Bill Berrien is a wealthy CEO who lives in Wisconsin and just announced his candidacy to the Republican gubernatorial nominee. And what a prize he is turning out to be.
In his introduction ad, he blames "globalists," a slur for Jewish people, for shipping jobs overseas. But that point is easy to lose as the viewer tries to figure out if the ad is for Berrien or for TACO Don. Berrien then goes on in his ad to hit all the right wing bigoted talking points, including being anti-trans and anti-immigrant.
Don't worry though, because Berrien is just warming up. There's more. There's a lot more.
After an interview, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel came up with these takeaways:
Berrien said he supports Trump's tariff policies and posture toward China, saying he wants to replicate such policies at the state level. He also said he supported Trump's decision to call up the California National Guard over the objection of the state's Democratic governor.
"I would not disagree with his actions were they to happen in Wisconsin," Berrien said. "That being said, I would be working (to) have my administration support them to deport criminal illegal aliens here. So we wouldn't even get into that situation of needing to deploy the National Guard."
By now, it should be obvious that Berrien is not a serious person who has no understanding of the state's economic system.
Wisconsin is an agricultural state. We lead in dairy farms as well as production of cranberries and ginseng. Wisconsin's largest ginseng consumer is China. Without China, Wisconsin ginseng farmers would be in a world of hurt overnight. Wisconsin farmers are already having problems due to TACO Don's tariffs. If Wisconsin would put their own tariffs on things, the state's agricultural economy would come to an immediate standstill. Then again, as we've seen before, if he chases off the immigrants, there wouldn't be anyone to pick the crops anyway.
As we have been seeing too much lately, Republicans don't think they need to have good ideas to win elections. They just have to have enough money to buy them. Berrien is no different. Not only does he have his own considerable wealth, but he has started his own PAC which has already raised more than a million dollars. That million dollars comes from the Winklevoss twins, the founders of the cryptocurrency company Gemini. I'm sure they're not pulling a President Elmo and expecting anything in return for their largesse. They're just doing it to be nice guys.
The question is will that money be enough to buy Berrien the governor's office. Wisconsin has had a good track record in taking care of rich Republicans trying to buy state offices - going back to Tim Michels, then Eric Hovde, and most recently, Brad Schimel and his sugar daddy, the former President Elmo.
There is also the fact that despite Berrien trying overly hard to present himself as MAGA, he would never pass their purity tests. Berrien supported Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary, supports exceptions to an abortion ban, is open to legalizing marijuana, and was for rank-based voting before he was against it. Berrien even had the audacity to criticize Trump's handling of the COVID pandemic.
Berrien better be careful not to saying anything about child sex trafficking. Either way, he's in a world of political hurt.
