☀️ Good morning!

It’s Sunday, September 21, 2025

The conservative reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination could be explained in its initial phase as an understandably emotional outburst over a heinous act of political violence. It should have been followed immediately by a national coming together to reduce the temperature of our rhetoric. Instead, some people who should have been leaders in unity have become the loudest voices of division. 

In Wisconsin, that includes a wreckless campaign of vengeance being waged by GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who is seeking a law that would lead to arbitrary decisions to cut federal support to people and groups based on partisan whims. He has demanded an untold number of firings and held people up to threats and ridicule because he lacks the emotional maturity to understand that First Amendment freedoms only work if the speech being protected is speech that not everyone will like, especially those in power.

This national effort at intimidation and persecution is not unprecedented. What Van Orden has become today parallels the metamorphosis of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, from a seemingly moderate Wisconsin newcomer to a national spectacle of extremism. 

So it was not surprising to look back and realize that what was said then about McCarthy during the Red Scare would apply today to the congressman from our 3rd District, changing only the name and a handful of other words. At the bottom of today’s newsletter I am sharing the historic commentary of journalist Edward R. Murrow on March 9, 1954. 

Be sure not to lose track of Murrow’s final point: Men like McCarthy and Van Orden only came to power because of voters, and it is voters who will have to come out of their comfort zones to solve this new crisis.

Enjoy your day. And stay up to date with our weekday newsletter, our social media posts, and our morning radio show.

⏮️ Last Week:  We’d like to apologize — tongue in cheek — about our last Question of the Week that asked you to choose which one of Sen. Ron Johnson’s many conspiracy theories is most in need of going away forever. There were MANY of you who were frustrated at the lack of an “All of the Above” option! Here’s a sample of your responses.

Dee A.: “Can we have an answer E? I want Johnson to stop talking completely and go away. He can go live a happy, deluded life somewhere wonderful as long as it is not here.”

Michael B.: “I choose A, B, C & D. Because if he stops talking about those 4 items, then he’d be speaking 50% less than he is now, which would be a huge win.”

⏭️ This Week: Here we go again. Another potential government shutdown is just over a week away because there is no agreement on a new federal budget. And this time it doesn’t look like Republicans and Democrats will pass another stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution. A shutdown will delay air travel, food inspections, Medicare applications, IRS verifications, and much, much more.

Republicans know they cannot pass a budget without Democrats, but they refuse to negotiate with Democrats who — in return for their votes — want a restoration of healthcare benefits that were slashed over the summer. Republicans don’t want to give up those budget cuts and they feel a lengthy shutdown will hurt enough Americans that Democrats will feel pressured to cave.

If there is a shutdown, who’s to blame?

🄰  Republicans. You need Democratic votes. Negotiate. Pass a budget on time. 

🄱  Democrats. You’ll be blamed for the pain a shutdown will bring If you don’t let the majority have their way.

🄲  President Trump — more so than congressional Republicans because Mr. “Art of the Deal” should show leadership by forging a compromise.

To answer this week’s question or to suggest a different answer, hit reply or email me directly at pat@couriernewsroom.com, and we may share it in a future newsletter or on our radio show.

1️⃣  More candidates for governor – Sen. Kelda Roys and Rep. Francesca Hong, both Madison Democrats, entered the 2026 campaign to succeed Gov. Tony Evers.  Roys is an attorney with previous experience in the state Assembly, running a real estate tech firm, and heading a state organization defending women’s healthcare rights. Hong, a chef and former restaurant owner, said she was inspired to run for Assembly in 2020 while advocating for essential workers in the food service industry during the pandemic.

🐘 Speculation is building that Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany will announce in the coming days, as the GOP desperately seeks a rare win in a statewide election. Democratic or progressive candidates have won 15 of the last 18 races since 2018. 

CLICK HERE: Read the full story on our website

2️⃣  Two new Senate candidates – State Senate contests in southwest and southeast Wisconsin got a little more activity with new Democratic candidates. Former New Glarus childcare provider Corrine Hendrickson announced her candidacy in the 17th District on our radio show. She is the third Democrat seeking to challenge Sen. Howard Marklein, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee. Former Racine alder Trevor Jung talked to us about running in the 21st District, hoping to unseat Sen. Van Wanggaard. 

3️⃣  Who’s bullying our kids? – Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly didn’t hold back in her annual “State of Education” address while criticizing the political environment in Washington, DC. “This year, the biggest schoolyard bully in our public schools is our own federal government,” said Underly, who was reelected in April to a second four-year term. She said the Trump administration is treating education spending “as a bargaining chip, threatening or withholding it with little or no notice while demanding compliance with demands that are unclear at best, unlawful at worst.”

📻 Underly had a lot more to say, and we’re going to hear about it from her directly, next Wednesday on our radio show, “Mornings with Pat Kreitlow,” in our weekly Homeroom segment at 7:30 am.

Edward R. Murrow/CBS broadcast image

📺 Edward R. Murrow gave viewers an unfiltered look at Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy as he was harassing and threatening people he considered to be communists. It would not take much for this essay to be made contemporary, as Trump, Van Orden, and others use the Charlie Kirk murder as an excuse to infringe on free expression, intimidate national media, and remove independence from vital parts of our government:

“The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.

We will not walk in fear of one another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it – and rather successfully. Cassius was right. ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.’”

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🏁 Thanks for reading our update.

Have a great week!