Insights from Trump's campaign stops in Wisconsin's liberal bastions

With a little more than a month to go before Election Day, former President Donald Trump stopped Tuesday in Wisconsin's two Democratic strongholds — Dane County and Milwaukee.

The events came after top Republicans in the state, including former Gov. Tommy Thompson, called on the Trump campaign to include these communities in its efforts to win this critical swing state in November.

Despite their deep blue politics, the state's two largest population centers are also home to many Republicans due to their sheer size.

A Journal Sentinel analysis, for example, found that the city of Milwaukee has more GOP voters than any other municipality in Wisconsin, even though they differ in many ways from Republicans in other parts of the state.

Sophomore Doug Emhoff also campaigned in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

The events come just three days after Trump's visit to Prairie du Chien, where he spent much of his time criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris over immigration policy.

More:Live Updates: After Dane County speech, Trump's Milwaukee event is closed to the public. Emhoff speaks at the Milwaukee manufacturer.

The campaigns of Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Harris and their surrogates have been holding seemingly non-stop events across Wisconsin to attract voters to the state on November 5th.

Here are takeaways from Trump's visit to Waunakee and Milwaukee on Tuesday:

Trump's Waunakee speech was billed as an economic address and focused more on other topics

Trump spoke for about an hour and 15 minutes in Waunakee, concluding his speech at 3:20 p.m

In his campaign, he viewed the speech as one that would criticize the current Democratic administration's economic policies, and he opened the speech by announcing, “This is a speech about economics and restoring businesses and other things.”

But he spoke for more than 30 minutes before addressing economic issues – aside from a brief remark in which he said he wouldn't trust Harris or Democratic President Joe Biden to “run a lemonade stand.”

He spent most of his speech, before turning to economic topics, alluding to escalating tensions in the Middle East, falsely calling Harris' replacement of Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate a “coup” and criticizing the current administration's immigration policies and violent crime .

“These people are completely incompetent, and now we have them responsible for possible World War III,” he said of Biden and Harris. “If I win, we will have peace in the world again. … If Kamala … gets four more years, the world will go up in smoke.”

Trump argued that while the economy is an important issue, “the hardest thing we have to do is solve the crime problem.”

Comments on immigration follow a similar theme at the Prairie du Chien rally

Trump spoke Saturday in Prairie du Chien, a town of about 5,500 people along the Mississippi River, where he gave what he called a “dark” speech, referencing a case in which Prairie du Chien police said A man with ties to Tren De Aragua, a Venezuela-based transnational criminal organization, sexually abused a woman and attacked her daughter earlier this month

Police said the victim and suspect knew each other, which is common in sexual assault cases, and that they had no contact with other members of the gang. According to the criminal complaint, the suspect and victim had been living together and in a relationship for three weeks.

On Tuesday he referred to this case again.

Trump claimed 50,000 to 60,000 people were turned away from his Prairie du Chien event

In Waunakee and again in Milwaukee, Trump claimed 50,000 to 60,000 people were turned away from his Saturday rally in Prairie du Chien. About a thousand people lined up to attend the rally, but there were about 300 people in the auditorium. Crawford County, where Prairie du Chien is located, has a population of about 16,000.

The rally was originally scheduled to take place outdoors, but was moved indoors due to Secret Service staffing concerns. The agency was responsible for securing the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York on the same day.

It's unclear why the Milwaukee event was ultimately closed to the public. General admission tickets were available for the event and some supporters still hoped to gain entry on Tuesday evening.

A U.S. Secret Service spokesman told the Journal Sentinel that they were not monitoring any security issues Tuesday evening and that any changes to the event format would likely be a decision by the campaign. The campaign declined to comment.

Economic commentary focuses on inflation, tax policy and energy

A Marquette University Law School poll released last month found the economy was the most important issue for Wisconsin voters, with 41% ranking it as their top priority. The same poll found this to be true for 42% of independent voters.

Trump spoke to about 500 people (reportedly 4,500 supporters outside the facility) at Dane Manufacturing and promised to cut taxes on American manufacturers to 15%, “but only if you make the product here.” Otherwise, he said, “we will use the power of the tariff.”

He also promised to cut US energy prices by 50% within a year of taking office if elected, declaring that the country has “liquid gold” and “more oil and gas under our feet than anyone else.”

Trump's visit to Milwaukee's Discovery World follows Vice President Kamala Harris' visit earlier in the election cycle

Trump's visit to Discovery World follows one by Harris in May, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

During this visit, Harris also focused on the economy as part of an “Economic Opportunity Tour.”

But unlike Trump, she argued that the Biden-Harris administration's economic policies have helped Americans and, in particular, eliminated inequalities affecting Black Americans and business owners.

The state's Republicans praise Trump for campaigning in blue areas

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson was the most prominent voice encouraging Trump to campaign in Madison and Milwaukee, viewing it as one of the four keys to winning Wisconsin as a Republican. Trump praised Thompson as “the dean” when he spoke in Waunakee.

“You have to go where the voices are. You have to go where the opposition is. You have to come to Dane County, Milwaukee County and southwest Wisconsin,” Thompson said. “Dane County has the third-most Republican votes in the state of Wisconsin, and we just need to increase it.”

“Democrats,” he said, “are getting the hell out of our way.”

At a panel discussion before Trump's speech in Milwaukee, Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil thanked the former president for “campaigning in two of the bluest areas of our state.”

“We as conservatives, we as Republicans, we as supporters of President Trump know that we have the answers to the challenges facing our country and our communities. “Particularly the blue cities across the country and the challenges they face,” Steil said.

On the Wisconsin election, Trump says: “People are going to be watching the process a lot more closely”

As mail-in voting began in Wisconsin, Trump said he expected the process to come under greater scrutiny.

“I think people are watching this time,” he said. “We have a lot of lawyers watching.”

Trump and the Republicans have sent mixed messages to the party's voters about whether they should adopt mail-in voting like the Democrats.

Asked Tuesday whether he trusted the process, he replied: “I'll let you know in about 33 days.”

Evers says Wisconsin families will reject Trump in November

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said, “I know Wisconsin families and they will reject (Trump) again in November.”

“As president, Donald Trump was a disaster for Wisconsin, and we have not forgotten that. A second term would be much worse — Trump's extreme Project 2025 agenda would hurt working families, cut Social Security and Medicare, dismantle support for public education across the country, and more,” Evers said. “Vice President Harris is the only candidate in this race fighting to cut costs, reduce taxes and invest in Wisconsin’s future.”

Emhoff also focused his visit Tuesday on the economy, speaking to about 100 people at Diamond Discs International, a small manufacturing company in Milwaukee. He also met with minority small business owners.

Editor's note: The Journal Sentinel requested interviews with Donald Trump during his events in Prairie du Chien on Saturday and Waunakee and Milwaukee on Tuesday. The campaign declined to make it available. The Journal Sentinel has also requested interviews with Kamala Harris, including at her Sept. 20 rally in Madison. The campaign declined to provide it. Trump gave an interview with a Journal Sentinel reporter before a May campaign rally in Waukesha. He also answered questions from reporters during his event in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected]. Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected]. Mary Spicuzza can be reached at [email protected]. Hope Karnopp can be reached at [email protected].

Insights from Trump's campaign stops in Wisconsin's liberal bastions

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