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Artists to display work at Sue Hand’s Imagery in Dallas on Aug. 20

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Your view: Trump critics ignore the facts

<p>MADISON, Wis. &#8212; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson both came out Monday against boycotting Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, the day after President Donald Trump said it would be &#8220;great&#8221; if there was a boycott.</p><p>Trump&#8217;s Sunday tweet forced Walker and other Republicans to take a position on the sticky political issue involving an iconic Wisconsin company just ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s primary where Trump allegiance has been a central focus.</p><p>Trump on Sunday tweeted it was &#8220;great&#8221; that &#8220;many&#8221; Harley owners planned to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas, continuing a steel tariff dispute he&#8217;s had since June with the company.</p><p>Walker, Wisconsin&#8217;s most prominent Harley owner. who faces a tough re-election bid in November, tweeted Monday afternoon that &#8220;of course I don&#8217;t want a boycott of Harley-Davidson.&#8221; That came after Walker initially on Sunday did not directly address the boycott call.</p><p>Nicholson, who faces state Sen. Leah Vukmir in a Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, said on WTMJ radio that &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to see Harley-Davidson boycotted,&#8221; but didn&#8217;t think a boycott would be necessary because Trump&#8217;s approach to trade was succeeding and opening new markets.</p><p>Both Nicholson and Walker backed Trump&#8217;s approach to tariffs, saying they support moving to having no tariffs as soon as possible.</p><p>Democrats running in the Tuesday primary for a chance to take on Walker teed off on his unwillingness to strongly defend Harley-Davidson.</p><p>&#8220;By attacking Wisconsin workers to cover for failed economic policy President Trump took a page right out of Scott Walker&#8217;s playbook,&#8221; said Mahlon Mitchell, one of eight Democratic candidates and the head of the state firefighters union. He has more backing from labor unions than any other candidate.</p><p>Another Democratic candidate, Kelda Roys, accused Walker of &#8220;cowering before Trump&#8221; and the president&#8217;s &#8220;attempts to destroy an iconic Wisconsin business.&#8221;</p><p>Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is also up for re-election in November, was more forceful than Walker in her reaction to the Trump tweet.</p><p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t run our economy with tweets,&#8221; Baldwin tweeted to Trump. &#8220;Wisconsin businesses like harleydavidson need better trade deals, not tweets and trade wars.&#8221;</p><p>Nicholson pushed back against Baldwin on Twitter.</p><p>&#8220;We do need better trade deals, not the ones engineered by you and other members of the political class,&#8221; Nicholson tweeted at Baldwin. &#8220;We must bring trade partners back to the table and do away with tariffs. You don&#8217;t fight for WI and you don&#8217;t understand our economy.&#8221;</p><p>Vukmir, who won the endorsement of the Wisconsin Republican Party, was making a final campaign swing in southeast Wisconsin, including a stop with retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan. She did not address Trump&#8217;s boycott call in a statement calling Harley &#8220;a point of pride not only for our state, but also our nation.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I trust they will not abandon their Wisconsin roots, and the best way for that to happen is to get rid of tariffs like the president is working to do,&#8221; Vukmir said.</p><p>In July, Harley-Davidson said it expects new tariffs to cost the company as much as $100 million annually.</p><p>A spokesman for Harley-Davidson declined to comment both Sunday and Monday.</p><p>Polls have shown the Senate race to be a dead heat. State Superintendent Tony Evers had a double-digit lead in the Democratic gubernatorial primary based on polls in the months leading up to the election.</p><p>But others in the race who had raised enough to advertise on television &#8212; including Mitchell and Roys &#8212; were hoping for a late swing in their favor, particularly among younger voters.</p><p>Whoever wins the Democratic primary will enter the final three months of the race at a financial disadvantage to Walker. He had $4.8 million cash on hand in August, while the top tier Democrats were likely to be tapped out after spending on the primary.</p><p>The Wisconsin Democratic Party and the Democratic Governors Association have been raising money and building infrastructure in preparation for Wednesday, to help the winner of the primary get a fast start against Walker.	</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_121043522-5c56db576c164fedb46e8d260099a966.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">In this Aug. 31, 2013 file photo, Gov. Scott Walker laughs before riding in the Harley-Davidson 110th Anniversary Parade in Milwaukee, Wis. President Donald Trump&#8217;s call for a boycott of Harley-Davidson motorcycles forced Gov. Walker and other Republicans to either criticize the president or stick with the Milwaukee-based company just ahead of the Tuesday primary, where Trump allegiance has been a central focus. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_121043522-5c56db576c164fedb46e8d260099a966.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this Aug. 31, 2013 file photo, Gov. Scott Walker laughs before riding in the Harley-Davidson 110th Anniversary Parade in Milwaukee, Wis. President Donald Trump&#8217;s call for a boycott of Harley-Davidson motorcycles forced Gov. Walker and other Republicans to either criticize the president or stick with the Milwaukee-based company just ahead of the Tuesday primary, where Trump allegiance has been a central focus. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mike De Sisti | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP  </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Scott Bauer</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Trump’s Harley boycott call roils Wisconsin primary