Wisconsin: Trump's base fired up by his bombast but will that be enough?

In the roof of a converted barn in rural Kenosha, Racine county’s southern neighbour, Republican candidates for US Senate all the way down to county sheriff, gathered this weekend to rally the faithful. They pressed flesh, slapped backs, leaned in and ate chilli and hot dogs with about 90 local activists.

Most were keen, in some way, to brandish their law-and-order credentials. Some mentioned the “caravan” of asylum seekers coming through Mexico as an illustration of why the nation must be vigilant; a couple made it clear that they “backed the badge”, a pro-police campaign set up in response to Black Lives Matter. Congressional candidate Bryan Steil, a corporate attorney looking to step into Paul Ryan’s shoes representing this district, mocked his Democratic opponent, Randy Bryce, for the nine times he has been arrested.

But despite the emphasis on security the matter of Cesar Sayoc, the alleged mail bomber and Trump supporter who had been arrested the day before did not come up. And the 11 Jews killed at prayer in their Pittsburgh synagogue that morning earned just a brief mention from the very last speaker. Van Wanggaard, a state senator up for re-election, said the news from Pittsburgh that morning had hit him hard. “I really think words mean something,” he said. “And we don’t need to talk about negative stuff about the other side.”

Asked afterwards who or what was responsible for the decline in civility, Wanggaard said he didn’t really know. During the primaries Donald Trump wasn’t even his second choice for the leadership: he backed Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, until he backed out, and then the Florida senator Marco Rubio. But he thinks Trump is doing a great job. “He’s doing what he said he was going to do,” he said. “I don’t always agree with the delivery. But I think he has a pure heart. I think he wants to do well for everybody.”

Commentators refer to Trump “capturing” the Republican party as though he is holding a mostly moderate grouping against its will. In reality, he is the leader many of them always wanted but didn’t imagine could either win or deliver.