Multiple news outlets are reporting that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will drop out of the presidential race tonight. Long thought to be one of the establishment frontrunners, and a favorite of the powerful Koch brothers, Walker’s campaign fizzled quickly. Walker gained national attention when he forced anti-union legislation through the Wisconsin legislature and then defeated a subsequent recall attempt. Just a few weeks ago, Walker was leading in the polls in Iowa. But the momentum of Donald Trump and, more recently, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina had drained his support to near zero.
Not helping matters was a series of missteps on the campaign trail and back in the governor’s office. Here are the 11 worst moments of his short campaign.
1. The time Walker made a 7-year-old boy cry because he kept insisting he needed to deport his father. The boy and his 13-year-old sister asked Walker why he was suing to overturn Obama’s executive action on deportation relief. “I agree with it, I support the lawsuit because the President can’t be above the law,” Walker said.
2. The time Walker said he opposed abortion even if the mother’s life was at risk. At the first debate, Walker was asked by moderator Megyn Kelly, “[W]ould you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion?” Walker didn’t answer directly, but made clear that he opposed abortion even when the mother’s life was at risk. “I’ve said many times that that unborn child can be protected and there are many alternatives that would protect the life of the mother,” Walker said.
3. The time Walker took three positions on birthright citizenship in less than a week. First, he said American should “absolutely” rethink birthright citizenship. Then, he said he wasn’t taking a position one way or another. Finally, he opposed eliminating it.
4. The time Walker said he could defeat ISIS because he crushed unions in Wisconsin. “If I can take on a hundred thousand protesters, I can do the same across the world,” Walker bragged.
5. The time Walker stressed the importance of education while slashing hundreds of millions from his education budget. Walker went on Fox News and declared the way to grow the economy was to invest in education. At the same time, “Walker proposed a state budget that would slash $300 million from the University of Wisconsin over two years and cut $127 million from public primary schools.”
6. The time Walker opposed equal pay laws. Walker said legislation that seeks to ensure equal pay for women “pit[s] one group against another group.”
7. The time Walker sneakily eliminated the state’s living wage law during the July Fourth holiday. The move allowed businesses in the state to pay workers as little as $7.25 an hour.
8. The time Walker said only a ‘handful’ of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims were moderate. “It is a war against not only America and Israel, it’s a war against Christians, it’s a war against Jews, it’s a war against even the handful of reasonable, moderate followers of Islam who don’t share the radical beliefs that these radical Islamic terrorists have,” Walker said.
9. The time Walker signed a bill eliminating waiting periods for handguns one week after the Charleston massacre. The bill eliminated “a state-imposed 48-hour waiting period for people planning to buy firearms.”
10. The time Walker callously dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement. “Who knows who that is?” Walker said, adding that he would not meet with the group.
11. The time Walker proposed to gut unions nationally and eliminate the NLRB. The proposal would have also stripped overtime pay from 5 million Americans.