The pretend moderate cards can go in the trash can on the left, thank you.
If the Wisconsin Democrat governor candidates and Rebecca Cooke don’t have the spine to call out DSA, Zohran Mamdani, and Fran Hong’s terrifying extremism, they’re going to have to own it.
They’re unfit to serve.
Instead, they’re all pandering to the crazy wing of the Democrat Party and trying to be Hong Lite. It’s disqualifying.
I’ve been thinking about the Democrat forum the other day, and how all of the Democrats sounded exactly the same. Very far left. It’s like they were all programmed by the same doll programmer.
Moderator James Causey pulled the cords on their plastic backs, and they all started trashing ICE and ranting about emptying prisons. I used to have a doll like that. You pulled the cord, and it talked in a weird robotic voice. Imagine what they would say about the economy, Israel, or boys in girls’ sports (questions not asked.) They’re all cosplaying Mamdani.
Not one of them presented positions that were anywhere near moderate. Then, I thought about how none of the so-called potential moderates is getting traction in the race because they’re not acting like moderates. They’re all hovering between 1-15% and they desperately need to kneecap socialist Fran Hong or far-left Mandela “Reducing Prison Populations Is Sexy” Barnes before August 11. I’m talking about Joel Brennan, David Crowley and Sara Rodriguez.
And then it occurred to me. It’s because there really aren’t any moderates in this race at all. The actual moderates on that side – the Chris Abeles, the Brittany Kinsers – are opposed by unions, are too reasonable for this crazy stuff, don’t need to tolerate it, and didn’t run for governor. Heck, they’re probably independents now. Democrat leaders are currently running around trying to purge Democrat incumbents who occasionally express moderate positions (Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Russell Goodwin.)
Not only are the Democrat governor candidates all the same on the issues, but not one of them is willing to call out the crazy in their own party with courage or clarity. If someone did, they might have a chance at breaking through.
Who has the spine to stand up? Because the perfect moment is here. And if you can’t, turn in your pretend moderate card. I’d say the same of Rebecca “I was raised on a farm” Cooke, who has endorsed Mamdani. And Josh “hear no evil, see no evil” Kaul.
Let’s crystallize the point:
Socialist frontrunner and card carrying DSA member Fran Hong put up a post today celebrating the Zohran Mamdani-endorsed Democrat primary victories in New York. They include a DSA candidate, Avila Chevalier, who, according to CNN:
1. Reposted a message calling for government to take over large portions of the economy, including seizing property from landlords, per CNN. “Seize the means of production,” she once wrote.
2. Called the “pyromania associated with anarchism” intriguing and said she’s steeped in Communist theory.
3. Reposted a message that called for literally abolishing the border and trashed all deportations.
4. Called a world without borders, prisons and police necessary and the “only moral way forward.”
5. Posted positively about Israel not existing.
6. Called for “no more police at all ever.” Has used vile language to refer to police and fellow Democrats.
7. Attended a pro Hamas rally.
She’s tried to walk some of it back. Yeah, right. Until the day after the election. When they tell you who they are, believe them.
Another Mamdani-endorsed candidate who won a state senate seat said 9/11 was our fault because the U.S. is a “system of capitalism, racism, white supremacy and islamophobia.”
What did avowed anti-capitalist Fran “abolish police and prisons” Hong write about this?
“It’s a great day to be a Democratic Socialist. Wisconsin is next!” wrote the Mamdani-worshipping Knicks fan leading some primary polls for Wisconsin governor.
She also posted about replacing WE Energies with a Soviet style government-owned utility.
Wisconsin is next.
Will any of the so-called pretend moderates running for governor call this dangerous insanity out? Will Josh Kaul? Will former left-wing operative and fundraiser Rebecca Cooke, who endorsed Mamdani and who is running against former Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden?
They haven’t so far. Profiles in non courage.
Let’s stop pretending there’s any difference among the Democrat candidates for governor if they won’t. Whether it’s abolishing Act 10 or stopping local jails from figuring out which inmates are violent illegal immigrant criminals, they’re in lock step.
They’re all running as Hong-Lite. Notice state Sen. Kelda Roys dialing up the crazy at the forum, although I think she’s gunning for Mandela’s voters on the fringe. She made Hong seem deceptively mild as she ranted about abolishing ICE and said immigration enforcement is incompatible with a free society.
This is a mistake by any sort-of moderate who wants to break through.
Dear Democrat wannabe moderates: Stop pandering to Hong and the crazy wing. She speaks with clarity; you’re all a faded facsimile. Growing up, we used carbon paper to copy things (weird to think of now.) It always turned out sort of faded and smudged. That’s how you all seem. Like faded and smudged Hong versions who don’t have the guts to call out her anti-capitalist, anti-police, pro-criminal rhetoric. As for Barnes, he’s sitting there quietly like a Cheshire Cat coasting on his residual name ID and traipsing around farms (which might work.)
Cooke also thinks prancing around farms wipes out her leftist positions (working for Kirk Bangstad, supporting Mamdani, etc.) It doesn’t. It’s a backdrop, not an ideology.
It’s almost making me miss Tony Evers. At least he signed a resolution condemning antisemitism. Would they? Actually, Hong voted no on that.
Wisconsin isn’t New York. The college students who have been hoodwinked by TikTok into thinking socialism is cool, that we’re to blame for 9/11 and that it’s not in our best interest to support the pro-western democracy in the Middle East won’t be on campus during the August primary, so fewer of them will vote. Some Democrat voters are old school like my mom and remember the CCCP, the hostage crisis, the Iron Curtain, Munich and Lockerbie. This started with BLM and Bernie.
I think there is room for a moderate to win the Democrat primary and to send a message that the Democrat Party rejects abolishing the police and actually supports owning private property. But only if one of them starts acting like it.
They’re acting like hostages of the antisemitic encampment wing. (Sara, Joel, David, Mandela and Kelda, please blink if I’m wrong.)
If someone on the left had the spine to stand up to this creeping trend of anti-capitalist America and Israel hate, they might break through. Abolishing the police is just the means to the end. How else could one seize the means of production?
But you don’t get to claim you’re a moderate when you’re disturbingly silent or differ from Hong by micro degrees. Telling people in private that you don’t actually support this or that doesn’t count.
Rodriguez thinks sprinkling the fact she lives in Waukesha into her opening makes her a moderate, but she doesn’t have the guts to call out abolishing the police. Joel Brennan chats up the conservative in the room but wants to end 287g (screening in jails for violent illegal immigrant criminals.)
Would any of them criticize Mamdani or Avila Chevalier? They don’t even criticize Hong.
And if you won’t call it out, you’ve got to own it.
Where’s Wisconsin Democrat Party Chair Devin Remiker on this? Ben Wikler is too busy recording videos at gas stations.
By not calling it out, you’re normalizing it (as are the media and bloggers when they try to sanitize Hong into the ghost of Frank Zeidler or let her spout absurdities without asking a follow-up question.)
Will anyone be the profile in courage, or no? Because Tom Tiffany is waiting.
