A few years before Trump won the 2016 election, there was another effort by the left to undo the results of an election. Remember the repeated and unsuccessful efforts to remove former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker from office?
Scott Bauer of the Associated Press makes an apt comparison between these two scenarios.
Via ABC News:
Trump impeachment drive has similarities to Wisconsin recallA divisive leader drove the opposition to extreme measures. The political climate was toxic — with little civil debate or middle ground. The clash ended in a high-risk political showdown that captured the nation’s attention and shaped the next election.This was the 2012 battle to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker, not the 2019 fight to impeach President Donald Trump. But for some who lived through the former, the episodes have clear similarities and a warning for Democrats about overreach and distraction.“In both cases, they thought just as they were upset about something, everyone was,” Walker said, describing one of his takeaways from the campaign that failed to remove him from office. “Just because your base feels strongly about something doesn’t mean that the majority of other voters do.”
Independents played a key role then, just as they do now:
Walker saw his support among independent voters go from about even six months before the recall election to positive 16 points just before the election. The latest Marquette poll also shows independents currently breaking against impeachment, with 47% against and 36% in favor.
We covered the Wisconsin recall story extensively, see the archives here.
It’s worth noting that Professor Jacobson saw the comparison between Walker and Trump long ago. He wrote this in May of 2017:
Wisconsin War on Scott Walker was training ground for #TheResistance War on TrumpIn our report earlier, we noted that the “Resistance” to Donald Trump is unlike anything seen in the opposition to Obama, The “Resistance” Moves Towards Violence and Intimidation as Key Tactic.The opposition to Trump is becoming increasingly violent, and explicitly seeks to drive political intimidation into personal spaces by confronting Republicans everywhere they walk, talk and eat.This total war on Trump’s administration and supporters by the media, Democrats, and a vast array of well-funded leftist groups might seem like a reaction to … Trump. That would be a myopic view.The tactics you are seeing play out nationally had a dry run.That dry run was the 2011-2012 war on Scott Walker in Wisconsin after Republicans in the legislature passed public sector collective bargaining reform. A national coalition of progressive groups and unions launched a war on Walker, as did a Democratic prosecutor using the “John Doe” law.That war on Walker had almost all of the tactics we are seeing in the anti-Trump Resistance, such as obstructive legislators, highly organized direct action, politicized trial judges, threats and intimidation, and invasion of personal spaces.
Last word goes to Scott Walker, who also sees the similarities:
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