'Warning to the GOP': WSJ sounds alarm over 'MAGA backlash'

02 April

U.S. President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson shake hands during a House Republican members conference meeting in Trump National Doral resort, in Miami, Florida, U.S. January 27, 2025.

On Tuesday night, April 1, Republicans suffered a major disappointment when liberal Judge Susan Crawford defeated conservative Judge Brad Schimel by roughly 10 percent in a closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

Technically, the race was nonpartisan, but it became a referendum on President Donald Trump and his close ally, Tesla/Space X leader Elon Musk — who poured more than $20 million into Schimel's campaign. The election results wouldn't have been surprising in a deep blue state like Massachusetts, but Crawford enjoyed a double-digit victory in a competitive swing state that Trump won in 2016 and 2024 and lost in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board examines Crawford's win in an editorial headlined "The MAGA Backlash Arrives," emphasizing that the election's outcome has implications that go way beyond Wisconsin.

"Democrats solidified their 4-3 progressive majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, and the ramifications are nationwide," the WSJ board argues. "The comfortable win by Democratic Judge Susan Crawford is the second sign in two weeks of a political backlash against the Trump Presidency. Democrats turned out in large numbers to defeat Republican Judge Brad Schimel in a race in which the two sides may have spent as much as $100 million."

The board adds, "Democrats sought to make the race a referendum on Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and Mr. Musk responded by trying to mobilize the Trump voters who tend to stay home in spring elections. The Democratic bet paid off."

The WSJ editorial board describes Crawford's 10 percent victory as a "warning to the GOP that the Trump-Musk governing style is stirring a backlash that could cost them control of Congress next year" in the 2026 midterms.

The lesson for Trump, according to the WSJ writers, is that he needs to "focus on what got him reelected, especially prices and growth in real incomes after inflation."

"His willy-nilly tariff agenda undermining stock prices and consumer and business confidence isn't helping," the conservative WSJ writers lament. "As for Wisconsin, Republicans in that state will now have to live with a willful Supreme Court majority that could reverse nearly everything the GOP accomplished under former Gov. Scott Walker."

Read the full Wall Street Journal editorial at this link (subscription required).

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