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Trump Heads to Wisconsin’s Critical Democratic Stronghold Ahead of Vice Presidential Debate

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks to the press in the aftermath of powerful storm Helene at Chez What furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks to the press in the aftermath of powerful storm Helene at Chez What furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, September 30, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump Heads to Wisconsin’s Critical Democratic Stronghold Ahead of Vice Presidential Debate

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks to the press in the aftermath of powerful storm Helene at Chez What furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks to the press in the aftermath of powerful storm Helene at Chez What furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, September 30, 2024. (AFP)

Former President Donald Trump plans to spend the hours ahead of Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate campaigning in Wisconsin, stopping in a critical Democratic county that is crucial to Democrat Kamala Harris ' hopes for winning the key battleground state.

Trump is scheduled to appear at a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin's capital city of Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Trump has never campaigned in Dane County before and didn't visit as president.

Later on Tuesday, Trump is expected to hold an event at a museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest city and home to the largest number of Democratic voters and second-largest number of Republicans. His appearance there will also give him reach into the city's conservative suburbs, a part of Wisconsin where his support has softened but where he must do well to win.

Trump is expected to focus his comments on the economy. On Saturday, he held a rally in western Wisconsin where he blamed Harris for crimes committed by people in the country illegally.

Both stops come ahead of Tuesday's debate between Trump’s running mate JD Vance, a senator from Ohio, and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota.

Dane County, the location of Trump's first stop, is Wisconsin's fastest-growing county and an economic engine for the state, fueled by jobs in the healthcare and tech industries. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin.

Dane County’s population grew by about 30,000 people between 2016 and 2020. It has gone up by another 13,000 since then, based on the most recent US Census Bureau estimate.

That presents a challenge for Republicans, especially given that nearly 90% of registered voters in the county cast a ballot in 2020. President Joe Biden won 75% of the vote that year in Dane County, beating Trump by 181,000 votes in the county while carrying the state by fewer than 21,000. Hillary Clinton beat Trump in Dane County in 2016 by 47 points, and Trump won the state by less than a point.

Still, Dane County is home to the third-largest number of Republican voters of any county statewide.

"President Trump’s appearance will be a big shot in the arm for demoralized conservatives here," the Dane County Republican Party Chairman Brandon Maly posted on X, the social media platform, when the visit was announced. He has said Trump must get at least 23% of the vote in Dane County to have a chance of winning statewide.

Democratic presidential candidates have long come to Dane County to hold massive rallies to fire up the base. Harris campaigned there on Sept. 20, holding a rally in Madison that attracted more than 10,000 people.

Waunakee, which bills itself as the "only Waunakee in the world," is slightly more Republican than the county as a whole. In 2020, Trump got 36% of the vote there compared to less than 23% countywide.

Trump is expected to speak at Dane Manufacturing, a metal fabricator that has a long history of hosting Republican candidates and officeholders. In Milwaukee, Trump will speak at Discovery World, a science and technology museum along the shores of Lake Michigan.

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NATO's Longtime Chief Hands over to Former Dutch Premier Mark Rutte

Jens Stoltenberg reacts as the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte uses a hammer at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Jens Stoltenberg reacts as the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte uses a hammer at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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NATO's Longtime Chief Hands over to Former Dutch Premier Mark Rutte

Jens Stoltenberg reacts as the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte uses a hammer at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Jens Stoltenberg reacts as the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte uses a hammer at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. (Reuters)

One of NATO’s longest serving top officials, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, stepped down on Tuesday, handing over the reins to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the military alliance confronts some of the biggest challenges in its history.

The two men, who first sat together at NATO's table 14 years ago as the leaders of Norway and the Netherlands, greeted each other warmly outside the alliance's Brussels headquarters, before laying a wreath to fallen military personnel, surrounded by the flags of the 32 member countries.

"Mark has the perfect background to become a great secretary general," a visibly emotional Stoltenberg said as he ended a decade in office.

"He has served as prime minister for 14 years and led four different coalition governments, so therefore he knows how to make compromises, create consensus, and these are skills which are very much valued here at NATO," Stoltenberg said.

Rutte said that he "cannot wait to get to work." He said his priorities would be NATO's support for Ukraine, with the war now in its third year, increasing defense spending and strengthening partnerships that the alliance has established with other countries around the world, notably in Asia and the Middle East.

Rutte also underlined the importance of keeping the trans-Atlantic bond between the United States, Canada and Europe strong, and expressed confidence that he can work well with whoever is elected to the White House.

Surveys suggest the US election in November will be a close race. It could see the return of Donald Trump, whose bluster during his last term of office about low defense spending among European allies and Canada undermined trust of NATO member countries.

It became an existential challenge, as smaller members feared that the US under Trump would renege on NATO’s security pledge that all countries must to come to the rescue of any ally in trouble, the foundation stone the alliance is built on.

But Rutte said: "I know both candidates very well." He praised Trump for pushing NATO allies to spend more and for toughening their approach toward China. He also hailed the "fantastic record" of Vice President Kamala Harris and described her as "a highly respected leader."

"I will be able to work with both. Whatever is the outcome of the election," Rutte said.

Stoltenberg, NATO’s 13th secretary-general, took over in 2014, the year that "little green men" from Russia infiltrated Ukraine. Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula, sparking a defense spending buildup at the world’s biggest security alliance that gathered pace over his term.

His tenure was surpassed only by Dutch diplomat Joseph Luns, who spent 12 years in charge of NATO.

NATO secretaries-general run the HQ, drive the alliance's working agenda and speak on behalf of the 32-nation organization with one unifying voice. Continuity is usually the key word when they take up office.

Rutte becomes NATO’s top civilian official as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches the 1,000-day mark.

Russian forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has a shaky hold on part of the Kursk region in Russia, which has provided a temporary morale boost, but as casualties mount it remains outmanned and outgunned.

Rutte will have to find new ways to encourage support for Ukraine among the allies, whose ranks have swelled to 32 countries since the invasion as Finland and Sweden joined to seek protection from Russia under NATO's security umbrella.

Trump has been critical of US aid to Ukraine, and he suggested last week that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have made concessions to Russian leader Vladimir Putin before he launched his invasion in 2022.