Wisconsin Republicans took to the talk radio airwaves this week in support of President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding, and to issue warnings to the existential threat posed to America by illegal immigrants. Seventh District Representative Sean Duffy was on WISN’s “Jay Weber Show” on Thursday morning.
“You just can’t have caravan after caravan of thousands of people storming our border and coming in and we can’t know who they are, or moms . . . at the last stages of pregnancy trying to get into the country to have the baby so they have a tie to the country, or the meth and the heroin that’s infecting our communities continue to flow into our country,” Duffy warned. “We’ve got to say no to it.”
Later on Thursday, Wisconsin’s House delegation split along party lines over a bill that would provide more than 5 billion dollars to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall.
Sixth District Republican Glenn Grothman voted yes, and also issued a dire warning on the perils posed by of migrants. “If we don’t stop this illegal immigration, our country is done. Done,” Grothman said on WIBA’s “Dan Conry Show.”
Grothman conceded that polling shows a lack of strong public support for the border wall, which was a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign for the presidency, and which he was repeatedly promised would be paid for by Mexico. “We’ve got to win this fight in the court of public opinion, to save the nation,” Grothman said.
Joining Duffy and Grothman in voting for wall funding were Republicans Mike Gallagher and Jim Sensenbrenner. Democrats Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan opposed it, Ron Kind was one of 31 members listed as not voting. If the bill fails to pass the Senate Friday, a partial shutdown of the federal government is likely.
President Trump tweeted that would happen, if his wall funding demands were not met.
Shutdown today if Democrats do not vote for Border Security!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018
“Some people may not get paid. Usually when we have a shutdown they keep working and get paid once the shutdown is lifted,” Grothman said. “That will unquestionably inconvenience them. But otherwise your average people won’t notice any difference.”