Donald Trump’s presidential campaign cited Gov. Scott Walker and state radio hosts as forces behind the candidate’s Wisconsin loss to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, showing the power both forces have in Wisconsin’s conservative circles.
Despite a self-proclaimed expectation for a “big victory,” Trump trailed his opponent by a substantial margin as polls closed. Winning 48 percent of the vote, Cruz collected 36 delegates and left Trump with only six.
“Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again,” the Trump campaign said in an election night statement. “Lyin’ Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him.”
Upon his dropout from the presidential race in September, Walker asserted his disdain for Trump. The governor expressed intentions to “clear the field” in ending his campaign, and pressed trailing candidates to follow his lead.
"I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner,” Walker said at a press conference after dropping out of the race.
Even after his exit from the run for the White House, Walker has continued to oppose Trump. In March, he announced his endorsement for Cruz to WTMJ host Charlie Sykes.
An avid leader of the “Never Trump” movement, Sykes is one of the Wisconsin conservative radio personalities referenced by Trump. His show has spent months denouncing the businessman with blunt censure, such as describing him as a “whiny, thin-skinned bully.”
Leading up to the Wisconsin primary, Trump’s campaign reached out to WTMJ requesting airtime.
In the ensuing interview, Sykes aggressively scrutinized the candidate and demanded reparation for his sentiment toward women and for his overall behavior in the race so far. The interview ended with Sykes comparing Trump to a “12-year-old bully” and reminding him, “Mr. Trump, we’re not on a playground. We’re running for president.”
Throughout the rest of the week, Trump faced several other contentious interviews hosted by popular conservative talk radio personalities in the state. Among them were Jeff Wagner of WTMJ, Jerry Bader of WTAQ and WISN hosts Mark Belling, Vicki McKenna and Jay Weber.
Together, the six hosts form an unofficial conglomerate lobbying force among Wisconsin conservatives, a sentiment Mark Graul, a Republican strategist, told The New York Times.
“The last thing you want to do is irritate your base as you go into a general election in a swing state,” Graul said in the article. “And in many ways, talk radio is the voice of base Republicans in Wisconsin.”
