Walker, WisGOP put their party's ambitions first in backing Trump for president

State Republicans refuse to take a principled stand against a dangerous candidate

Wisconsin Republicans have put the ambitions of their party ahead of the nation's interests.

Though several of the state's highest ranking GOP leaders had previously backed other candidates for president, the departures of both Ted Cruz and John Kasich have signaled a Donald Trump victory for the Republican Party's nomination contest, and with it a blind obedience by GOP dignitaries in the state to follow in his destructive path.

Among them is Gov. Scott Walker. Citing a pledge he made in August of last year as a presidential contender, Walker reiterated that he would support the GOP nominee no matter who it was.

"On August 6, I stood on the stage in Cleveland and said I would support the nominee," Walker said. "I said it repeatedly since then, and I'll be supporting the Republican nominee once that's officially set at the convention against Hillary Clinton."

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald has also indicated that he will be backing Donald Trump for president. "We're on the Trump train now," he said earlier this week.

Even those who were quite vocal about being #NeverTrump proponents in the recent past, like Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Jim Steineke of Kaukauna, have backtracked on their previous comments a bit.

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) — a vocal Trump critic — softened his position slightly. He declined to say what he would do in the fall, other than to say he wouldn't vote for Clinton.

"My vote is my vote and I'll make my decision somewhere down the line," he said.

Party unity is sometimes important. But when Republicans put party first and the country's interests second, unifying behind a controversial figure like Trump serves no grand purpose other than their own. And as I've pointed out before, sometimes pledges that were previously made are worth breaking, such as Walker’s pledge to back the eventual nominee.

Though I endorsed Bernie Sanders earlier this year, it does appear that Clinton is poised to win the Democratic Party's nomination for president. Presuming that she is the nominee, it's clear that she'd be the better of the two candidates by every measure you can imagine. On foreign and domestic policies, Clinton is simply more capable to lead than Donald Trump is.

In spite of this, Republicans in Wisconsin and elsewhere appear ready and willing to back Trump. The only conclusion that can be drawn from such blind support is that they are simply thinking about the promotion of their own party’s ambitions, unconcerned with what direction their vitriolic and impulsive candidate could possibly take us as leader of the free world.

Donald Trump is a dangerous candidate. But he’s the Republican candidate for president, and that’s all that seems to matter to many members of the Wisconsin GOP.

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