to have paid him back by enriching his campaign coffers. Foremost among them are businesses that plunder environmental laws in the state, which endangers the water and air in Wisconsin. But worst of all are his underhanded methods he conducts business -- both his duties as governor and his private financial affairs. Many of these controversial union-busting and privatizing provisions has been crammed into bills at the last minute, often late at night, while many prying eyes of the public and the media aren't watching. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, backed by conservatives just as corrupt as he is, have batted down, time and again, repeated inquiries into allegations of corruption during Walker's stints in public office, and not just as governor. In fact, his conflation of his personal (and monetary) ambitions and his work for Wisconsin has been revealed through correspondence, the increasingly clumsy attempts not to disclose of which would violate any reasonable state's transparency laws. Add it all up, and he is as crooked a politician in America. And he's running for President!!
You have to give credit to him for his balls. But he has a lot of political savvy, which would be an asset if he weren't so slimy. Shortly before and since declaring his run for President, he has shown deftness and fake demonstrations of leadership, and he has been very good and knowing what to say, when to say it, and when not to take any stand at all. For example, he recently loosened further gun safety laws in the state, using a press conference announcing those new "regulations" to take a cheap shot at President Obama. He used themes of "not listening to the real America" to the President, when Obama has done more for the little guy than George Fucking W. Bush ever did.
There are three aspects at work in that announcement. For one thing, Walker has and will use that "real America" schtick for as long as he's running. For another, although it's somewhat related, he also loves this repeated self-victimization narrative in order to curry favor with other Republicans. When he and his legislature was in the middle of busting the unions, he has said he has come under several death threats. While I don't doubt the death threats, I'm just about sick of Scott Walker covering those threats around him like a blanket, as if he's saying, "Why poor wittle old me?" And there are people who lap that shit up.
Finally, this comes in the wake of the massacre at Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, S.C. There are a lot of factors that went into the shooting: the Confederate flag, race, guns. The first is now becoming a relic banished to American history. We are still dealing with the second, and not that well. But it's the third one, guns, that once again gets a pass. There are all those slaughters that have the commonality of guns, and what happened in Charleston once again should put a spotlight on gun violence in America. But as we, this country, gravitated to changing what essentially is the low-hanging fruit, which is the flag, Walker used that moment to circle the wagons in yet another startling victory for gun violence rights. Protecting guns is also low-hanging fruit; the National Rifle Association does not need Scott Walker's help. But the gun lobby has a victim mentality like Walker, and by announcing the restriction of conceal-and-carry laws, those people who cling to their deadly firearms found a champion to stand alongside in order to beat back that nasty gun-stealing Kenyan Obama.
The second event that evinces his political wiles is Donald Trump, who, over the weekend, said John McCain is not a war hero for being captured by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. (Aside: Trump is leading in the polls, and I really don't know if this will hurt him at all -- and that really frightens the hell out of me. Because any people who continue to stick by Donald Trump in the wake of that crazy-ass answer have no qualms about a person who served his country admirably and only care about the fact that he lost to the black guy in the White House right now. In their minds, McCain deserves to be ridiculed because he's a loser, and so being captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese is further sign that he is nothing but a loser. I believe that has some connection to Scott Walker, which I'll try to explain below.) At first Walker stayed above the fray, only tweeting that McCain is an American hero, while his Republican rivals all called for Trump to apologize and quit the race. Seeing that the water's fine, Walker then joined them ... but did so in an exclusive interview on Sunday morning political talk TV. He came off like a statesman, but used really hard language to go after Trump, exhorting the other Republican hopefuls to go after Trump for his words. By having the spotlight all to himself, he could sound tough even though he said only what everybody else said first. He knew when to avoid controversy, then act as if he had to swoop in and be courageous when there really is nothing courageous about his viewpoint.
But guess what? Scott Walker still stands a good chance of winning!!! Why? Well, first of all, he can use all that money he's made from campaign contributions in exchange for selling off the state he professes to love. What's more of a factor, sadly, is that he's a proven winner, which apparently makes him (at least in the eyes of the media) a tantalizing favorite. Not only was he elected, not only was he re-elected, but there was a recall election that he managed to beat back (with the help, by the way, of campaign money from businesses he'll reward with kickbacks disguised as laws he has passed and will pass into law). He can say, "I've been elected three times, and I faced down the bullies with the unions and won!" and there are a lot of people who'll eat it up. He is not a loser, and right now, that makes him a formidable candidate.
Finally, there's the competition. Assuming the Koch Brothers find Scott Walker to be their willing fuck boy, meaning he'll be able to beat back all the other candidates being controlled by their rich puppet masters, Walker will (probably, although I am really starting to believe in Bernie Sanders) Hillary Clinton. She has two handicaps. For one -- and it may turn out to be the biggest hurdle -- it is very rare for a party to get three straight terms. Bush got to follow Reagan's eight years, and Obama is having one hell of a run right now, but let's see. For another, despite all her accomplishments, of which there are many, she is still Hillary Clinton. She is by far well-known commodity, and you either love her or hate her. Scott Walker remains largely unknown, so he has time to define himself as intelligent, strong, candid, nice -- and a winner.
Doesn't matter that all his promises to bring jobs to Wisconsin are bullshit. Don't mind the fact that his popularity ratings are currently in the toilet now that he doesn't give a rat's ass about his state anymore. Forget all the creepy ways he will twist the pipelines of the federal government so that they funnel into his bank account in the Cayman Islands, screwing over all the people who will vote for him anyway, stupid people. And please ignore all the people under him who have eventually gone to jail for chicanery related to his ambitions. He's a winner. And in this election, where money talks more than ideas, that may be more than enough.
President Scott Walker is truly a frightening proposition for the United States of America.
No comments:
Post a Comment