Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson is a big fan of Donald Trump: ‘He may be unorthodox, but he’s a negotiator.’
Four-term Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson finds himself as an ambassador for President Trump without a portfolio.
It’s an unusual role for Thompson, who has been a part of Madison and Washington policy and politics discussions since running as a 23-year-old for a central Wisconsin seat in the Assembly almost 60 years ago.
Visiting UW-Madison Republicans last week, Thompson was an unabashed cheerleader for Trump, saying Trump won Wisconsin and the presidency because he “had a better message: This country is worth saving. The country is really destined to do some great things.”
Asked why Trump won, Thompson said President Joe Biden had lost all the political skills Thompson once admired and “was just not up to” the job.
“Everybody recognized [Vice President Kamala Harris] was just not capable of leading this country,” Thompson said. And Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president, was “not considered a very strong leader.”
Rising grocery and gas prices, and interest rates above 9%, also hurt the Democrats, Thompson added. “Who gets the blame? The administration. All that reflected on Biden and Harris.”
And, Trump vowed to “do something to make the rest of the world respect us,” Thompson said. “America has been taken advantage of for the last four years something fierce…. Why should America have to subsidize everybody? We’re $36 trillion in debt.”
Trump got Mexico and Canada to make concessions that will help America within hours after threatening them with tariffs, he said. “He may be unorthodox, but he’s a negotiator. I’m all for him.”
Thompson said he did not favor tariffs on international trade until he saw how Trump “has made tariffs work.”
Thompson said Trump has redefined the Republican Party.
“We’ve always been the party of small business, working men and women, the farmer, the student.
“We believe in the individuality of all…Anybody can get ahead, anywhere, anyhow, any place they want to through your own merits — without the government coming and putting their thumb on the scale and saying, ‘You can go first because of this color, this gender and so on.’”
In an interview after his talk, Thompson said federal and state programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) should have never been started because, “People got to get by on merit.”
Governor from 1987 to 2001, Thompson also said the April state Supreme Court election is “probably the most important election in this country this year.”
The candidates are judges Brad Schimel, the former attorney general backed by Republicans, and Susan Crawford, supported by Democrats.
Four liberal justices who have a majority on the court have “compromised their judicial ethics” because they “want to be legislators — they want to change all the laws Republicans have passed,” Thompson said. That’s an “abomination.”
Instead, “The Supreme Court is supposed to review legislation and find out if it’s constitutional or not.”
Thompson said Crawford participated in an event by Democrats who want to “reconfigure” the state’s eight U.S. House districts to elect two more Democrats. Republicans now control six of the eight seats.
“That is not what a justice of the Supreme Court should be running on,” Thompson said.
Crawford campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman told an Associated Press reporter that she joined “this call briefly to share her background and why she’s running.”
Thompson asked UW-Madison Republicans to find a way to hold down students’ votes for Crawford’s vote total. “We’re going to have to somehow reduce the amount of votes on the campus for the liberals.”
Thompson said he is “pro-life” but limits on abortions should be decided on a state-by-state basis. “Let the people decide.”
However, he added, “The Republican Party has got to open up and allow other views [on abortion] to come to the forefront.”
Thompson also said he supports the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — a job Thompson held from 2001 until 2005.
Although Kennedy has questioned whether vaccines are safe, Thompson said they are.
After he is confirmed, Thompson said, Kennedy will “bring together a group of scientists — good scientists. They’re going to look at vaccinations and they’re going to come up with the idea that vaccines are good.’
“Kennedy will then say, ‘I said I was going to have everything studied. I did. They came back with a decision [that] vaccines are good. I support that.'”
Thompson campaigned vigorously for Trump in all three elections, urging the President to visit Wisconsin. But, asked if he has been or will be asked to play a role in the Trump Administration, Thompson gave a not-for-you-to-know smile.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment on Thompson’s remarks.
Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.
