Those of you who follow my articles know I have strong opinions. But those opinions are well reasoned, insightful and backed up by documentation from reliable sources. But what is happening in the Wisconsin elections requires blunt, in-your-face, plain talk about Michael Alfonso, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District.

Voters need to understand that Mr. Alfonso will be the representative for Mar-a-Lago and not Northwest Wisconsin. He will be Donald Trump’s personal yes-boy in the House of Representatives.
Think I am biased and exaggerating?

Check out Alfonso’s campaign website. Listen to the conman-in-chief’s glowing endorsement (on video from the Oval Office) of the kid with absolutely no qualifications for the office. You will hear Trump explain, in his over-the-top hyperbolic style, how Alfonso – the “Trump Endorsed, America First, Conservative” – will vote for everything Trump tells him to.

Being a Congressman is not an entry level job. One normally doesn’t go from having no job to a national, decision-making, leadership position making $174,000 a year (unless your Daddy owns the company or you marry the boss’s daughter).

Alfonso married the Secretary of Transportation’s daughter and seems to think “the fix is in” because Trump blessed his run for Congress.

So I have some questions (and suggestions) for Mr. Alfonso.

Why should anyone vote for you? You have no qualifications for representing us in the House of Representatives. You have no political or elected office experience. In fact you have no experience at much of anything, including basic life in America.

Being a MAGA suck-up is not a qualification. Perhaps you should get a job, get out of your father-in-law’s McMansion summer home, get a mortgage and feel the pain of the cost of housing, healthcare and inadequate wages.

Maybe you should learn something about the real world before you presume to think you know what is best for the 754,000 residents of the 7th Congressional District.

You have a degree in mathematics, which means you know little or nothing about law, science, history, economics, international relations or government.

These are good things to know something about as a congressman. With your lack of resume, running for city council would be a stretch.

What do you mean by putting “America first”?

In a highly interconnected global economy, dependent on international cooperation, why do you think it is necessary to be first? Shouldn’t putting the well being of people first be a better goal?
Or is this just a meaningless campaign slogan to avoid talking about the real problems the people of Northwest Wisconsin face every day?

Actually, American is already “first” in many ways.

We are first in the number of incarcerated people (mostly Blacks and poor people).

We are first in the cost of healthcare, spending more than twice what other peer nations do, with the largest percentage of people not covered and significantly poorer health outcomes.

We have the largest number of healthcare-related personal bankruptcies. The number of people in poverty and/or barely getting by are the highest of any major country.

On your website you say, “Too many working families can’t afford medical care.” This is true. And your Republican party is the primary reason why people can’t afford, or don’t have, health insurance.
You promise to “ lower costs...and prioritize patients – not bureaucrats and insurers.” But Republicans have killed all efforts to cut bureaucracy, eliminate for-profit insurers and control costs with a universal national system.

The Trump administration has cut Medicaid funding and refused to renew ACA health insurance subsidies making medical care unaffordable for 110,000 to  276,000 Wisconsinites (according to the Wisconsin Department of Heath Services).

So what is it going to be? Are you going to help lower costs or are you going to “deliver the MAGA agenda” (also from your website). You can’t do both. But you don’t know this because you are a young, dumb kid with inadequate knowledge and no experience.

Another category of “America first” achievements is our militarism. The U.S. is number one in the world for military spending. We spend more than the next 10 countries combined.

We are the largest supplier of weapons in the world. And, as Martin Luther King pointed out in 1967, we are the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” This is still true today.

On your website you say, “Washington poured billions of dollars into forever wars and foreign aid. Meanwhile, thousands of people are homeless and suffering in Wisconsin alone. Michael Alfonso will put America First, fix problems here, and stop wasteful foreign spending.”

You sound like some woke, liberal peacenik!

What happened to being “steeped in...hockey and American patriotism” (again from your website)? Or is your concern for the money wasted on war just more campaign BS to deceive voters?

Don’t you know your hero, Donald Trump, wants to spend $600 billion more on wasteful military spending and is pouring billions of dollars into another “forever war” with Iran.

If you want to end war and use the money to fix our social problems, like homelessness, you can’t support the policies of your hero.

BTW, U.S. “foreign aid” has always been a pittance and “the Donald” decimated that in his “big beautify budget bill” and the illegal actions of his illegal, fake “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
Another of your website statements is, “Public service should be about serving, not getting rich.”

Amen brother! You say members of Congress should be banned from trading stocks. Absolutely!

But you conveniently ignore the massive corruption, insider trading and conflicts of interest of your mentor, his family and high administration officials. Credible sources say Trump and his family have made $4 billion since his returning to office.

Are you going to vote to impeach or hold accountable the most corrupt president in our history?
Are you going to insist on accountability for the 34 counts of business fraud he already has been convicted of?

Does being “tough on crime” apply to everyone or just immigrants, the poor and people of color?
I don’t have room discuss all the other MAGA talking points you highlight on your website. But every one shows you are ignorant about the facts of life in America. Every one shows you lack the knowledge, sound judgment and independence of thought to be making decisions on behalf of the people of Northwest Wisconsin and the nation. You are not ready for prime time.