The Republican herd begins to thin. The former GOP darling, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, was the most recent casualty and announced Monday that he was formally suspending his campaign.
And not surprisingly, Walker urged others to quit, too, so they could together “clear the field” to take down front-runner Donald Trump.
Walker exited the 2016 campaign at an announcement in Wisconsin Monday.
“Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race,” Walker said in a news conference. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner.”
Walker said that is “fundamentally important to the future of the party and more importantly to the future of our country,” to stop Trump.
He found himself unable to adjust to Trump’s popularity or break out in either of the first two GOP debates. Both he and candidate Rick Perry took time from their exit announcements to warn of the billionaire businessman’s influence on the GOP as they stepped aside, although neither called him out by name.
Walker’s fall was in many ways more dramatic than Perry’s.
He was thought to be a leader in the big pack for much of the year and built a massive national organization, with paid staff spread across the country, that dwarfed many of his rivals in scale and scope.
“I don’t think he made any really big mistakes,” said Iowa state Sen. Mark Costello, who endorsed Walker earlier this year. “But people lost enthusiasm.”
Walker, 47, tried to appeal to religious conservatives, tea party conservatives and the more traditional GOP base. He cast himself as an unintimidated conservative fighter who had a record of victories in a state that hasn’t voted Republican for president since 1984.
Like Perry, however, Walker found little room for such a message in a race dominated by Trump.
Trump tweeted in response to Walker’s decision, “he’s a very nice person and has a great future.”
Many of Walker’s troubles were not of Trump’s making.
Walker took days to clarify whether he supported ending birthright citizenship. He initially showed interest in building a wall between the U.S. and Canada, only to laugh it off as ridiculous. He also declared he wasn’t a career politician, despite having held public office for 22 straight years.
After his fade in polls, Walker took a more aggressive approach, promising to “wreak havoc” on Washington. He vowed to take on unions as president, just as he did as governor, outlawing them for federal government workers.
But the anti-union policy proposal fell flat; announced in the days before the second GOP debate, it wasn’t mentioned at all — by Walker or anyone else — on stage.
While only Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had more super PAC money available to boost their chances in the original 17-person 2016 Republican field, Walker struggled to generate money for his official campaign.
He has yet to report fundraising totals to federal regulators, but top fundraisers and donors have said his plummeting poll numbers left them struggling to generate cash.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Part of Gov. Walker’s problems stem from a packed candidate field. In other years, Walker would have had a better chance for success.
Walker and the Republicans need to be careful about how they handle unions. Organized labor has accomplished many good things in America. Unions, like the Democrat Party, have lost their way and lost touch with reality. Today’s unions seem to be more interested in lavishly paying their executives and bankrolling liberal politicians than in focusing on the plight of the working class. Today’s unions seem to have lost sight that they have placed our nation on a trajectory that just isn’t sustainable in the 21st century. The key is to make the case for why bad union initiatives should be struck down.
The voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will help thin the herd when January arrives. The sad reality is that Donald Trump has deep enough pockets that he can spend the other candidates into bankruptcy and be the last man standing. That technique worked for Mitt Romney in the 2012 primary but gave the Republicans a candidate who couldn’t beat a flawed incumbent.
Both the democrats, and republicans are bought and payed for oil company,drug company, and aluminum can company stooges, they don’t work for us, we have a capitalist gov.
I guess you haven’t heard of Jesus having an army to fight the Antichrist Gov. are you going to be in Jesus’s army? The antichrist gov. is our US gov. run by the greedy company’s that are destroying our world
I ask people What caused this economic depression? no one can tell me, well do you know? high gas prices did, when the price of gas goes up so does the price of everything else, and the only thing that will bring us out of this depression is free energy , so force the auto company’s to make only water to hydrogen cars and trucks and conversion kits to change the pieces of junk fuel injected, and diesel trucks to run on hydrogen with switches to shut off the fuel injectors, and the fuel pump, don’t do this now and the economy will collapse soon, when our bought and payed capitalist Gov. goes bankrupt Tell every one not to buy a new car, and tell them to tell others, tell them they must do both. Don’t buy a new car, or truck.,
Cancer society’s are not doing any research, because they found cures for cancer way back in the 1930’s, and you won’t be giving them any money if they come out with a cure, they are the biggest mass murders, and you are paying them to kill you with chemo, and surgery, they can’t make any money curing you, catch 22, the best cure for cancer is in a book Encyclopedia of healing Juices, by John Heinerman, page 141 under Grape/ raisin juice, a man diagnosed with cancer didn’t do the murdering chemo, he buckled down and eat his fruits and vegetables, and killed all of his cancer, red fruits and vegetables, have a substance called lycopene that will kill cancer, and keep you from getting cancer, pore nutrient is what causes cancer, and a host of other illnesses so eat your fruits and vegetables, with your meat. a good balanced diet.
