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Ben Wikler: “Republicans held a special session to rip power away from…”

Featuring: Ben Wikler, Democratic | Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin

Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview

Published January 14, 2025 | Video Starts at 04:26

So 2019, I was elected and we had a far right majority in our state Supreme Court, near super majorities in our state legislature and the Republicans. After we won the Democratic governorship, Republicans held a special session to rip power away from Governor Evers and our Attorney General Josh Kwahl. even though the Democrats had just won the election because Republicans didn't want to cede control and, and that infuriated me and lots of people in the state. (04:26–04:33)

CLAIM

Asserts that Republicans attempted to diminish the powers of elected Democratic officials in Wisconsin.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ben Wikler

“Republicans are actually the party of the far right, ultra rich.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 01:26-01:30
“Republicans had rigged [Wisconsin] for total control.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 03:05-03:08
“We flipped 14 state legislative seats [in Wisconsin].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 05:36-05:39
“We had the highest turnout in the country in Wisconsin.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 05:44-05:47
“There were some really, really great things that the Biden administration did...that cut the poverty rate, child poverty rate in America, in…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 06:46-06:55
“Republicans killed those pandemic supports.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 07:05-07:09
“Every other Democrat supported making permanent support for families across the country.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 07:39-07:45
“Republicans pulled the rug out and people saw their income drop.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 07:45-07:49
“Republicans are about to go on the attack again.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 08:41-08:46
“Building up an independent progressive media ecosystem is something that the Democratic National Committee and the DNC chair can help do.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 11:30-11:38
“The right does a lot of working the refs, they do a lot of yelling at reporters who report objectively in order to get them to tilt their…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 12:05-12:13
“Republicans essentially writing stories for people and then serving them up these scoops and different things.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 12:35-12:41
“The right is doing versions of [corporate PR video news releases] all the time to try to define the national conversation.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 12:59-13:06
“We should train and support and deploy more people to go on conservative media and blow up their narratives.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 13:18-13:24
“Big media companies are bending over backwards to placate Trump.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 14:39-14:43
“Democrats bring down taxes for working families and bring up support.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 16:16-16:21
“We want to expand Social Security instead of privatizing it.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 16:20-16:24
“Republicans are trying to shred [public schools] and privatize them.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 16:24-16:28
“Trump is about to try to pass a multi trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 20:19-20:44
“Republicans won't let the biggest tax cuts for the wealthiest people expire.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 20:19-20:44
“Republicans were trying to hurt real people in order to help the super rich and big insurance companies.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 22:23-22:29
“The right controls the biggest media engines in the country.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 23:04-23:08
“Republicans are legalizing wage theft and making it so that you can not pay workers the money that they're owed.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 26:16-26:23
“Republicans are trying to smash unions.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 26:30-26:32
“The reason why young people can't afford houses in the country [is due to economic policies].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 27:29-27:32
“The reason why it's so incredibly expensive to get a higher education [is due to economic policies].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 27:33-27:38
“In Wisconsin, we have the biggest state party on the Democratic side in the country.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 29:11-29:16
“We sometimes have hundreds of staff [in Wisconsin].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 29:11-29:17
“In North Carolina, they had a state Supreme Court that flipped to the Republicans.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 32:02-32:06
“The Republicans flipped it [North Carolina Supreme Court] and then they rigged that state so much that Democrats lost three U.S. house…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 32:05-32:11
“Republicans have a House majority right now [due to the North Carolina Supreme Court flip].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 32:10-32:13
“April 1st in Wisconsin, Brad Schimmel, extremist politician, was the right wing attorney general for four years.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 35:00-35:06
“We had an abortion ban from before the Civil War that after the Dobbs decision suddenly in effect came into effect.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 38:53-39:00
“Every abortion provider in Wisconsin stopped providing abortion care in our state.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 39:01-39:10
“If we can win the state supreme court race in 2023, if we can reelect Governor Evers and Attorney General, call and stop Republican…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 39:11-39:22
“That law [abortion ban] is now tied up in court and it's going to go to the state Supreme Court.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 39:27-39:31
“Tammy Baldwin, who we just reelected, she went after the drug companies that had massively jacked up the prices and got them to bring them…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 40:25-40:33
“Defeated the number one policy priority for the Trump administration, which was to gut the Affordable Care Act and gut Medicaid.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 42:48-42:55
“Trump had said he was going to do it on day one.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 43:04-43:07
“Helped protect health care for tens of millions of people.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 43:41-43:44
“Wisconsin, which had been rigged for Republican control.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 43:44-43:48
“Move Wisconsin from being to the right of the national popular vote in the previous two elections now to being more Democratic.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 44:31-44:38
“In 2010, Republicans took over [Wisconsin]. They suppressed votes, they gerrymandered the maps, they changed campaign finance laws, they…”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 44:39-44:39
“Flipping 14 state legislative seats while other states were losing them.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 44:47-44:51
“The far right tries to rig the economy to pull up the ladder.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 47:53-48:01
“Republicans fought tooth and claw to keep [the world where people are chained to jobs for health insurance].”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 49:51-49:54
“Democrats passed [the Affordable Care Act] with no Republican votes.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 49:58-50:02
“A federal guarantee that a health insurance company could not deny you health insurance just because you had a pre-existing condition.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 50:06-50:11
“When we have a growing, thriving economy, then we can afford to make an environmentally sustainable economy.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 53:00-53:07
“When we stop a tiny group of people from monopolizing everything, then you can have 100 more things bloom.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 53:17-53:25
“The Great Depression gave rise to the New Deal.”
Democrats Best Weapon Against MAGA _ Ben Wikler Interview | Uploaded January 14, 2025 | 55:22-55:25