Thread by @benwikler

🚨The Wisconsin GOP is holding their state party convention this weekend.

Despite the pandemic, it’s going to be in-person. Let’s make sure the GOP’s COVID Convention backfires.

Donate & RT to supercharge Democratic organizing in Wisconsin: wisdems.org/supercharge

The GOP convention is happening in Brown County, which is a coronavirus hotspot—ranked #2 in confirmed cases amongst Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

There’s every reason to fear that GOP convention-goers will exacerbate this reality on the ground.

urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/07/05/op-…

While they’ll make hand sanitizer & masks available to attendees (how generous!), masks will not be required during the event at Green Bay convention center. This puts the @wisgop at odds with the @packers, who will require masks at their games this fall.

wispolitics.com/2020/wisconsin…

Masks optional at an indoor state party convention featuring hours of speeches and 300 attendees. A mini version of the coronavirus-a-palooza that Trump is planning for Florida.

Fascinating political strategy.

greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/202…

POLL: What are the odds that Robin Vos - Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin Legislature - shows up in full PPE to his own state party convention, as he did on election day?

Remember: On election day in April, Robin Vos told the public it was “incredibly safe to go out”, but he wouldn’t even speak to the media at a polling place without full body PPE.

(We put up this billboard in his district to remind voters about it.)

We’re in a similar moment now. Cases in Wisconsin have spiked, with some analysis suggesting that Wisconsin has among the fastest rates of COVID-19 spread in the country.

urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/07/07/wis…

The GOP’s response? Continue to do nothing to protect Wisconsinites. Snipe at Dems. And hold an in-person convention.

The Wisconsin GOP’s response to coronavirus has been a disaster:

-Consistently downplayed risks & circulated conspiracy theories

-Forced Wisconsinites to vote in-person in April

-Forfeited $25M in federal funding by slow-walking legislation

wispolitics.com/2020/dwd-says-…

To top if off, Republicans sued to kill @GovEvers’s #SaferAtHome order—and got Republican Supreme Court justices to torpedo his ability to issue emergency health measures.

Chaos ensued. Within the hour, bars were packed. Predictably, cases have risen.

fox6now.com/2020/05/14/gov…

Trump has failed by refusing to enact a comprehensive federal response. Robin Vos and Wisconsin Republicans have gone even further, and blocked the power of our elected governor to coordinate a statewide response.

Trump. Vos. Two peas in a pod.

Wisconsin Democrats have been steadfast in our commitment to keeping Wisconsinites safe. That’s why we organized around absentee voting this spring. That’s why we supported the #SaferAtHome order.

And it’s why our state convention was all-virtual: wisdems.org/2020-dpw-conve…

At their convention this weekend, Robin Vos and the GOP are likely to bring up a bunch of themes we’ve become familiar with.

They’ll bash voting rights, talk up an economy they’ve helped ruin, and unleash a series of racist and xenophobic dogwhistles.

wpr.org/vos-takes-heat…

How do we counter their politics of fear and division and unify our state? Organizing. And you can help.

Get involved in the fight to turn Wisconsin blue here: wisdems.org/get-involved/v…

We’ll take every dollar you donate to @WisDems and invest it into fighting the GOP—and fighting for something better. Listening to science. Defeating racism. Uniting our state and country around a vision that benefits all.

Chip in to help us do it: wisdems.org/supercharge