#1 cause of Alzheimer’s is aluminum poisoning, take all cookware to recycling, and don’t buy anything in aluminum cans, spread the word to every one, when we stop buying they will have to make iron cans, and cookware, so spread the word and tell those you tell to spread the word also. #2 cause is iodine deficiency, that cause’s bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, suicides, eat fish, and yogurt 2 to 3 times a week spacing them out every 2 to 3 days, because iodine will be depleted out of your body in 2 to 3 days
The flu shots have been tested out to have 25 mg of mercury per shot, they tested to have formaldehyde, ethylene glycol ( anti freeze ) and aluminum the #1cause of Alzheimer’s, ADD and ADHD, .The drug company’s pills are coated with aluminum oxide, they are slowly making you brain dead zombies, to give you a strong immune system from the flu, colds, and a host of other germs, and bacteria, you want to get Garlic, powder, and or minced and season with a little almost every day, all nutrients will be depleted out of your body in two to three days so you need a little almost every day, a garlic container should last a person 8 to 10 months.
Diabetes is one of the biggest medical scams, it can be cured with a little cinnamon almost every day, like iodine it will be depleted in 2 to 3 days, so a little almost every other day will keep your blood sugar level normal .
There’s a 200 mile per gallon carburetor sitting in the patient office collecting dust bought up by the oil company’s, Volkswagen has a 264 miles per gallon diesel but it’s not coming here, tell everyone not to buy any new car that gets less than 40 miles per gallon, and tell those you tell to tell others, continuing to tell everyone and we will boycott the making of these pieces of junk low mileage cars and trucks, and force the auto company’s to make kits to run cars on Hydrogen from water electrolyzer producing all the hydrogen with the alternator on your car / truck this is possible with two switches to shut off the fuel pump, and fuel injectors to change these pieces of junk cars, and trucks to hydrogen. boycott the auto company’s tell everyone, and tell them to continue telling people don’t buy a new car, or truck, also tell everyone to boycott aluminum cans , and cookware, they autopsied alzheimer’s patients and found aluminum nodules on the front lobes of their brains, aluminum poisoning also causes ADD, ADHD , and a host of other mental illness, also they found out that Iodine deficiency causes schizophrenia, bi-polar, depression, suicide, so eat fish 2 to 3 times a week, or take iodine pills every 2 to 3 days
I wonder what kind of money and/or political promises were made to Walker to stage an attack on a fellow republican. He doesn’t sound like a real stand up guy, but also sounds like a bought and paid for politician just like all of the rest. At least Trump is not bought or paid for. He tells it like it is and it scares teh rest of the republicans, terrifies the democrats.
I wish everyone would lay the hell off Trumps back. they all look like whiney teens, who complain to their parents about all there peers have more than they do and they want theirs NOW, and if not they go on the attack. How petty can these so called gentlemen and women be. Drop the insults and pettiness and get behind the GOP leader and lets FINALLY elect someone in the WhiteHouse that can not be bought off. If we don’t get a republican president (TRUMP) , GOD help us all, and our Country!! We have just been going through hell the last 7 years and 1 more to go. How much more damage can this Muslim do to our country. He and the Democratic party will rue the day he took over our country
Trump seems to be the best choice for potus,he owes no one so he can’t be bought,he has stated he would not take a salary he truly loves our country unlike the group that is in there now, and sometimes I wonder about some of the Republican candidates running for president, we already know about the Democratic party