After Scott Walker's defeat on Tuesday, more political watchers are taking note of the sudden early demise of Wisconsin's three republican rock stars, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker and Reince Priebus.
Afterall, few states in the union could boast the deep party bench Wisconsin republicans enjoyed over the past ten years. Each with 20+ years of campaign experience and cruising into middle-age with astounding records of beating the odds, they not only seemed unstoppable but destined to become the holy trinity of the future Grand Old Party. With Ryan becoming House Speaker in 2015, Politico dubbed them, "the Big Three GOP" and few would argue the trio from Wisconsin seemed well on their way to a political dynasty.
But then came Donald Trump and in less time you can say "rumplestiltskin," all three have been vanquished. Rejected. Quit. Fired. Kaput.
Now, I would like to instead believe Wisconsin voters woke and finally rejected Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and Reince Preibus for their scorched-earth strategies and wrong-headed policies. Honest I would. But I can't stretch it that far knowing Paul Ryan won ten consecutive campaigns and Wisconsin gave Walker a hard fought recall to think we all suddenly woke up about policy and decided to flush it down the toilet.
Over the years, I've learned politics are more personal and partisan and less policy. To me, that explains why voters repeatedly elect politicians against their own wishes on the issues, and why voters are quick to backlash against a politician's personal ambitions than on their policy. Yet, voters tend to forgive politicians who make mistakes so long as the effort was honest and their intentions meant well.
But Walker, Ryan and Priebus all falling within a two year period? Well, the coincidence with Donald Trump is just too striking to ignore.
Donald Trump is by far the most polarizing hot potato I've ever seen in politics. You hold him a second too long and you'll get burned. But the shortest best way I can elaborate my view on why I think Trump is directly responsible for their demise is best done by considering how different the political landscape would be if Hillary Clinton won.
If Clinton had won the presidency, Ryan would still be on his glide path to the presidency in 2020. He would have remained as Speaker doing exactly what he always does - using Democrats and Hillary Clinton as the perfect foil for roiling up the GOP base to support everything his fiscal conservatism stands for. But with GOP majorities and Trump, Ryan had run out of excuses for why his conservatism isn't a fraud and his policies junk.
The same with Walker and a Hillary presidency. Walker would probably not have made the bungling decision to take on Foxconn for the same reason Walker refused to take any risk during the Obama years. Like Ryan, Walker lost the foil advantage of blaming everything wrong in Wisconsin on a Democrat and avoided making any big decisions that a Democrat could contrast against or take credit for.
With a Hillary presidency, Priebus obviously would not have been appointed chief of staff. But like Walker and Ryan, he would have also had the foil advantage and probably run for the US Senate against Baldwin. But after his firing by Trump, Priebus found himself in political limbo much like Leah Vukmir discovered last Tuesday.
Sure, I'd prefer to give credit to Hillary Clinton for their demise for losing to Trump, but that would be facetious on my part.
Of course you might not agree with my perspective on this. But I leave that with a question; What do you think Walker, Ryan and Priebus would be doing today if Hillary Clinton won the presidency?
ADDITIONAL:
Wisconsin State Journal - What sunk Scott Walker? His ambition, his record, Tony Evers, and the Donald Trump backlash
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