A top state Republican announced he is sticking by Republican nominee Donald Trump, despite vulgar comments made by the business mogul in an 11-year-old video released last week.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, condemned Trump’s remarks as “disgusting,” but said that many of his constituents still supported the nominee. He joined Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, at a forum Monday at the Madison Club discussing the Nov. 8 election.
“A lot of people in my district, they’re not enamored with Trump, and a lot of them voted for [Texas Sen. Ted] Cruz, but at the end of the day, they cannot support Hillary Clinton and all the baggage she brings,” Fitzgerald told reporters after the event, hosted by Wispolitics.com.
Numerous elected Republicans have disavowed Trump after the Washington Post obtained a copy of a 2005 tape where Trump tells entertainment reporter Billy Bush he could sexually assault women because he is a celebrity.
Fitzgerald said he was not bothered by Trump’s attack on House Speaker Paul Ryan, who distanced himself from the nominee’s comments and disinvited him from a joint appearance in Elkhorn Saturday.
Trump criticized Ryan in a series of tweets Monday morning, saying he was “disloyal” to the nominee.
“It's typical, I think, when anybody goes after Trump, he lashes out at them," Fitzgerald said during the event.
Shilling expressed confidence that Trump’s comments could help bolster her caucus’ efforts to take back the state Senate next month.
““There is no telling the amount of damage that ‘Hurricane Donald’ is gonna be doing to Wisconsin and to this country,” Shilling said.
Trump is trailing Clinton by four points in Wisconsin, according to the most recent Marquette University Law School Poll. His campaign announced Monday that Trump would campaign in the state next week, although it has not announced where he will visit.
