Last week I had lunch with my friend Chris Berge. Chris and his brothers are some of Madison’s best, most creative and daring restauranteurs. They started with Blue Marlin some thirty years ago and then Chris moved on to Magnus, Nattspil and the Weary Traveler before decamping for Blue Mounds where he opened his solo coffee house gig called Obertalvin in the old opera house.
Also a world traveler, Chris is a fascinating guy to talk with on any subject. When our conversation last Friday turned, predictably, to politics, Chris had a predictably interesting observation. While his customers in Blue Mounds skew, well, blue, he says he gets his share of rural conservatives who proudly supported Donald Trump. From his perch behind his coffee bar his observation was that the one word that best summed up how they were feeling was “betrayal.”
Chris said that betrayal by Trump was the theme that ran through all of the conversations he had with them and that he overheard. He said that farmers and others who relied on trucks for their livelihood were especially stung by high diesel prices. They voted for Trump this last time because he promised to do something about the cost of living. He’s made things so much worse.
Chris stopped there, but polls showed that corruption was an issue that rivaled high prices as a motivating factor for voters. And the two are linked. Just as his erstwhile devotees were dealing with record high fuel costs they saw Trump and his family reap billions off his taxpayer-financed public job.
For those of us who could never quite get our heads around such rabid support for a man who was so clearly a grifter we’re tempted to shout, “finally!” For those of you who want to scream “but what about Hunter?!” let me stipulate that Hunter Biden is a buffoon who profited off his father’s public positions with what was at least the tacit approval of Biden himself. It was bad. It was wrong. And I have never defended it. But the so-called “Biden Crime Family” can’t hold a candle to the real thing.
Now, of course, Democrats with some share of power in Washington and total control here in Wisconsin need to avoid the betrayal tag slapped on them. But whatever they do can’t be nearly as blatant. Democrats may fail in their attempt to deal with prices and corruption. They might get sidetracked by their party’s myriad interest groups. They might overreach. But they will not bilk their supporters. They may do some foolish things, but they will not take those who voted for them for fools.
Democrats promised to do something about high prices, but honestly, it’s not at all clear what that will be if they can’t stop Trump’s shooting and trade wars. So, they may fail their voters, but they will not betray them.
