CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – There were more anti-Trump protests over the weekend. A crowd of about 200 gathered in Wausau. The demonstration I saw was in Rhinelander on Saturday was smaller – about 100 people. (I was up there to leg Argos the Great Dane run loose in the big field at Nicolet College.)
What I was surprised about was this: many of the demonstrators were carrying signs fortelling things that aren’t going to happen – or are bumper sticker slogans that are wildly inaccurate.
“Hands off Medicare” said one sign. Maybe the person carrying it forget that five years ago, during COVID, the Biden administration lowered the income requirements to get on BadgerCare and other medicare programs. Somehow now, restoring the requirements to what they used to be is considered a cut.
“Hands off Veterans Benefits” and “Hands off Social Security.” No such cuts are being debated, except for getting fraudsters out of those programs.
“Save Our Schools” – Oops, your ignorance is showing. 87% of school funding comes from some other source, not the federal government. Trump, while trying to shut down the Department of Education, wants to continue funding special education and giving the rest of federal aid directly to the states. He’s not cutting school funding – he’s cutting bureaucracy.
“If you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention” – Oh, really? Donald Trump campaigned on raising tariffs to restore our manufacturing base, cutting government waste, and securing the border. You may disagree with his policies, but none of them are surprises.
And lastly are the “this is what democracy looks like” signs. Protesters should turn those signs around so they can read them. Donald Trump won the electoral college, the popular vote, and all 7 battleground states, including Wisconsin. An Emerson College poll said 94% of Trump voters would vote for him again. A U-Mass Amherst poll says only 2% of Trump voters would change their vote if the last election was re-run today. That, my protesting friends, is what democracy looks like.
Chris Conley
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