
Transcript
Chad Holmes Show: Thursday, 1/29. (Trump endorses Alfonso. Sean Wright)
WXCO News · Thu Jan 29, 2026
And welcome back
to Chad Home Show 98.9 WXCO WXCO.FM Mobile Devices and Alexa by searching WXCO
and on the civic media app and again also on youtube at youtube.com and the 98.9 wxco channel hey reminder if you missed our interview yesterday for the first dollar we had former wasa mayor katie rozenberg join us in studio we had a chance to talk about a whole bunch of stuff past present future and if you missed that interview again you can hear it as a podcast again at spotify or wherever you get your podcast or at our website wxco.fm and civic media dot us
Ian, do we have a, someone called in?
Yes, it's our good friend, Cornel.
He actually has a, he'll have to talk a few seconds about Tom, Tiffany, maybe we can tie
it into
the new, some endorsement as well.
Cornel, good morning.
Well, thanks for the great show.
I'm just so very upset.
You know, I can hardly talk about the actions of Trump.
We lost two,
beautiful people, Alex Petrie and Renee Good and some called them terrorists and they're just wonderful people and anybody that takes the endorsement of Trump should never hold office again.
By the way, Cornell, did you see, um, earlier in the week when Tom Tiffany held a press conference down in Madison, he was asked about the tragedy that occurred this past weekend and he, you know, he's basically spouts off his normal stuff.
And then he's asked, and he never even looked at the video.
How can you be somebody who wants to be a leader and ignore evidence just because it may contradict what your
Line of attack is I thought that was outrageous
It's just horrible and I'm glad I Mean I'm just it's just horrifying.
It's I've been watching the assassination and execution of Alex and I'm glad everybody on the comedy hours have stand up to even have pictures of them and they
I really honored them.
That's Colbert and Kimball.
And it's just horrible.
I mean, we've got a guy that should be impeached.
And I would never take endorsement from a person that was involved in a child sex ring.
And it's just horrible with the Epstein things.
And every day they're violating the Constitution of the United States.
They're not following it, and we have this great constitution in the United States that has lasted over 250 years, and they've set it on fire.
And these people in Congress have sworn on their family bibles to support the Constitution of the United States, and they've set it on fire, and it's really a horrible thing.
And I just want to say, I also want to say,
that we have so many tremendous nurses and doctors in Aspirus.
And it's kind of hard to talk that they saved my wife twice in her life.
She walked in the hospital on Friday, and on Sunday she walked out just normal and strong.
And I want to thank all the hospitals in the area for these tremendous ICU nurses.
Every night, they have to take care of patients and they don't know if they're going to live or die.
And they're just wonderful people.
I call them walking angels.
But nobody that should be in office that isn't endorsed by President Trump.
because he should be impeached uh... you know if you
if you
get catch jimmy jimmy kimmelayah's uh... show on monday and he listed a dozen things horrible trumpets but i want to just say that uh... i hope we get a great candidate i am uh...
you know
there's so many candidates flying around now uh... who's uh... running against uh... tiffany
Or is it too early?
Well, I would say that.
I'm very impressed.
We've had the opportunity here on this program over the last three weeks to talk.
I think the sixth of the Democratic candidates for governor.
Michael Crowley, the Milwaukee County Executive, I was very impressed with.
We had Mandela Barnes, who I thought also did
a
terrific job, but we had Sara Rodriguez.
I think the Democrats have a lot of folks that will be very strong.
Whoever ultimately comes out of this primary, I think will be very strong because Tom Tiffany has a lot of weaknesses.
He does.
I apologize.
I know I remember.
I'm older and my friend.
No, no, no, no.
It's all good.
And it gives me a chance to remind folks so you can listen back to those discussions as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I
just caught the part of the debate.
Yeah.
There's some strong candidates
there, but
I don't know who's going to come out leading.
It's
what
we'll have to wait and see
you're right.
I'm sorry No, no, it's the thing about it as well.
It's we have time I mean we want to have the make sure that the strongest candidate is able to go through this primary and and it's not until August at the primary So I think there's a lot of time to be able to to listen to these kind of candidates because I think we're at an era and I think that a lot of the folks that We've heard from they want strength now they want they want
People that are willing to stand up against mega ism and and the type of politics that is pushed forward by people like Tom Tiffany and Donald Trump
Well, yeah
30 we have about 30 seconds for now.
So any final thoughts?
Thank you civic media and you all and I watch the show and forgetting the word out and doing what is right and I hope we can you know
We've got to make Wisconsin great, and the thing is to just, you know, go Democratic because they're on the right side of...
Thank you, Cornell.
We have a break.
Hard break here.
We'll talk about the Trump endorsement of Michael Alfonso at 8.52.
