From coronavirus to race to the economy, Wisconsin is a microcosm of the forces roiling America
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Source: Washington Post
Four years ago, the Wisconsin state fairgrounds were a scene of celebration. The nation’s newly elected president, Donald Trump, stood amid red-bauble-bedecked Christmas trees and regaled thousands of supporters with tales from the night Wisconsin propelled his improbable victory.
Today, the grounds are host to a field hospital for treating coronavirus patients, row-upon-row of stark white beds to accommodate overflow from the state’s beleaguered medical centers.
Outside lies a suburban Milwaukee community that had been in the midst of a renaissance — until the novel coronavirus took hold. Restaurant owners endured whiplash as the rules of reopening were fought over in court. Police officers relived the memory of patrolling a nearby city, Kenosha, as buildings were set aflame.
To the east are a sea of blue signs for former vice president Joe Biden. To the west, it’s all Trump. In between — in the shadow of an idled Ferris wheel — voters wait to cast ballots in lines that stretch around the block.
To understand the forces roiling American politics this year, there’s one state that seems to have them all. Wisconsin has one of the nation’s fastest growing coronavirus infection rates. It has a government wracked by toxic division along partisan lines. Its top court is dominated by conservatives quick to side with Republican legislators. Its election system is under scrutiny and has already faltered. One of its largest cities has become a byword for racial injustice — and for deadly riots
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/from-coronavirus-to-race-to-the-economy-wisconsin-is-a-microcosm-of-the-forces-roiling-america/2020/10/24/6d1b2530-1575-11eb-82af-864652063d61_story.html
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