Trump talked about Kleefisch, Evers in Aug. 9 call with Michels
You’d think former President Donald Trump would have other things on his mind these days with, you know, the recent FBI search on Mar-a-Lago.
But on the night of the primary election, Trump didn’t mind offering his latest take on the upcoming general election in Wisconsin.
Early in the evening on Aug. 9, Trump called multimillionaire construction exec Tim Michels, whom he endorsed, to congratulate him on his victory over former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in the GOP gubernatorial primary. About 20 Michels supporters stood in a circle and listened to the call at Tuscan Hall in Waukesha, including one ally who let the Journal Sentinel watch a video recording of the conversation.
Trump had only kind words for Kleefisch, offering none of the catty remarks he made about her during a private chat with Michels back on April 5. Instead, the former one-term Republican president said she ran a good race and, not surprisingly for the thrice-married Trump, described her as “charming” and “pretty.”
“She’s very good-looking, actually,” Trump said of the former TV news anchor. Then he turned to the general election contest against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November.
Trump told Michels, who has never held public office, that his “gut” told him that Evers would be “easier to beat than Kleefisch.” A recent Marquette University Law School Poll showed Evers up by 45% to 43%, a difference within the margin of error.
Why is Evers going to be so easy to beat in Trump’s estimation?
Trump said he’s heard that Evers, 70, “doesn’t work” hard. Michels, for what it’s worth, just turned 60, celebrating the event at Carnevor restaurant in Milwaukee on Saturday.
“He’s a very lazy guy,” Trump said of Evers, much to the delight of those at the small gathering, many of whom were holding up their phones to record the conversation.
Of course, this was news to Evers’ team.
Kayla Anderson, spokeswoman for the first-term governor, said Michels should spend more time talking to Wisconsin voters and less chatting with the former president.
“Instead of dividing communities like Tim Michels and Donald Trump, Gov. Evers has done the hard work to make Wisconsin better and stronger,” Anderson said. “In his first term, Gov. Evers has cut taxes for working
families, helped thousands of small businesses open their doors, and improved the quality of public education in our schools.”
This wasn’t the first time Trump has weighed in on the Wisconsin governor’s race.
Michels met with Trump in a private, 75minute meeting at the expresident’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida on April 5 — nearly three weeks before Michels officially jumped into the governor’s race. Kleefisch took her own pilgrimage to the resort in March.
When chatting with
Michels, Trump called Kleefisch “48% Becky,” a reference to the fact that former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Kleefisch got 48.5% of the vote in 2018, narrowly losing to Evers and Mandela Barnes.
Trump also complained about a tweet that showed Kleefisch’s daughter going to a homecoming dance with the son of state Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn.
Hagedorn, who ran as a conservative, has been criticized heavily by Republicans after being a swing vote in high-profile decisions involving pandemic-related restrictions and Trump’s efforts to overturn Wisconsin’s last presidential election.
In response, Trump attacked the Wisconsin jurist on Twitter in late 2020.
Trump later endorsed Michels and came to Wisconsin to stump for him just days before the primary.
Since the election, it appears that Michels and Kleefisch have not exactly been on the same page.
On the night of the election, Barbara Michels, Tim’s wife, got into it verbally with Republican Party Chairman Paul Farrow for entering the Michels’ war room, as reported by Wisconsin Right Now. Many Michels supporters believed Farrow backed Kleefisch.
In her concession speech, Kleefisch called for Republican Party unity without naming Michels. A day later, Michels said at the State Fair that Kleefisch is “trying to move on with her life.”
The two have yet to hold a joint appearance. Kleefisch recently traveled to Texas to take her daughter to college.
“It’s been more than two weeks,” complained a Michels adviser.
But Kleefisch allies said it doesn’t matter if the two former political foes hold a joint event anytime soon.
Asked one: “Who cares? Nobody cares.”