And next, it's Sean Wright on WX.
channel show 98.9 WXCO WXCO dot FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO on the civic media app on YouTube YouTube.com and the 98.9 WXCO channel three degrees above zero here in downtown Wasa expecting a high in the single digits today.
Don't forget that once we wrap up this hour
coming up after 9 o'clock.
It will be mid mornings with Greg Bach here on 98.9 WXCO.
But if you'd like to continue with us as we have another hour to go online, we'll be online from 9.06 until 10 a.m.
Talking about a lot of different stuff.
You never know what you might miss.
But so if you would like to keep with us, just follow along on wxco.fm and the Civic Media app and the sports two stream.
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xeo.fm and the civic media app you have the primary stream, which is what is on the air at any particular time, the sports to stream, which we normally use as a alternate sports channel.
But now with this show getting the online hour, we use that second stream as our stream for the nine o'clock hour.
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Well, Michael Alfonso
And I've actually known Michael Alfonso because he used to play football at Newman Catholic.
Yeah.
Yeah, he was a Newman Catholic grad football player there for coach Paul Mickleg and the Cardinals.
And he is now running for Congress in the seventh congressional district.
He is 25 years old, which is the minimum that you have to be in order to run for Congress.
Really?
And yep, so he's just barely old enough.
And this week.
He has been endorsed by Donald J. Trump, president of the United States.
Well, who would have thought?
Alfonso is also the son-in-law of Sean Duffy, who is the secretary of transportation in the Trump administration.
Of course.
But there's getting some pushback from Republicans and conservatives on this endorsement.
And actually, our friend, Pat Critello, has a good write-up on UpNorthNewsWI.com about this.
talking about Alfonso's record of of voting and where he lives and his work basically Pat Crichtler reports that Alfonso has an active voter registration in Florida not Wisconsin where he voted in 2024 has an inactive Madison record and an active record at his in-laws homes and home in Hayward That's Sean Duffy's home in Hayward though.
He's never voted there
The thing that's also packed right low says working against Alfonzo is not just the youth and inexperience, but his voting history and also the fact that There's some pushback.
He's he reports that the conservative website Wisconsin right now right now
Right on the political spectrum.
There you go.
Yeah, you got it there.
It's gonna be a second to click.
There you go.
But the conservative website Wisconsin right now has run a series of social media posts questioning Alfonzo's qualifications compared to other Republicans seeking the chance to succeed.
Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor.
The post point out his lack of job experience beyond some construction work and as a podcast producer.
And I was actually talking to some folks yesterday and
I may disagree with, say, Kevin Hermione on a lot of issues, and I do.
I disagree with Kevin Hermione on a lot of issues, and he's also running for the 7th Congressional District seat.
We've done him on the show before.
Absolutely, but the point is that... There are certain things that you have to be able to do to do the job well.
And there's a lot of question marks on whether or not Michael Alfonso's experience or lack thereof would allow him to be a representative because there are people, Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever you are, that from time to time will need the help of a congressman for an issue that has nothing to do with politics.
It just says, well, you need to call up your representative, the person that you have put in to office to represent you, to help you in some matter.
Would Michael Alfonso be able to do the basic
Tenants of the job.
I don't know.
I don't think so at this point based on the record I think that as much as I disagree with Kevin Hermione He's got governmental experience.
He's got experience in the business world where you think well He would at least be able to help you if you made a call you needed help with some sort of issue that deals with the federal government so again the seventh congressional district has Republicans who are running
Michael Alfonso, Kevin Hermanine, Jesse Eben and Paul Wasgren.
Democratic candidates include Fred Clark, Chris Armstrong and Ginger Murray.
And my plan is to get these candidates on from both the left and the right to talk about these issues.
in the next hopefully sooner rather than later so again it's a case where and and I think there's been a lot of pushback and we'll see whether or not Donald Trump notices that because one thing about Donald Trump he doesn't like pushback
No, he just
so he's either gonna go after the people pushing back against them or he'll toss Michael the Fonso overboard So it'll be interesting to see what happens there because again, it has not been universally praised that this endorsement of Alfonso and it happened as well this week with the endorsement of Tom Tiffany which was less controversial because frankly Tom Tiffany appears to have a wide open road towards the Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin unless somebody else jumps into the race
it feels like Tiffany will be cruising to that nomination.
I think it's a good step in the right direction that there is a pushback on this.
It means that the people are understanding
that
Michael Alfonso does not have the experience, and Donald Trump is making a huge mistake in backing someone who has no idea what they're doing.
I think you got that, and I think it's generally starting to look like maybe a little bit of King Donald's aura is starting to fade away.
People are trying to take their
blinders off apparently.
