So legislative Democrats made some gains, but a state budget battle looms with a probable
fight over whether to cut taxes or spend a $4 billion surplus.
In Washington, look for President Donald Trump to act fast on his priorities and then
turn your attention back to Wisconsin for another super-sized election for control
of the state Supreme Court.
The discussion of what's ahead politically in the new year is teed up for our panelists,
Republican Bill McCation and Democrat Scott Ross, and thanks for being here.
Happy New Year.
So first to you, Bill, let's start with what we're going to see out of the new Trump administration.
So I would say this is going to be the NASCAR start, all gas, no breaks.
I expect more than maybe several hundred executive orders on day one.
I expect them to come forward with a reconciliation package probably in February that includes immigration
and energy a second one later in the year on government reform and taxes.
They have two opportunities.
There are team votes, including for speaker.
We're on to round two on that already.
Hopefully Mike Johnson will get that and we can get back to business.
But I think there will be a fast and furious start for the Trump administration.
I think the four years between his terms, they've learned a lot.
They knew what they did wrong in the first term and they'll be more prepared this time.
So it's a hold on to your hats moment.
Scott, do you think Democrats will work with the Trump administration in any measure?
I really hope not because the things that they're going to do are going to dismantle
the social safety net, attack the rights of people.
We're going to have mass deportations.
We're going to have trans people bullied into suicide with their things.
It's going to be a bloodbath and also that they can rate our treasury and give billionaires
even more money.
I hope Democrats are not up to it and they shouldn't be because I'll tell you, I've
got an ABC role and I'm going to give you the B, which is bipartisanship is BS.
Donald Trump, in 2016, he said, oh, I'm hinted.
He might prosecute his political enemies.
In 2020, he got a little bit more aggressive.
In 2024, he went all in on attacking Democrats and that was it.
I'm not working with the Democrats and he did better this time.
So you don't think it's incumbent on Democrats to acknowledge the electoral popularity of
Donald Trump after having apparently misunderstood their base?
Well, I'll tell you this, a little story.
So a couple of weeks before the election, my wife is like, I don't think she's going
to win.
I'm like, I don't want to hear it because I'll live in that world if it exists.
I'm going to live a denial.
There's nothing I'm going to do about it.
And after I go to her and I was like, you know, hat in hand, I'm like, what happened?
She's like, the joy thing.
She's like, we have a comfortable life, you know?
Do you feel joy?
And I'm like, well, when I'm around you, but generally no.
So why were people going to feel joy?
You know who felt joy?
The people who were on the gravy train, you know, and suddenly were able to be in a position
where they could be president, you know, and the consultants and all that sort of thing.
It wasn't, you know, they weren't, it wasn't a reflection of reality as it turns out.
I bought into it, but I was wrong.
I think Democrats missed the signal.
The voters were telling us something very specific.
Trump picked up on it early on and he capitalized on it and it's why he actually won 231 congressional
seats and he won 57 Senate seats.
So I think there is some room for bipartisanship in this coming Congress.
Bill, how do you think day one priorities like mass deportations apparently helped
people with the cost of groceries?
Well, I think that's one function.
He got elected on that.
There's no question about that, whether it was the Trump people think it was his number
one issue.
I still think the economy was the number one issue and both of those things are going to
get done in the first six months.
But it's probably you're not going to see massive reduced grocery prices in the first
couple months, but if you have them by summer, I think that's a pretty good start for the
Trump campaign.
I mean, I think the problem is that like when you talk about bipartisanship, that this
is not the Republican Party that deals with bipartisanship anymore.
There are Democrats who are thinking, oh, I still want a Republican Party where we can
come together and put a man on the moon.
The Republican Party basically now denies that we even landed on the moon, essentially
in that way.
There is no room for bipartisanship with them.
Democrats do that at their peril.
And again, Republicans have been saying no to Democrats since they were rolling Old
Man Chaney off the day of June, January 20th, 2009.
They have never worked with the Democrats.
