Here and Now
Ben Wikler on 2024 RNC Impacts, Uncertainty of Democrats
Clip: Season 2300 Episode 2303 | 4m 27sVideo has Closed Captions
Ben Wikler on the 2024 RNC and President Joe Biden's campaign impacts on state candidates.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler reacts to the 2024 Republican National Convention and considers how tension over President Joe Biden's campaign impacts other candidates in the state.
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Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Here and Now
Ben Wikler on 2024 RNC Impacts, Uncertainty of Democrats
Clip: Season 2300 Episode 2303 | 4m 27sVideo has Closed Captions
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler reacts to the 2024 Republican National Convention and considers how tension over President Joe Biden's campaign impacts other candidates in the state.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipthings that directly affect not just me, but it affects my family as well.
>> President Joe Biden is off the campaign trail for now with a case of Covid.
There was already what's described as rising anger and panic among many of his supporters about his ability to go on.
What must this be like for state party leaders who help deliver Wisconsin to Joe Biden in 2020?
We asked Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler, and thanks a lot for being here.
>> Thanks so much for having me on, Fredricka.
the Republican National Convention with the growing number of Democrats calling for your candidate to step aside, what's so striking this week is that the Republican Party has been completely subsumed by MAGA.
the Republican Party.
Leaders around a candidate who selected one of the most outspoken proponents of a 100% national abortion ban as his vice presidential candidate.
There's unity with people like Eric Hovde around project 2025, Trump and JD Vance, their staffers going out and writing this playbook for not only ripping away access to abortion and emergency contraception, but eliminating the Department of Education, shredding any kind of protections for the environment and climate change.
It's a wholesale plan to kind of repeal the last 50 years of progress in this country.
They didn't talk about it from the convention stage, but they have written down what they want to do.
And in this election, it's a choice between a future where Trump's vision of being a dictator on day one becomes a reality, or the vision that Biden and Harris have laid out that President Biden laid out in his speech in Detroit right before the RNC, of of signing the pro act to workers can organize and unionize of expanding Social Security and Medicare.
I think I know which future most Wisconsinites and most Americans want.
>> What is your message to Wisconsin voters about Joe Biden's ability to beat Donald Trump with his poll numbers and money slipping?
much conversation and press and, you know, around the state and around the country, it's not about whether Democrats want to defeat Donald Trump.
It's about the best way to do it.
And what I know from so many conversations is that there's a enormous level of intensity and focus on making sure that we defeat MAGA this fall, and that President Biden's vision for the next term is enormously popular in a way that unites Democrats.
So I feel like you know, debates happen, conversations happen.
I think Democrats are going to come together.
And I think that when we do that, we're going to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris and reelect Tammy Baldwin and flip House seats.
And I think flip the state Assembly and break the supermajority in the state Senate, because what we are fighting for is much, much more popular than what Republicans are trying to inflict on the country.
about Joe Biden's decision to stay in or step aside?
>> I was speaking with my friends on the Biden campaign yesterday and others this morning.
He is full steam ahead and organizing and working to make sure that this message carries out across the country.
And, you know, of course, many people are are trying to game out how the how the whole thing comes together.
What we know is that when Democrats speak with one voice about the stakes for voters in their lives, then from from President Biden down to local, state legislative candidates, we're going to defeat MAGA this fall.
>> So regardless of who is at the top of the ticket, well, President Biden's at the top of the ticket.
>> And Biden-Harris as a as a team won Wisconsin last time.
We overcame the odds and Democrats won the governor's race in 2022.
We flipped the Supreme Court in the in the course of 1820 and 2023.
And on the ground, we have volunteers going out every week, knocking on tens of thousands of doors, having conversations with voters.
Ultimately, voters care about how politics affects their lives, and they know that President Biden isn't trying to get into their doctor's offices and override their personal medical decisions.
They also have reason to fear JD Vance and Donald Trump.
JD Vance has flirted with the idea of tracking menstrual cycles to figure out whether people are accessing abortion care against the law.
Trump has floated the idea of punishing women who access abortions.
Those ideas are politically toxic, and we have to defeat them this fall.
have to defeat them this fall.
Angela Lang on Police Killing Samuel Sharpe Jr. and 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 5m 11s | Angela Lang on impacts of out-of-state police killing a Milwaukee resident during the RNC. (5m 11s)
Brian Schimming on 2024 RNC Impacts, Energy of Republicans
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 5m 6s | Brian Schimming on the 2024 RNC and support for former President Donald Trump's campaign. (5m 6s)
Eric Hovde on Issues in His 2024 Campaign for US Senator
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 2m 51s | Eric Hovde on issues central to the 2024 U.S. senate race and prospects for compromises. (2m 51s)
Here & Now opening for July 19, 2024
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 57s | The introduction to the July 19, 2024 episode of Here & Now. (57s)
How Republicans Are Trying to Woo More Black Voters in 2024
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 5m 12s | Republicans seek to build support in African American communities and attract Black votes. (5m 12s)
Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Milwaukee Hosting the 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 5m 16s | Cavalier Johnson on Milwaukee's 2024 RNC economic expectations and political impacts. (5m 16s)
McCoshen & Ross on Impacts and Implications of the 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 7m 7s | Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross on the 2024 RNC and significance of Donald Trump's nomination. (7m 7s)
Trump Speaks to the Republican Faithful at the 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 4m 51s | Conversations veered from civil war to unity to presidential promises at the 2024 RNC. (4m 51s)
Who Did — or Didn't — Watch the 2024 RNC Around Wisconsin?
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 4m 15s | Interest in the 2024 RNC was less evident across Wisconsin, including around La Crosse. (4m 15s)
Why People Gathered in Milwaukee to Protest the 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 30s | Protesters assembled to march in Milwaukee during the 2024 Republican National Convention. (3m 30s)
Why RNC Business was Mixed at Downtown Milwaukee Restaurants
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 33s | Milwaukee restaurants inside the RNC security zone hosted crowds but those outside lagged. (3m 33s)
Wisconsin Young Republicans Are Energized by the 2024 RNC
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 42s | Younger Republican Party members seek to make their voices heard at the 2024 RNC. (3m 42s)
'Here & Now' from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: Day Four
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 1s | Zac Schultz on Wisconsin Republicans touting Milwaukee, the state, the Trump-Vance ticket. (3m 1s)
McCoshen & Ross at the RNC: Trump, Vance and the 2024 Vote
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 30m 44s | Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross on Donald Trump, JD Vance and the 2024 presidential race. (30m 44s)
'Here & Now' from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: Day Three
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 7s | Zac Schultz on an incident involving Derrick Van Orden and Ohio police killing a man. (3m 7s)
McCoshen & Ross at the RNC: Abortion, Optics and the Media
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 30m 21s | Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross on political optics, the media's role and the abortion issue. (30m 21s)
'Here & Now' from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: Day Two
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 2m 54s | Zac Schultz on business impacts on Milwaukee, a police shooting beyond the security zone. (2m 54s)
McCoshen & Ross at the RNC: National Unity, State Politics
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 30m 26s | Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross on the Trump-Vance ticket, national unity and state races. (30m 26s)
'Here & Now' from the 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: Day One
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 3m 6s | Zac Schultz on bolstered RNC security following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. (3m 6s)
McCoshen & Ross at the RNC: Violent Rhetoric, Vance VP Pick
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Clip: S2300 Ep2303 | 30m 22s | Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross on political violence and Trump tapping J.D. Vance for VP. (30m 22s)
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Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin