WI Republicans Spending Spree on Attorneys, Chesebro is the BadgerPundit, Nazi CPAC Meet, WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book.

 Just another page in the Trump era...

1. Lame Duck Laws by Lame Gerrymandered Republicans.

WI Republicans not only took power away from the governor and AG during a lame duck session after Scott Walker lost, but they also allowed themselves to hire their own attorneys instead of the state justice department.

WI GOP's lame duck laws made it easier for the Legislature to hire attorneys and indeed, WI taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $14.3M spent by WI GOP on private attorneys between 1/1/19 & 12/31/22. Add probably $3M more for this last redistricting fight.

While the Dems have only just hired their private attorneys:

It must be highlighted that only in this last redistricting fight did Democrats hire their own private lawyers—at a fraction of what WI GOP attorneys charged. And WI GOP experts, like the redistricting one paid $450/hr, are additional out-of-pocket costs.

Another amazing example of “fiscal conservative policies.” Then there's this...

2. Kenneth Chesebro's private Twitter account @badgerpundit sought to overturn the election. Okay?

Do you call it an insurrection? Uh, yea.

Kenneth Chesebro, who helped devise the Trump campaign’s fake electors plot, concealed a secret Twitter account from Michigan prosecutors, hiding dozens of posts that undercut his statements to investigators about his role in the scheme.

3. Nazis at CPAC know where their swastikas are welcome...

BREAKING: Despite vehement denials to the contrary, NBC News has produced RECEIPTS that Nazis were openly mingling at the CPAC event this weekend, who flashed the Nazi solute and "espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories."

🚨Make sure everyone sees this.pic.twitter.com/RiZZjlxx8f

— Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) February 26, 2024

4. WHITE RURAL RAGE, the book: 

Professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Tom Schaller and journalist Paul Waldman's new book, “White Rural Rage.”

You might remember back in 2016, The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by author Katherine J. Cramer.

White Rural Rage laid out the fourfold interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country,” in their new book. “They are the most anti-gay, xenophobic in the country. QAnon support and subscribers, COVID denialism, Obama birtherism.”

“They don’t believe in an independent press, free speech. They’re most likely to say the president should be backed unilaterally without checks from the courts, and the strongest white Christian nationalists. Fourth, they’re most likely to excuse or justify violence as acceptable.”

This is the case due to the “problematic education systems,” “poorer infrastructure” and “a lack of economic opportunity” in rural areas of the country.

“That kind of left them open to someone like Donald Trump who would come along and tell them something that was true, that there is a system that has not served them well,”

5. Florida College Hit With Rare Sanction After DeSantis’ ‘Egregious’ Takeover, that was politically motivated. 

NewCollege of Florida, the school infamously overhauled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his pals, was slapped with a rare sanction by a national faculty group Monday for “egregious and extensive” standards violations during its conservative takeover last year.

The American Association of University Professors, has placed just 12 other universities on its sanctioned list over the last three decades.

The nonprofit wrote in a report that its decision stemmed from New College’s “unprecedented politically motivated takeover.”

DeSantis praised the moves as necessary to save the school from ruin, even though it regularly pumped out Fulbright scholars.

LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M Law professor said, “What we are witnessing in Florida is an intellectual reign of terror. There is a tremendous sense of dread right now, not just among faculty; it’s tangible among students and staff as well. People are intellectually and physically scared. We are being named an enemy of the state.”