Transcript
Wisconsin Democrat Conversations with Devin Remiker (Hour 2)
Daybreak w/ Brian and Jamie · Fri Apr 17, 2026
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Wisconsin wakes up here.
Back to Daybreak with Brian and JB.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Happy Friday.
Looking forward to another weekend.
And of course, we're gonna keep reminding you to keep an eye on the weather today as your afternoon progresses.
We do have a chance for some severe weather across the state.
This is our last round, though, for a while, Brian, because then the forecast looks cold for a couple of days, talking back into the 40s.
And then next week, we're gonna kind of start...
escalating slowly things back up into the low 60s into the low 70s.
So a nice ramp up
Do I wear pants?
Do I put my winter coat away?
I don't know.
I don't know what's going on.
It is but it is Friday and be careful.
Jamie, may I co-opt to your famous saying that you made famous yesterday?
Be careful.
There's still a lot of flooding in the state.
So turn around don't drown.
That's right Parker.
Have we got that printed out yet?
Why don't we focus on the news and you work on a simple sentence.
Let's check some headlines from the Middle East.
The Israeli and Lebanese governments agreed to ceasefire following more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Nearly 2,200 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.
In other headlines, Hezbollah said in a statement that, quote, any ceasefire must be comprehensive across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement.
Israel has, of course, staged a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, which Netanyahu says Israel will continue to occupy during the ceasefire.
Hezbollah said that continuing Israeli occupation grants Lebanon the right to resist.
And finally, Pakistan's army chief met with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday in a bid to extend the separate ceasefire between Israel, the U.S.
and Iran.
Uncertainty does remain whether the frantic diplomacy can lead to a deal.
A second round of U.S.-Iran talks hasn't been scheduled yet.
Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesperson reported that yesterday.
All right.
Well, there's not and and still we don't know what's going on with the US now and Iran There's the ceasefire is going on.
There's not a lot of news today coming out of the region between us and Iran It's mostly now Israel
The only thing I will say is that President Trump is is still holding strong with the that this war will be over within the next couple of weeks.
He was he's put out the statements.
He's been on several media platforms over the course of the last few days.
And every time he's been asked, he's been he he is holding firm with so nothing has changed.
Actually, I think before we started.
Before he started the war by himself, he thought we had won.
Quick sidebar, you know my love of Whiskey Pete.
And did you see the footage of him using a fake Bible verse?
This goes back to yesterday when I was railing against people who are not Christian, wrapping themselves in Christianity to try to
just he lifted what he thought was a real Bible verse, which was a fake Bible Bible verse from an R rated film and tried to pass and I don't think he knew.
I honestly don't believe he's smart enough to have known that that was not a real thing.
He just went, it sounds really tough, and I'm as tough as Sam Jackson, so I'll deliver it myself.
I tell you that you could go online and just do a Google search, and you can put in the Bible verse itself, and it will tell you where it comes from, what part of the Bible.
This is a search you could do.
It's not actually hard.
Anybody can do this if you want to actually know where a particular verse comes from in the Bible.
But there is other stuff you need to know.
It's a wake up call in more ways than one.
Time for some shit you need to know.
Yes.
Oh, this is much closer to home.
Yes.
Not here in Wisconsin, but 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Cuba's president says his nation does not want war with the United States.
But he vows that if attacked, Cubans would defeat American forces.
Miguel Diaz Canal addressed a crowd of government supporters commemorating the 65th anniversary Thursday of the start of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
They failed attempt by CIA trained force of Cuban exiles to oust Fidel Castro, prompted the Cuban revolutionary leader to openly declare his support for socialism for the first time, setting up a Cold War era standoff with the US that endures to this day, referencing growing tensions with.
the Trump administration, Diaz Canal told the crowd, we have to be ready to resist serious threats, including military aggression.
We do not seek it, but it is our duty to prepare to avert it.
And should it prove inevitable to win it?
As long as there is a woman and a man willing to give their lives for the revolution, we will be victorious.
A group of government supporters in the crowd chanted, we do not want to be an American colony.
Well, what we're doing is witnessing a regime in our country that wants to control the entire hemisphere.
He'll work on the rest after he's already trying with Iran to you know take over their oil cash and everything else and get his nuclear dust as he calls it which Everybody's like, okay But anyway, it's not going to go.
Well now this his infatuation with Cuba may just be a pant passing thing He tends to lose interest quickly Venezuela to him made sense because he was able to commandeer their oil sure
Cuba, you know, he doesn't smoke cigars.
