ALTOONA, Wis. (AP) – Donald Trump is trying to defy convention yet again in the 2016 race for president – this time, by winning an election in Wisconsin without the support of the state’s influential conservative talk radio hosts.
The Republican front-runner tried to lay some groundwork for his campaign in interviews Monday with three of the state’s leading conservative talkers, including WTMJ radio’s Charlie Sykes – to whom Trump confessed on-air not knowing that Sykes is a leading voice against his candidacy. Two interviews later in the day didn’t go much better.
It’s fair to assume Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won’t be announcing he’s voting for Trump in the state’s April 5 primary when the Milwaukee-based Sykes interviews the two-term Republican on Tuesday morning.
“It’s remarkable how they drive the agenda in primaries,” said Walker aide Stephan Thompson of Sykes and other conservative radio hosts in the state. “They are the biggest endorsement.”
Walker would know.