Weekly News from Your Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair

 

 

Trump has returned to his ugliest playbook: wielding racism as a political weapon. It’s now up to Democrats to fight back. But don’t listen to the pundits who claim we have to choose between confronting racism or focusing on the kitchen-table issues that affect working people of all races. The best research shows that we win most powerfully when we tackle both. Here’s the truth: the Trump and GOP cynically use racism and xenophobia to divide and distract the public—so that they pick all of our pockets to benefit the ultra-wealthy.  And here’s the good news: a deep-dive research project found that the most powerful message is the one that points all of that out.

 

 

Prepare yourself for the battles ahead. You can read a summary of the research in this article: "A unifying "race-class narrative": Blueprint for progressive victory?" — and read the actual study here: "Race-Class: Our Progressive Narrative." The Associated Press wrote about this last week. In a story that ran nationwide, I was quoted arguing:  "Trump's use of racism as a political weapon is his only strategy to distract the public from the No. 1 issue in 2018, which was health care," Wikler said. "He can't claim that he stands for working people in 2020." We can’t shy away from confronting Trump’s despicable appeals to hatred. And we also can’t let him pull us away from fighting on issues that affect people of every race. Fortunately, our most powerful path is the one where we speak to both at once—and the connection between them. We can lead with our values, and win.

 

 

Fight on Issues: Medicaid Expansion Saves Lives

 

When we increase access to health care, more people seek care, and that in turn reduces mortality rates. A new study published this week estimates that had nationwide Medicaid expansion occurred, 15,000 deaths would have been prevented. Studies are literally telling us that Medicaid expansion would save people’s lives, yet Republicans still refuse to put petty politics aside and do the right thing for their constituents.

 

 

Expanding Medicaid isn’t just the moral thing to do, it's also the smart choice for all Wisconsinites. In addition to freeing up millions of dollars in our biennial budget, expanding Medicaid would reduce costs for all of us and give 82,000 low-income Wisconsinites access to affordable care. We’re going to continue to fight for Medicaid expansion even as the 2020 race heats up. The health and lives of Wisconsinites are on the line, and we’re not going to let Republicans get away with this come election day.