Wisconsin Rep. Francesca Hong, the leading Democrat candidate for governor, donated to Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad, who has doubled down on his wish that President Trump had been assassinated Saturday.
Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Francesca Hong donated to Kirk Bangstad, the radical brewery owner who publicly lamented that a recent assassination attempt on President Donald Trump fell short of delivering his long-promised “free beer day” celebration of the former president’s death.
Hong, a state representative leading recent polls in the Democratic primary for governor, donated $25 to Bangstad in 2020, Wisconsin campaign finance records reveal. The donation has drawn fresh scrutiny as Bangstad, owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, continues to use his business as a platform for extreme anti-Trump rhetoric.
Bangstad has repeatedly vowed to offer free beer all day when Trump dies and mocked a recent shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with the post: “Well, we almost got #freebeerday.” He suggested a “brother or sister in the Resistance” improve their marksmanship or that Trump staged the event.
“Well, we almost got #freebeerday,” Bangstad wrote. “Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle. We’ll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens.”
Hong and Bangstad share a close relationship. The Democratic candidate has appeared on Bangstad’s podcast and is described by associates as a friend of the brewery owner, who has long backed liberal causes through his Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC.
Hong did not denounce Bangstad’s comments and instead attempted to brush aside the attempted assignation of the President by likening it to what she called “political violence” committed by “the state.”
“The state enacts political violence on its citizens every day,” she wrote. “We see it when ICE agents occupy our cities and put children in cages. We see it in a healthcare system that lets people die because they can’t afford care.”