A little
bit at a time, but at least it's...
A little pushback is better than no pushback at all.
Okay, so now we will be heading online for the next hour We'll start up at 906.
So join us on YouTube 98.9 WXCO channel WXCO FM and the civic media app sports to stream Lots to talk about in the next hour including the company that is being kept by mr. Conway So we're gonna talk about that coming up here on the chat home show
There are moments where you are offered an opportunity to reflect and I was offered that opportunity, so I did.
Since leaving office, Rosenberg has taken on an appointment as the inaugural director of the Office of Environmental Justice, which she says has allowed her to focus on issues that matter most to her.
But she says public service continued to pull her back in.
Earlier this year, she secured a seat on the Wausau Police and Fire Commission.
I
thought, you know, why not?
I'm not somebody who's afraid of putting myself out there.
That pull towards service, Rosenberg says, is lifelong.
I unfortunately grew up in a very engaged family from my grandparents to my dad to everyone.
So it's one of those things that kind of comes naturally.
Her decision to run for county board again stems from the recent budget process after hearing discussions about selling the county nursing home and scaling back health services.
She wanted to make her voice heard to her representative on the board.
That was the moment where I was like, we
can't do this.
Like I need to make sure my, my person knows that I don't stand for this.
And like, I don't think our whole district does.
I think it has to be about what are you doing for this community?
How can you help solve these critical issues that are facing us?
And that's not really the sexy part, but that's the part that matters the most.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last summer, states will need to pay a higher share of administrative costs for SNAP programs beginning in October.
Wisconsin's share of those costs will increase from 50% to 75%.
DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson says the agency is requesting nearly $70 million in new state funding.
Without that money, she warned the agency could see more errors in the administration of the program.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states with higher error rates are required to pay for a larger portion of SNAP benefits.
Wisconsin's food share program continues to have one of the lowest error rates in the nation.
Tom Tiffany, a current U.S.
representative of Wisconsin, received the endorsement on social media Tuesday night.
The endorsement from Trump says Tiffany has, quote, always been at his side, and as governor, Tiffany would work to grow the economy, cut taxes, secure the border, ensure law and order, support the military, and protect gun rights.
Tiffany, a longtime supporter of Trump, launched his campaign for the top state seat in Warsaw in September.
Tiffany currently represents Wisconsin's 7th congressional district.
Tiffany said in September that he'll serve out his term, which ends next January, so his seat is up for grabs.
Republican candidates include Paul Wasgren, Michael Alfonso, and Jesse Eben.
Democrats bidding for the seat include Fred Clark and Chris Armstrong.
The Marathon County Board approved a revised resolution that advocates for giving local municipalities control over energy projects.
The resolution asks the Wisconsin County's Association to lobby in support of granting local governments control over large wind and solar projects.
The resolution passed on Tuesday, 27 to 7, after a debate on how counties should balance local land use authority with Wisconsin's statewide energy needs.
The revised resolution is designed to outlast individual legislative proposals while placing focus on county concerns, according to Vice Chair Chris Dickinson.
The new language asks the county's association to either adopt the resolution at its annual meeting in September or consider it sooner.
It also asks the association to share it with other local governments, state legislators, and the governor.
Enrollment in the Wausau School District is on the decline.
The Wausau School Board's Education Operations Committee met Monday to hear a demographics report.
According to the report, the district's total enrollment stands at 7,586 students, down 136 from last year, a decline of just under 2%.
Superintendent Kale Bushman says the change could be explained by the recent elementary school consolidation.
It could also be due to open enrollment, with the number of students open enrolling out of the district at just over 3%.
The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau is reminding residents to be on the lookout for tax scams with the filing season coming up.
The BBB is recommending residents file their taxes early to avoid scams, work with trustworthy tax professionals, and contact the IRS directly if they have concerns.
I'm Isabella Nieto for WXCO News.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports, College Hoops.
The Badgers had only scored 17 points at halftime.
Minnesota looked like they finally were on their way to getting a win at Wisconsin.
The Badgers came roaring back in the second half.
beat the Gophers, 67 to 63.
Wisconsin's Nick Boyd, what was the key in the second best comeback in Badger's basketball history?
Down in that situation, down 18 and a half, we just like, man, when we come out, we just got to communicate and just bring energy anyway we could.
So being physical, I think really changed the second
The Bucks have indicated to rival teams that
that they would want, as a price point, a young blue chip talent in all this.
Edie is going to be mostly sunny today with a high right around seven above this afternoon, and it won't be that windy, but it will be enough to keep that windshield factor hovering around or a little below zero here through the day.
Tonight's partly cloudy, five below tomorrow's sunshine with a high of 10.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable.