Walker Caves To Trump...Again

Donald Trump first topped Scott Walker in 2015 when he stole Walker's thunder and forced Walker to drop out of his presidential bid in just 70 days.

Trump then took it to Walker again when he campaigned in Wisconsin and bashed Walker in his own backyard, leaving Walker to mewl like a sad, little kitten (or whatever baby weasels are called).

By last month, Walker was admitting - however reluctantly - that Trump was the likely nominee, although Walker did hold out hope that there would still be a revolution.

Less than a month later, and Walker is again capitulating to Trump, being one of the very few elected Republicans that has agreed to speak at the Republican National Convention in a couple of weeks:

Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) is bucking a trend among Republican elected officials nationwide in agreeing to speak at the GOP national convention later this month, saying a vote for anyone other than presumptive party presidential nominee Donald Trump is a "de facto vote" for Hillary Clinton.

"I think there is a clear contrast," said Gov. Walker. "For those who raise concerns like I just did about the judgment of Hillary Clinton in terms of not just those emails, but some of the other issues out there, really there's only one alternative."

Gov. Walker confirmed he will speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland moments after FBI Director James Comey announced he is not recommending criminal charges be filed against Clinton for her use of a private email server while serving as Secretary of State.

Walker indicated the Clinton email scandal would be a focus of his speech.

"If someone doesn't cast a vote for the Republican nominee, they are effectively casting a vote for her and that's part of what I'd be willing to talk about," said Gov. Walker.

In agreeing to speak at the RNC, Gov. Walker acknowledged he is rejecting the idea that Trump could still be replaced as the GOP nominee.

Walker has also agreed to send 45 state troopers, 11% of the entire force, to help provide security at the convention. On top of that, all the troopers will be paid overtime for this duty.

To be honest, it is not exactly clear if the troopers will be there for the convention or just Walker's standard contingent of bodyguards.

Although Walker has said that he doesn't think the delegate revolution would materialize, Walker says a lot of things that he doesn't really mean. Then again, he could be responding to Ted Cruz's former PAC's plea for him to consider allowing himself to be drafted to be the nominee.

While Walker undoubtedly has a deeply buried hope that he could still leave Cleveland as the nominee, it is far more likely he playing the PAC to milk all the donations he can get from them. He still has that big pile of bills he owes from his own failed presidential bid.

In closing, it should be noted that Walker's statement about his speech at the convention gives a glimpse of what a dog and pony show it will be. For Walker to attack anyone over an email scandal while he has his own email scandals still hanging over his head is the height of hypocrisy.

Dump Trump Movement Is Dead In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, the Koch/Bradley Foundation faction of the GOP has been making one last gasp effort born of desperation to try to block Donald Trump from becoming the party's presidential nominee. To accomplish this, they have been doing what comes naturally to them, urging delegates to ignore the will of the people they are representing and not vote for Trump.

Well, they should have known that the party establishment takes care of itself first and foremost.

Six of the Republican delegates, including a former governor and Michael Grebe, retired head of the Bradley Foundation, got bounced and replaced with pro-Trump people:

Grebe and Kleefisch, the two delegates of the six, have been replaced by longtime GOP activist Don Taylor and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who has urged Republicans to get behind Trump to help the party down-ballot.

Steineke, the Assembly majority leader, was an early and vocal member of the #NeverTrump movement. He first told WisPolitics.com in April he was dropping out as an at-large alternate because the party was poised to nominate Trump for the presidency.

Kleefisch still plans to attend part of the convention but decided to drop out because she has to return to Wisconsin during the week for official events, her campaign said. Meanwhile, Green, the party's nominee for guv in 2006, wrote in an email to WisPolitics.com, "In all honesty, in my case, it was purely a logistical issue. Nothing to do with who is or who is not the nominee ..." He did not detail what the logistical issue is that is preventing him from attending.

Under Wisconsin GOP rules, delegates are bound to the candidate who won them unless that candidate releases them or falls below 33 percent in any round of the balloting. If delegates try to vote for anyone else, party rules call for them to be removed as a delegate. That means the delegate changes are not expected to affect Wisconsin's allocation. Ted Cruz won 36 of the state's 42 delegates, including all 18 at-large delegates. Trump won six delegates from the 3rd and 7th CDs.

I strongly suggest that the Republicans considering changing their mascot from an elephant to a P.U.M.A. (Party Unity My Ass).