The WISDEMS Convention and Right-Wing Tactics

At the WISDEMS convention this summer the Milwaukee Beagle made quite the splash. A lot of people seemed to appreciate the fun energy we brought, and were at least willing to engage with our ideas as they relate to the direction of the party. We made friends, and potentially some good enemies, but one particular interaction has stuck with me. One man told us our work was disgusting, using “right wing” and “Trumpian” tactics. This person claimed to believe that we went to the convention in order to insult people, and that our articles were “biased.”

Of course our work is biased, everything has bias. It is silly to pretend otherwise. It is the idea that criticizing the party for not doing its job, and pointing to specific leaders who kowtow to a dangerous do-nothing agenda is somehow “Trumpian” that bewilders me. What are rightwing tactics? Is the problem with Donald Trump that he sometimes calls people bad names? Cuz it seems that the problem with Trump is the calls to violence, demonizing of outgroups, cutting of programs that lead to harming those who need it, lying for political purposes, and fraud??

That any serious person has zeroed in on the nontraditional-aesthetic elements as a problem in our political ecology is indicative of rot at the system’s core. It was often repeated in his first term that Republicans disagreed with his personality, but loved his goals. The real right-wing tactics have been here the whole time, and are quite welcome within the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Here are three of them.

The Fountainhead

Despite our best efforts to motivate our readership to sign up and become a delegate at the Wisconsin Democratic Convention (many of you did!) The makeup of the 904 delegates at the event were overwhelmingly party loyalists. Simply put, not enough has been done in order to make the process of signing up to be a delegate as easily understandable as you would expect from a party trying to grant access to the everyday person. Once one actually becomes a delegate it is even more difficult to keep track of the rules and how to participate in the systems that govern the party.

As an outsider, the entire convention struck me as very much a club for the smart people who know best, and will make decisions for everyone else. This gave me a new perspective on the old problem of the Democrats hating the people in their party - a conversation many of us have been having since at least 2015. The small, insular group of the smartest and bestest people leading the way for the dumdum masses is an Ayn Randian, right-wing tactic. Essentially it is the plot of the novel The Fountainhead.

This was nowhere more evident at the convention than the voting on constitutional amendments and resolutions on Sunday morning. In order to best participate in the voting one must be present in the conference room (this seems obvious, but general elections for the chair position was scheduled at the same time.) The rules for voting on amendments to the constitutional party require at least  60% of the quorum cast their ballot in one direction on each vote. At this particular convention none of the amendment votes were ratified, because too many delegates were out in line to vote for the chair. (You can read our article about the Parliamentary process here - it’s good!)

At the beginning of the constitutional amendment process, delegates have the ability to propose changes to the party platform. This is a very brief window, and if you miss your chance to make your declaration then it’s too late! I had hoped to include a line in 25-JHD-01: End Dark Money in Campaigns, but acted too late. This resolution is wimpy, but alludes to a real need because…

Money, It’s a Gas

While trying to whip support for William Garcia I went to new Chair Devin Remiker’s hospitality suite and asked the people there to explain the appeal of their candidate. Some of the talking points bought into his “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” approach (which completely ignores that Wisconsin went to Trump in 2024.) The other strongest support for Remiker was his endorsement from Ben Wikler, renowned to the public for his “year-round organizing approach” but internally, most praised for his access to big donors. 

A vote for Devin Remiker was a vote to retain that flow of sweet-sweet cash into the state Democratic party. His foul answer to the question of how much he spent on his Chair campaign - “enough to win” - made explicit what had been implicit for weeks. Remiker sent out several glossy full page leaflets to the delegates, and had multiple people (volunteers? Maybe?) calling every day to try and sway our votes. His aforementioned hospitality suite had an entire baked potato bar, a prime rib carving station, an open bar, and fancy swag with his name on it. I would roughly estimate it cost at least $20,000 dollars.

Meanwhile runner up Joe Zepecki spent much more modestly with a keg of Miller Lite, and a pizza buffet. In third place, La Crosse County Chair William Garcia had appropriately paltry offerings in the conference room. If this seems like a series of petty digs on Remiker, consider that the amount spent on the campaigns are the exact inverse of the candidates’ stated intent to hand the reins of power back to communities.

Audre Lorde says “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. What does it mean when tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable.” It is safe to say that using the masters' money as your primary tool  against a fascist like Donald Trump, or Robin Vos, will ultimately fail. Relying so heavily on money to prop up candidates for whom there is no grassroots excitement is undeniably a right-wing tactic . Even when we are able to win elections with this method, the best we can do is our anti-labor State Supreme Court, or Tony Evers, a man who has at best managed to lend us a pullout couch inside the house of the master.

I Alone Can Fix It!

Governor Evers did make an appearance at the convention, and it is no surprise that within this exact makeup of party insiders he was greeted with the warmest of welcomes. The Education Governor refused to make any sort of declarations though Wisconsin Examiner’s Baylor Spears reports “party members seemed supportive of his third run.” 

While framing his record in office as a net benefit to working people Tony says “Everyone stopped calling me two-term or three-term Tony, and now they just call me 400-year Tony.” What he doesn’t know is that people are not saying that in reference to his notorious line item veto, they are saying it because Tony Evers is (metaphorically) 400 years old and it is time to retire. If Tony Evers runs for a third term he will assume office at 75 years old. 

At risk of starting another braindead debate about ageism, consider that the problem is less his age, but the idea that one individual is uniquely qualified to do a job. Ruth Bader Ginsberg should have retired, Joe Biden should have dropped out earlier, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are 1000 years old, and Gwen Moore is 74. The Democratic party consistently buys into the importance of the individual and we are not handing over the reigns to the next generation of leaders as a result. 

The reason that Trump’s RNC assertion that “I alone can fix it” is in the fascist tradition is that it embodies the individual as the uber-menche, the pure embodiment of the population's will and values. When speaking broadly on the political spectrum it is helpful to see the right wing as the consolidation of power, while the left’s mission is more in its ability to enfranchise people and spread the power around. Tony Evers needs to step back sooner than later. Furthermore, the Wisconsin Democratic establishment needs to start trusting the people in their party, especially  the activist branch, and the county parties. They should also invest in the next generation with more than performative platforming of Young Democrats, and College Democrats.

Left Wing Tactics

In the 90’s there was this trend of taking artists who were in Christian bands and shoehorning their art into the mold of whatever rock band was selling records in the mainstream. The blatancy of this grift went so far as to even advertise that comparison on the CD or tape case! There must’ve been half a dozen “Christian Nirvanas!” Those artists were talented creatives but seldom did they crossover because audiences who already loved the real thing could spot the rip off immediately. 

At the time it read as deeply inauthentic, and in hindsight it feels like we missed out on art that could have had something meaningful to say if it didn’t exist as “the christian version of X band.” Artists were constrained, the art suffered, and the only people who were happy with the situation were the businessmen who created this g-rated Frankenstein of an industry. 

When Democrats copy from the Republican playbook like this we are stuck with the Christian rock of politics. The Centrist Democrats who run the state party (like the businessmen behind Christian rock) are the only ones who benefit. They fundraise and give jobs to their friends and don’t use the tools they have to actually improve the lives of people in Wisconsin. They stifle the real ground level organizing that wants to see them do more. The WISDEMS party will choke out authentic action from the people around defunding the police, and tell them to vote for Tony Evers. 

Also like Christian rock, Centrist Democrats are not making politics better. They are making society worse.