The Policy Werkes subscribes to the New York Times. Purely for research purposes. It comes in a plain brown wrapper. We put it under the electron spectrometer where it is analyzed for signs of Russian collusion.

As part of our subscription the Werkes gets a NY Times e-mail feed through Ol’ Sparky, our Eisenhower-era mainframe computer. Occasionally that feed blows a vacuum tube.

Today, David Leonhardt breaks the news to the Paul Krugman cult that Tuesday’s election of Brian Hagedorn was every bit as bad as it could be. Hagedorn makes the Wisconsin Supreme Court 5-2 conservative, replacing abrasive liberal lioness Shirley Abrahamson. His victory also foretells bad stuff for the NY Times’ crusade to get rid of Trump.

Hagedorn’s win suggests that Wisconsin remains up for grabs heading into President Trump’s re-election campaign. Republican voters now seem quite energized, and turnout was high in conservative areas, like Waukesha County, just west of Milwaukee.

“The GOP’s win in Wisconsin Supreme Court race showed a base that’s waking up,” Reid Wilson of The Hill noted.

In The Washington Post, Henry Olsen wrote: “Simply put, if Trump wins Wisconsin, he is almost certain to win re-election. That’s because a win for Trump in Wisconsin would likely mean victories for him in swing states that he carried that are more Republican than Wisconsin — such as Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Iowa.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote: “The left’s un­expected de­feat in the high-stakes and rel­a­tively high-turnout elec­tion is a no­table turn from the last two years in the bellwether state … Perhaps the emerging radicalism on the left is causing voters to think twice about returning them to power.”

It’s a reminder, says Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report, that Wisconsin is the “top battleground state in 2020.”

Bruce Murphy, a reliable liberal, suggests that WI elections are won or lost in the Fox Valley; advantage Hagedorn. (Also, that “anger works.”) But this election may have been won in Sean Duffy northern Wisconsin congressional district — true Trump country — where people, by and large, work with their hands.

Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman and Jussie Smollett award finalist. The NY Times columnist is up with a column headlined “Donald Trump Is Trying to Kill You.” Seriously. Not the Onion. No, we’re not going to link to it. The white lab coats here at the Policy Werkes have too much respect for your intelligence. We’re feeding Krugman’s piece to the lab rats. They’re off their keto diet, anyway.