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As Donald Trump s impeachment trial begins, are Republicans headed for a split? The party s roots in Ripon could point the way forward
Sharon Roznik, Fond du Lac Reporter
Published
3:15 pm UTC Feb. 8, 2021
RIPON – The newly formed Republican Party spread like a prairie fire through rural Wisconsin in the 1800s.
Fueling the movement was the unique character of people who settled in and around Ripon, a community whose first citizens were idealists who lived in a commune.
Most of these settlers came from western New York, considered at the time to be a hotbed of political turbulence, according to William Woolley, a retired Ripon College history professor who studied the party s origins in Wisconsin.
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Pence spent his time knitting different ideas together, which included tying the Republican Party of 1854, when it was founded in Ripon, to the Republican Party of today. He also tied President Donald Trumpâs Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, to the more left-leaning former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and their policies to a potential rise of socialism in America.
While the vice president was speaking inside Ripon Collegeâs Great Hall, a lot of the attention was placed on what was happening not far from downtown as Trump supporters turned out strongly and so, to a lesser degree, did those who opposed his presidency.