So probably it'll probably come back later.
But Greenland, we don't hear about Greenland anymore.
Since basically the whole world told him you can't take over Greenland.
Cuba will be the same kind of thing.
He will he will lose interest then because come November he's gonna have a whole new list of problems.
He was feeling this was before the war.
He was feeling sure of himself.
He was his decisions were being unchecked as they still are.
And he just, he threw that one off too.
Cause maybe, maybe somebody mentioned Cuba when he was at Mar-a-Lago on the golf course.
And he went, you know, we're going to take them over too.
that we
It may prove out to be like Iran where he underestimates the ability, not the ability of our military, our military is unparalleled, but he underestimates the resolve of the people he is trying to conquer.
And just like he did with Iran, he figured once we dropped some bombs, they were gonna just roll over and they did not.
And I don't believe Cuba would roll over either.
And that one's a lot closer to U.S.
territory.
Let's be clear when we're talking about Cuba.
Roger chiming in this morning on the text line, talking about Pete Hagseth, saying, Pete doesn't know the difference between the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Vermouth.
So thank you, Roger, for the comment this morning.
If you do have any comments you'd like to make, we'd love to hear from you.
1-855-752-4842.
That's 1-855-75 Civic.
In other headlines,
of stuff you need to know.
Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, this is a really sad story.
He was a once rising star in the Democratic Party whose tenure was marred by sexual assault allegations.
He actually shot and killed his wife Serena Fairfax inside their home and then killed himself according to police.
The couple's two teenage children were inside the home when the shootings occurred.
Fairfax County police chief Kevin Davis said noting their son had placed the 911.
call.
Fairfax County police responded to the home shortly after midnight yesterday where they found a man and a woman dead inside.
The shooting stemmed from an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce according to police.
Serena Fairfax filed for divorce on July 18th of 2025 and the case status is pending according to the Fairfax County Circuit Court records.
cause order issued on April 10th directed Justin Fairfax to appear in court on April 21st.
Detectives have now reviewed the incident using a lot of cameras which were set up inside the home as part of the couple's ongoing divorce proceedings.
I mean, this situation, it's an awful situation.
And I guess when I read this, my heart goes out to the two teenagers, especially the
one who found his
It is just awful.
Remember the ballroom that was being built where the East Wing used to be?
Well, the East Wing's no more, and then there was gonna be a bunker, a bunker built, and then a judge said, well, you can't...
build any the ballroom anymore.
Well, a federal judge set new limits on President Trump's planned White House ballroom saying construction could proceed only on an underground portion of the project deemed necessary by the military and not the 90,000 square foot above ground addition that Trump has eyed to entertain his VIP guests at his own little Palace of Versailles.
National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.
U.S.
District Judge Richard Leon wrote yesterday he said the Trump administration could also take steps to secure the construction site to make it safe for people on the White House grounds to protect the structural integrity of the building and to shield the underground work.
Leon then chastised the administration for its quote
incredible if not disingenuous interpretation of his order last month to halt work on Trump's planned $400 million project until the president obtains authorization from Congress.
Yeah, nothing makes a judge matter than when you disregard their orders.
Yes, his original order allowed the White House to do further construction to ensure the safety and security of the White House after officials said work on an underground emergency bunker was necessary to protect the president, his family and staff.
Trump, who has mischaracterized Leon's early rulings as victories for the White House, attacked the judge Thursday on social media, calling him a man who has gone out of his way to undermine national security and to make sure that this great gift to America gets delayed.
No judge can be allowed to stop this historic and military imperative project.
Au contraire, Donal.
ever.
What a blemish.
It's 720.
This is Abraham under Civic Media.
If you're listening in Appleton or Oshkosh, Wausau this morning, LaCrosse, we are certainly glad that you are joining us.
It is time for Swiper's Day.
This is where we leave the politics talk behind for just a few minutes.
Seven minutes, seven minutes to be exact is what we're gonna leave behind with our
cold.
Do
thermostat?
So here's how it's gonna work.
I'm gonna read some pop culture headlines.
Brian and Jamie are gonna have to decide whether to stay on it and hear more or swipe on to the next one.
In the event of a tie, Parker gets to choose.
So let's move on.
Story number one, rapper slash singer, arrested for murder.
He was on tour.
He had to cancel his remaining tour tour dates and basically just disappeared into the bushes like the Homer Simpson, Jeff.
LAPD said in a statement, our office is aware of the arrest of David Anthony Birkbyte.
