Scott Walker Speaks to the (Real) Base

I guess we are all aware that Scott Walker, the most mean-spirited of all the Republican candidates for President, has sunk like a rock in the polls; his own performance swiftly reducing him to a near nonentity, in a few short weeks.  So, yesterday he pulled out all the stops in a direct appeal to his real base:

"According to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, police officers — who have killed more than 700 people so far this year — are always right. 

“Do we have an issue in this country that we have to deal with when it comes to race? Absolutely,” he said. “But we shouldn’t confuse that into somehow thinking that that means we shouldn’t treat our law enforcement professionals as the great men and women that they are.” 

He continued, refusing to admit that any of the officers involved in the recent, high-profile deadly shootings may have made a mistake..."Every leader we have — at the local level, the state level, all the way up to the president of the United States, for that matter anyone in the clergy and business and anywhere else — needs to step up and say that is wrong,” he said. “The men and women who wear the badge are doing the right thing, every day. All the time...As president, I will have their back every single day.”

Let us be clear here about who he is really speaking to here, and what he is really saying.  Walker won two terms as Wisconsin governor despite his absolutely disgusting performance, for one reason and one reason only: the Koch brothers' money, which enabled him to drown his opponents in a swamp of lies and distortions.  Well, he has figured out that, without some sugar daddies like the Koch brothers to finance his propaganda onslaught, he is toast this time around. But the big money guys seem to be holding off on spending that money at this point, while Walker falls farther and farther out of sight.

So, here is his declaration:  The police are always right.  Translation: make me President and I will use the police to crush dissent in any way I can, and never hold them accountable for a thing they do. Make me President, and I will use my power, legally or illegally, to give you whatever you want, and I will let no one stand in your way.  I will be as ruthless as Mussolini or Stalin in doing this. Make me President and, as in Wisconsin, you will rule the country, while I live in the White House and take your orders.

I've pointed out before that there is a contest among Republican candidates to see which one can stand up for the most cruel policies they can think of.  This is because their real constituency is the few hundred people who stand to benefit from the destruction of the last vestiges of democracy in this country.  Walker may be a loser in the polls, but he has always been a winner at this game, so he is running with it, because he knows that, at this point, only a big influx of Koch brothers money can get him back in the contest.

Of course, let us not forget that all of the other Republican candidates are playing their own versions of this game, just not with the callous abandon of Walker.  I have pointed out before (and I will be self-promoting enough to say that I am just about the only person who has pointed this out) that the Republican primary contest is not about winning voters, it is about appeasing a handful of rich sociopaths, who actually control the party.  The candidates don't really care what the average person thinks about what they say; the only care about assuring these criminal billionaires that if elected they will work only on behalf of the hyper-rich, in any way possible, legal or illegal.  The candidates know that, when the real money starts flowing, they can use it to con the short-memoried rubes into supporting their path to disaster once again.