that. One last thing, and maybe I'll get all three right.
>> Reporting from Madison. I'm Zach Schultz for here. And now.
>> 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 supersized 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 McCoshen and Democrat Scot 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 brakes. I expect to 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?
the things that they're going to do are going to, you know,
dismantle the social safety net, attack the rights of people, you
know, I mean, we're going to have mass deportations. We're
going to have trans people, you know, bullied into suicide with
their things. I mean, it's going to be a bloodbath. And also that
they can raid our treasury and give billionaires even more
money, you know? And so I think so I hope Democrats are not up
to it. And they shouldn't be, because I'll tell you, I got an
A, rule and I'm gonna give you the B, which is bipartisanship
is BS. Donald Trump, you know, in 2016 he said, oh, I, you
know, hinted that he might prosecute his political enemies
in 2020. He got a little bit more aggressive in 2024. He went
all in on, you know, on attacking Democrats. And that
was it. I'm not working with the Democrats. And he did better
this time. incumbent on Democrats to
acknowledge the electoral popularity of Donald Trump after
having apparently misunderstood their base?
>> Well, you know, I'll tell you this story. So a couple weeks
before the election. My wife is like, you know, I don't think
she's going to win. And I'm like, I don't want to hear it
because, like, I'll live in that world if it exists. I'm going to
live in denial. Like there's nothing I'm going to do about i.
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,
you know, 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 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.
telling us something very specific. Trump picked up on it
early on, and he capitalized on it. And that'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. priorities like mass
deportations, apparently help 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 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, is that like when you talk about bipartisanship, that this
is not the Republican Party that deals with bipartisanship
anymore. You know, 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. You know, the Republican Party basically
now denies that the 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
Cheney off the dais. In January worked with the Democrats. And
suddenly they're, you know, suddenly that's they've paid no
price for it basically is what I was going to say. So why would
they do it now? >> I want 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.
Currently, it's A43 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 there's progressives will have this
majority for some time, and they could undo things like act ten.
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 Schimel 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 Kaul. So I
think he's a strong candidate. It's going to be the most
expensive race in Wisconsin history.
this? >> Oh, I think she's a terrific
candidate. She's ten years of prosecutor. You know, 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 Schimel, on the
other hand, is a partisan hack. I mean, he was fired.
>> He was fired. >> Yes. And he's a judge because
he and Scott Walker, you know, in the lame duck after they both
got fired for their performance. You know, voters fired them. He
appointed him a judge. The fact is, is that Brad Schimel. You
know, bungled prosecutions of sex offenders, the rape kit
backlog was massive under him. And, you know, I'll give you
I'll give you another one. You know, 71 or 72 counties begged.
They pass resolutions begging Brad Schimel and Scott Walker to
do something about the opioid crisis. Brad Schimel, after
being the only state candidate in Wisconsin history to take a
PAC check from Purdue Pharma, the big opioid kingpin. He
refused to prosecute, absolutely 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 Kaul, on the
other hand, $750 million to help the effects of that has come
into the state of Wisconsin because Brad Schimel is no
longer the attorney general. >> I think Democrats are going
to be careful what they wish for here. This act. Ten 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
rules on judicial elections. It used to be that judicial
candidates couldn't take positions on cases that might
come before them. Janet Protasiewicz erased that bright
line on whether it was the maps or abortion or a variety of
other things. So Schimel is going to have to take advantage
of that and tell people act ten is going to be repealed if you
don't, if you elect Susan Crawford, school choice, if you
choose a charter school or a choice school or open enroll
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 who typically
don't turn out in April. >> So it's going to be about
we're suddenly going to, you know, the Wisconsin Supreme
purview over immigration and transgender issues. That's going
to be what Brad Schimmel's campaign. He's already he's
already talking about those sort of divisive, you know,
destructive campaign that we saw from Trump, that we saw from
Schimel. I do not believe Schimel will be will be elected
in any way, shape or form, mostly because, you know, the
credentials of Susan Crawford, the you know, the bad stuff that
we have with Brad Schimel, 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 that's, you know, 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