By the department, the case is expected to be presented to the major crimes division at which point prosecutors will review the facts and evidence to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges.
Yeah, you got to figure they brought him in for questioning right away because it's his car and then for some reason they had to release him and Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
I just feel for the girls family family.
Yeah, I feel for her family.
That's justice delayed
Let's move on to it.
Do you have a happier story?
Real
trend in Hollywood right now, and a lot of filmmakers have come out and talked about this, that to get any movie greenlit right now is you need an IP associated with the film.
That's why we're not getting original thoughts, because studios don't want to take chances on things that aren't proven to work.
Top Gun Maverick was so good.
So they're like, yeah, do it.
Tom, you want to do this?
Do it.
Oh.
NFL reporter Chrissy Freud has been fired from her position at USA Today after she publicly celebrated Diana Roussini's resignation from the athletic.
Freud posted on social media in response to Roussini's resignation letter.
She said, I'm sure you were told to submit this or you'd get fired instead.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
We know who you really are and what you've been up to for years.
It does so much detriment to women in sports who have done things the right way.
Now here's what I'll say.
As somebody who sat in a press box for five years and was the director of a sports station,
There are a lot of rumors I know about a lot of people.
So I'm sure
Network.
Now back to more of Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.
Well, 2026 could be a big year for Wisconsin Democrats.
Last week, Democrats saw a new state supreme court justice elected in November.
They stand a chance of eliminating the Republican majority in the assembly, as well as continuing to hold on to the governor's office.
The man behind Wisconsin's Democratic organization is Devin Remacher, the new chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Devin joins us now to talk about the Democratic's
Democratic Party's plans for Wisconsin in the upcoming elections and beyond.
Devin, thanks for being here.
First off, congrats on the big win for Judge Chris Taylor.
Now, it wasn't just a win.
I've called it an old fashioned shellacking.
It was a huge win.
So what message do you and the party take from such a decisive victory?
Right now, I believe people in Wisconsin are hungry for change.
They have seen what Trump and the Republicans that enable him have done, both to the nation and to the state of Wisconsin.
Skyrocketing cost of living, rising gas prices, ripping away people's health care, the food on their table, and they are sick and tired and fed up with it.
And you know, one thing that I found very interesting, there's so many different ways to look at how stunning the victory was for Justice Elect Chris Taylor.
But there were some municipalities that actually cast more
for Chris Taylor than they did for Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Despite the fact 3.4 million people voted in the fall of November 2024 election, there were folks that were so fired up, they showed up, changed their mind and cast a vote for Chris Taylor just to stick it to Trump.
And I think that as a sign of things to come in November.
But ultimately, it comes down to talking to voters and meeting them where they're at on the issues that they care most about.
And in the context of the Supreme Court race,
I think that was very clear when it came to women's health care, protection of our democracy.
Those were issues that Chris Taylor was on the right side of that voters wanted to make sure that those rights fundamentally were protected in the state of Wisconsin.
Now, this fall, when we're having elections for governor, state legislature and Congress, I think cost of living is going to be front and center to voters.
Obviously, that's not something that has a directive tied to a Supreme Court race.
But this is something that clearly in every single poll in what we're hearing
from people on the doors is front and center on folks' minds.
So when I'm talking to candidates, I give them one advice, remain relentlessly focused and help you to make sure that those kitchen table conversations are a little easier for Wisconsinites all across the state if and when they're elected.
We do a host of things at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
We are known for year-round organizing, and that's a program that I am super proud to be able to both have helped start, but now continue in my role as chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
So we talked to tens of thousands of individuals during the course of the Supreme Court race, and it was a great test run for the fall.
We'll be talking to hundreds of thousands of folks all across Wisconsin in the months and the weeks, certainly leading up to election day.
On top of that, we make
sure that when folks cast their ballot, those ballots actually count.
There are so many attempts by Republicans to suppress votes in Wisconsin.
A lot of the laws that Scott Walker passed when Republicans had a trifecta are still on the books that make it harder to register harder to
provide voter identification.
All these things are still challenges we have to deal with.
So we have a great voter protection team that operates a hotline, 608-336-3232.
If anyone ever has trouble voting or a question about that, they can call there.
And we try to communicate everywhere.
A program that's new to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin that I started is called the 72-County Strategy Program.
And really, this is making sure that outside of the work that we do talking to voters, with so many folks who are looking to engage right
now, who are fired up showing up to no Kings protests as like the first political action of their lifetime.
