Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs

Wisconsin GOP blocks pay raises for university staff unless they end diversity programs
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (Facebook)

Wisconsin Republicans are holding hostage a pay increase for staff at the University of Wisconsin system, in an effort to force them to dismantle diversity programs, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.

"The bipartisan Joint Committee on Employee Relations, which consists of legislative leaders, approved a plan to give state workers who do not work within the UW System a 6% pay increase over two years. The group includes state troopers, prison guards and other staffers," reported Tyler Katzenberger and Molly Beck. "But the committee, co-led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, did not include pay raises for staff on UW System campuses. Vos has vowed not to approve the raises until UW campuses dismantle programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard reacted with outrage to the move.

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"We are denying pay increases for half of our state workforce because of one person's [Vos'] resistance to initiatives to increase inclusion on our campuses," said Agard. "This is a sad moment for our state when the majority party is actively holding our workers hostage because they cannot hand them the ability to focus on equity and diversity in the state of Wisconsin."

This comes shortly after Republicans blocked a huge slate of appointees from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, including a majority of the state environmental board, an elections commissioner, and a medical board chair who supported abortion rights.

Wisconsin's legislature is heavily gerrymandered, with Republicans winning large majorities in both chambers completely disproportionate to the popular vote. The state Supreme Court, which recently saw a liberal majority elected, is likely in the near future to hear a case that could force nonpartisan redistricting in the state.

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The Republican Party are "losing enthusiasm" in Donald Trump as they begin to make their frustrations with the president known, an analyst said.

Trump's recent comments on the death of film director Rob Reiner, as well as administrative failings on healthcare and the economy, have led to fatigue within the GOP. Salon writer Amanda Marcotte suggested there would be no great change externally, but that a breakdown in confidence had already begun within the Republican Party.

Criticism over Trump's response to Reiner's death came from all sides of the political spectrum, and it's a sign the core support for Trump is beginning to turn. Marcotte wrote, "These are promising signs, but it’s not worth holding your breath waiting for GOP politicians to openly turn on a president who demands absolute loyalty."

"Instead of public rebellion, most Republicans seem to be engaged in a form of quiet quitting. They won’t go out of their way to resist Trump, but they are losing enthusiasm for defending him. They’re struggling to hide their frustration or their scheming for a post-Trump world."

Marcotte also considered the soft criticism of Trump and quiet from the GOP is part of restructuring and holding on what seats they can in the midterms next year and election in 2028.

She wrote, "Overall, the posture is one of lying low, waiting for the old man to be gone so they can begin the project of rebuilding the GOP and their own careers in a post-Trump era."

It may not be another three years for the GOP to wait, though, as Marcotte noted a list of troubles facing the president who was described as in "rapid decline."

"Trump has three years of his term remaining," she wrote. "But his poor health, mysterious hand bruises, public fatigue, rambling performances, apparent cognitive issues and unusual medical tests like an MRI are clearly stoking speculation that the president is in rapid decline."

"Trump’s own hand-picked officials are losing patience and increasingly venting in spaces they hope, rightly or wrongly, where it won’t get back to their mercurial boss, especially as reports suggest he’s isolated and consuming very little media outside of flattering propaganda."

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During an appearance on MS NOW on Wednesday morning, author Chris Whipple, who conducted the bombshell interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, pushed back on her contention that her comments were taken out of context.

After he pointed out he had every word “on tape,” he noted that at one point, Donald Trump’s handler snapped when he made an observation about her job duties.

Speaking with the hosts of “Morning Joe,“ Whipple recalled, “I spoke, for example, to Leon Panetta about this. Panetta was, of course, Bill Clinton's very effective White House chief of staff, the gold standard, along with [Jim] Baker, in my view.”

“Panetta said, ‘I can't tell whether she's an enabler or whether she really speaks hard truths,'” he reported.

“When I mentioned that to Susie Wiles, I got a real rise out of her,” he added. “She did not want to be considered an enabler. And she said, “I'm not an enabler and I'm not a. b----.”

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President Donald Trump returned to office riding a self-proclaimed historical landslide, but he has tumbled to new lows in support less than a year into his second term.

The now-79-year-old president declared the election had granted him "an unprecedented and powerful mandate" with “the entire nation is rapidly unifying behind our agenda," but 11 months after returning to the White House his support appears as shallow as ever, according to CNN's Aaron Blake.

"Trump’s claims were vastly overstated at the time," Blake wrote. "But a year later, they’re virtually impossible to reconcile with Trump’s reality."

His overall approval ratings have plummeted under the weight of widespread economic anxiety, but his hardcore support has collapsed dramatically.

"A series of recent polls has shown this 'strongly approve' number sinking to around 1 in 5 Americans," Blake wrote. "That’s a new low for his second term in virtually every poll, and many polls show it’s rivaling the lowest readings from his first term, too."

NBC News-SurveyMonkey found over the weekend that Trump's strong approval dropped to 21 percent, down from 26 percent in April, and even MAGA Republicans who strongly approved of him dropped off from 78 percent to 70 percent, and a series of polls taken this month measured his strong approval rating between 18 percent and 22 percent – with one outlier.

"One recent poll showed something somewhat different: the Marist University poll for NPR and PBS News last month," Blake wrote. "It showed Trump’s strong approval rating a bit higher, at 26 percent. Unlike these other polls, that was higher than it was for much of Trump’s first term, according to Marist’s polling."

"But it was still a new second-term low," he added. "And it’s actually similar to his number after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, when Trump’s support fell to new lows."

Trump has rarely enjoyed majority support, but he has derived his power from the size and devotion of his base, which has kept Republican lawmakers in line – but Blake said the weakening strength of his support could change that dynamic.

"The danger for Trump now is that Republicans are beginning to see him as a lame duck, and they don’t fear political consequences of breaking with him as much," Blake wrote. "Having the strong support of only 1 in 5 Americans isn’t going to suddenly open the floodgates for Republicans to break with Trump. But it does suggest his truly devoted base is looking about as small as ever."

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