ICYMI: Tim Michels A Moderate? Think Again
MADISON, Wis. – Tim Michels is the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate in the Republican race for governor who supports a restrictive abortion ban, opposed same-sex marriage, and won’t admit who won the 2020 election.
Here is a reminder of some of his comments:
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Michels has previously supported a Constitutional ban on marriage equality and said that he doesn’t believe LGTBQ+ people should “bring it out of [the] house”: “When you bring it out of your house and onto the public street, that’s where I differ.”
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He has agreed it’s “not unreasonable” to force rape victims to give birth to the children of their attackers.
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Tim Michels previously said “maybe” the election was stolen and “President Trump probably would be president right now if we had election integrity.”
At every turn, Tim Michels chose to prove his extreme Republican views and pander to the ultra-MAGA wing of the Republican Party, instead of common sense leadership for all Wisconsinites.
Read more on Michels’ radical politics:
The Cap Times: Opinion | Tim Michels A Moderate? Think Again
Veteran Wisconsin newsman and longtime business owner John Torinus, who hails from a family seeped in Wisconsin conservative politics, used his blog the other day to ask if Donald Trump’s endorsement of Tim Michels, who is seeking the GOP’s endorsement to challenge Tony Evers this fall, will be his “kiss of death.”
Torinus, who owned the West Bend Daily News and was business editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel several years ago, commented that he thought Michels was smart enough to avoid being “super-glued to Trump.”
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But instead of moderating his own image, he soon joined the other three candidates — former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, ex-Marine Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Tim Ramthun — buying into the Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump when all factual evidence says he was a big loser.
Torinus may have been surprised by Michels’ courting of Trump, but it wasn’t a surprise to many of us who have watched Michels’ politics in recent years, including his failed bid to unseat then Sen. Russ Feingold in 2004.
An extremely successful contractor, mainly by securing multimillion-dollar publicly financed road projects, Michels has tried to paint himself as a moderate outsider. Torinus, who never bought into the fable that Trump was cheated in the 2020 election, and others who I would call sane Republicans, were convinced that his late entry into the race was a refreshing development for the state GOP.
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When one examined the multimillionaire’s take on the issues, it quickly became apparent that there was really little difference between his views and those of Kleefisch and Nicholson. (Ramthun, of course, has no real platform other than the state’s 2020 Electoral College votes for Biden needs to be rescinded.)
Michels’ mask came off when he traipsed down to Mar-a-Lago for an audience with The Donald, much like the other GOP candidates had done.
And since Michels has considerable wealth — always a plus for Trump — and was an early supporter of the ex-president’s infamous and “beautiful” wall along the Mexican border, he got the blessing he had sought.
Torinus explains why he fears this may be the kiss of death if Michels wins the nomination to face Evers in November.
“Trump still has a strong base in the Republican Party,” he writes, “But only has a 37% approval rating with the Wisconsin general public. His star is fading here.”
My question is, isn’t this the case for all four of these Republican contenders? They all have hitched their wagons to Trump’s divisive politics. There is no moderate in this race.
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