I want to make sure that they have a home that's easy to find in the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
So we have folks working in each and every county right now to ensure whether it's helping them to open a year round office to have a membership drive
to
He is the Wisconsin Democrats chair, wisdems.org, if you want to check out more about the party.
No, you've actually said that Democrats are overperforming everywhere.
And we've seen it, not just in this particular race last week with Justice Elect Chris Taylor, but in other states around the country.
And in Wisconsin specifically, we saw a large shift towards the Democrats from the 2024 election.
In some counties, it was a 20
point plus shift towards Chris Taylor in this particular election.
So what do you think is specifically changing Devin with those rural voters, maybe outside Milwaukee, Madison, and even cities like Eau Claire, because that was also a large shifted county?
with voters across the state, but I think particularly in rural Wisconsin, they're looking at what Republicans have done to them.
And it's actually worse than nothing.
They have actively kicked rural people in the teeth.
You know, all of our Republican congressional members, Derek Van Orden, Brian Stiles, Tom Tiffany, they all voted for the big, awful budget that closed rural hospitals.
Derek Van Orden actually voted to potentially close a hospital in Osio in his own congressional district.
When you look at the places that utilize things like healthcare funding from the government, things that will be taken away through the subsidies, those are actually hardest hitting for rural Wisconsin.
And not only that, but it's even harder to find access to that healthcare.
In addition to the rural hospitals that are closing, so many hospitals are having to scale back the hours that they offer services or emergency services.
Some places in northern Wisconsin, you can actually access
hospital if you have an accident more than you know it or less than an hour away from you like it is their true health care deserts popping up uh... and i think people have finally seen uh... that these objective sort of uh... gut punches from republicans have broken through kind of the spin in the noise that the republican party has talked a big game and not delivered uh... and they are ready to help uh... ensure that there is a change in the number
is divided amongst itself and especially here in wisconsin we see that where the real progressive wing of the democratic party and the more moderate wing of the democratic party can't seem to coalesce what kind of challenges and how does that produce for you and how do you try to bridge the gap within the party let alone we don't even worry about the republic it's like we got to get come together ourselves first how do you handle that
I'd like to look at challenges and turn them into opportunities.
All right.
And to me, the sort of diversity of ideology within our party, it's a healthy thing.
Ensuring that we can actually be a party that leaves room for people that sort of span the ideological spectrum to come in and still feel supported and like they have a place is one of the most critical functions a party can convert.
I mean, if you look at the Republican Party, you know, what happens is that if you don't go along with Donald Trump, if you don't listen to sort of his mandates and change with the winds as he just, you know, spins on a dime with whatever happens to be advantageous from, you are exiled, you are pushed out.
I mean, there are so many former Republicans who have now become members and leaders of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin because of that exact phenomenon.
So, you know, sometimes it's hard.
It's hard work to make sure that everyone is able to have a voice.
to have a say.
But I fundamentally believe that the role of the party, whether that is in a primary race or sort of in a bigger picture discussion about the issues, is to be sort of a neutral arbiter, to allow folks to have that conversation, to get a fair shake.
And at the end, know that no one had their thumb on the scale, that no one was trying to shut them out or shut them down, so that when we're loose, we can all lock arms together and move forward towards the general election.
And I have seen too many times that, you know, these
divisive contests nationally and other states have divided the party.
When folks have felt like the party made the decision and took that away from voters.
So people ask me all the time about the gubernatorial primary and whether or not it gives me heartburn.
Well, that was going to be one of our questions for you.
So go ahead.
I'm sure it was.
Is it giving you heartburn?
Listen, I think having a ton of fantastic candidates, crisscrossing the state months in advance of the general election, talking about the issues that matter to voters,
right now and where the Democratic Party stands on them in different ways in different contexts is only going to help us.
later on in the year.
We already have a fantastic plan with Governor Tony Evers and the Governor Reading this project to make sure that in that narrow 84 day window post primary that our candidate has what they need to be successful no matter who it is.
And ultimately this is where that hard work of allowing people to participate in the process giving everyone a fair shake is going to pay off.
We only have 84 days between the primary and the general election because we don't anoint our nominee like the Republican Party did with Tom Tiffany who's going to be a terrible
general election candidate, but just happened to win the beauty pageant for Trump's endorsement.
But that ability for us to be the unifying umbrella for everyone that was in this contest and work together for success in November, it is going to help deliver us victory.