And suddenly that's they paid no price for it, basically is what I was going to say.
So why would they do it now?
I want to come back here to Wisconsin and what you call the Super Bowl of politics,
that being the spring election for state Supreme Court.
Why is it the Super Bowl?
This is the biggest election.
It's for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Suddenly it's a 4-3 progressive majority.
One of the four progressives is not running for reelection.
And so there's an opportunity for conservatives to take back the majority.
And if they don't get it this time, the next opportunity doesn't present itself until 2028.
So progressives will have this majority for some time.
And they could undo things like Act 10, they could undo school choice, they could undo
some of the welfare reforms, and many, many other things.
So it is the Super Bowl for conservatives and Republicans.
And it's incumbent upon us to get behind Brad Schimmel quickly, early.
He's a battle-tested candidate.
He's run statewide twice before.
He was successful in the first bid.
He was unsuccessful in the second bid primarily because there was a third-party candidate
in here who prevented him from beating Josh Call.
So I think he's a strong candidate.
It's going to be the most expensive race in Wisconsin history.
How does Susan Crawford win this?
Oh, I think she's a terrific candidate.
She's 10 years a prosecutor.
She's then went into private practice where she protected workers' rights, abortion rights,
and voting rights.
And then she went on to be a respected judge, which she is now.
Brad Schimmel on the other hand is a partisan hack.
I mean, he was fired.
He was a judge.
He was fired.
Yes.
And he's a judge because he and Scott Walker, in the lame duck after they both got fired
for their performance, voters fired them, he appointed him a judge.
The fact is, is that Brad Schimmel bungled prosecutions of sex offenders.
The rape kit backlog was massive under him.
And I'll give you another one.
71 of 72 counties begged.
They passed resolutions begging Brad Schimmel and Scott Walker to do something about the
opioid crisis.
Brad Schimmel, after being the only state candidate in Wisconsin history to take a pack check
from Purdue Pharma, the big opioid kingpin, he refused to prosecute.
And it wasn't a lot of money, it was only $250.
But like, the question is, can you be bought for that little?
Or did you actually think Purdue shouldn't be held accountable?
Josh, call on the other hand, $750 million to help the effects of that has come into the
state of Wisconsin because Brad Schimmel is no longer the attorney general.
I think Democrats are going to be careful what they wish for here.
This act 10 case that was adjudicated in Dane County Circuit Court is now in the appellate
court, could make it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
A year ago, I think Scott and I will agree on this, Janet Protisawitz sort of changed
the rules on judicial elections.
Used to be that judicial candidates couldn't take positions on cases that might come before
them.
Janet Protisawitz erased that bright line on whether it was the maps or abortion or a
variety of other things.
So Schimmel is going to have to take advantage of that and tell people act 10 is going to
be repealed if you don't, if you elect Susan Crawford.
The old choice, if you choose a charter school or a choice school or open and roll
your kid, that could all go away if Susan Crawford is elected.
So he's going to have to motivate the same voters that elected Donald Trump, the low
propensity voters, the mid propensity voters who typically don't turn out and hate people.
So it's going to be about where suddenly the Wisconsin Supreme Court is going to suddenly
have purview over immigration and transgender issues.
That's going to be what Brad Schimmel's campaign is.
He's already talking about those things.
It's going to be the sort of divisive, destructive campaign that we saw from Trump, that we
saw from Schimmel.
I do not believe Schimmel will be elected in any way, shape or form, mostly because the
credentials of Susan Crawford, the bad stuff that we have with Brad Schimmel, but also
the fact that it is going to be insane what the Republicans do.
And Democrats are always motivated once we've lost the big battle to clean things up.
And I think that's where we're at.
Well, ratings for a lot of progressive shows are at their all time low.
I think Democrats are demotivated by what happened in November.
And I think that will continue through April.
We have a lot more to talk about, and we will in the coming months, Bill McCossian, Scott
Ross, thank you.
Thank you.
You know, I didn't say a lot.
Thank you.