Let's stay on the topic of this primary because we know from recent polling there are a lot of undecided voters and it's still fairly early in the process.
We know the primary isn't until August, but how do you get those people engaged and essentially break through and reach them so that they are paying attention to what is a very critical race for the state of Wisconsin?
next
So I
You know, right now the candidates as of yesterday are starting to collect signatures to get on the ballot, engaging with folks person to person to win their support.
And it's only going to ramp up as we head towards the summer.
I believe folks will have so many opportunities to get to know our candidates to make the decision that they feel is
for them and ultimately decide who they're going to vote for on August 11th.
But I think they'll also see in the process how great all of the candidates are and the fact that no matter who wins they can get behind them because we know the option on the other side of Tom Tiffany would be an absolute disaster for Wisconsin.
So going back to what you said about challenges and opportunities or what you just said about any of any of the seven so far would make a good governor.
How then what's the opportunity that you have to convince
voters who may be backing one candidate who does not become the Democratic nominee, that yes, we all need to band together because a unified front is always going to be better than divisiveness.
I think we're
I mean, like if you look at
what has happened after Trump's second election here.
A lot of what people chalked up to hysteria to, oh, no, you know, he would never attempt to cut the subsidy.
He would never, you know, hurt Medicare or go after Social Security or try to, you know, crack down on our freedoms and liberties and take away people's guns.
He has gone so much further than so many people expected.
One thing that was really striking to me as part of our year round organizing program is when we go door to door, we hear folks and listen to
what issues matter most to them.
And more so than ever in the past, even from independence and folks who sometimes sit out midterm elections, we are hearing democracy and authoritarianism is both their key concerns.
for them when previously that didn't really chart before.
So I think that this is a time where so many folks are open when only 26% of independents approve of the job Trump is doing and the Republican Party is Trump's party.
When you look at what this means, whether it's for Tom Tiffany, for Mike Roberts in the state Senate and Howard Markline in the state Senate or all of the assembly Republican incumbents, their problem is they own this record top to bottom because they can do nothing besides appease Donald Trump.
We hope to talk to you again before November.
Congratulations again on the Supreme Court victory, and good luck as we head toward November.
Devin Remaker is the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Have a great rest of your day, Devin.
Thanks very much, and we'll be back with more.
This is Daybreak on the Civic Media
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Local voices and statewide impact.
It's Daybury with Brian and Jamie.
on
So we're like, all right, Frank, what do you got?
Here's a question for you, though, before we talk to Frank.
What was your go-to record store growing up or even now?
And the first album you bought that changed your life, 8-5-5-7-5 Civic, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2
All right, Frank, it's record store day.
You're going to be out hunting final with the rest of the hipsters tomorrow.
Is that I haven't,
get in
And a couple of my favorite stores in Madison because we have a...
pretty vast record collection at our house.
When you go in, there's a couple of people who have literally worked in this shop part-time for like the last 15 years.
And they're like, yeah, sometimes I go on and I do other full-time things, but somehow it just keeps pulling me back in to do a shift here or there and then all of a sudden they're on the rotation again regularly.
I'm sorry, Jay, but if you want to go on a hunt, Gary and Madison just sent us a text.
He's listening on WMDX for the next couple of minutes.
Hopefully it'll stay after we go to Stephanie Miller.
But St.
Vincent de Paul in Madison on Williamson Street just got in several hundred LPs from a private collector.
which was what was the first album you bought that really like kind of changed your life.
And I'll never forget it was right when I first started getting into music as a young lad, because, you know, I sat in the car and my dad played his Pink Floyd albums and his Rush albums as we were driving to baseball practice and whatnot.
So I liked it, but I wasn't like it was because dad liked it.
So we
both
I
And I
would go to their house, my aunt and uncle's house, and I would stay with them on the weekends and things.
And he always had this amazing collection of music happening in the background.
And he started having me listen to Janet Jackson's really early stuff.
And then he gave me that album for Christmas, that particular year.
And I was, I mean, that's the one with like black.
cat on it, that's obviously that was
My neither my mom or dad were into music.
We had talk radio on in the house nonstop and in the car stop.
But then I started listening to top 40 radio WLS the big 89 that was clear channel all over the country.
And so I got into that.
But the first time I heard the opening licks for Eruption on Van Halen's first album, that was it.
I was like, Oh, man, and I list I wore the grooves out of that album.
Just playing it over and over and over.
Parker, do you listen to music or just a spoken word beat poetry?
What Irish
Really?
Yeah,
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