Nothing screams the Fourth of July like signs ranting about ICE, cruelty, and taxing the “rich” (ie, small business owners.) At least that’s the case in the World According to Chris Larson, a leftist nut and former shoplifter who is in the state Legislature. Larson and his pals marched in a July 4 parade with their angry signs, and one was even toted by a child.

It must be exhausting to feel so pessimistic all of the time. I don’t. I absolutely love this country. I’m the direct descendant of a Revolutionary War soldier named Christian Detterer, and I feel like I won the Powerball of Life just by being born in this country. Imperfectly realized at first, the great American experiment created a set of beautiful ideals that champion freedom.

I realized this even more so a few weeks ago, when I was asked to meet with a group of foreign journalists, from Italy to the old Soviet bloc. I was shocked how indoctrinated to accept censorship they were. They were shocked that I am a free speech absolutist, as they insisted that government needs to censor “misinformation.” We tried that here during Biden, I told them, and it ended up being misapplied against folks criticizing government’s BS. Everyone doesn’t have a First Amendment.

Other Wisconsin Democrats tried harder than Larson to camouflage, for a day at least, the fact that their party often paints a very grim and pessimistic picture of a dystopian America where entrenched structural racism means kids should just give up (or burn sh*t down) because it’s impossible for them to get ahead anyway (go see the movie ‘Young Washington’ because it gloriously imparts the opposite message. Every kid in America has a chance to make something of themselves. Heck, both gubernatorial fields underscore this. The candidates are white, black and Asian. A black man, Will Martin, is the front runner for Republican lieutenant governor.)

Although it’s less likely you will get ahead in America if you sit around collecting SSI checks you don’t need while playing video games in your mom’s basement, of course.

It Wasn’t the Bicentennial!

State Rep. Robyn Vining is a leftist goof running for state Senate in Southeast Wisconsin who fought to keep millions from local schools by voting against the surplus deal. She morphed into Betsy Ross in her flowing blue prairie skirt for the 4th next to a car painted like a milk cow (you can’t make this stuff up), but she thought we were all celebrating the bicentennial. That was the 200th, Robyn, but thanks for trying.

Tammy Baldwin couldn’t restrain her inner anger EVEN FOR ONE DAMN DAY, posting a pessimistic, angry and misleading rant about ugly bills and Trump. Tammy, leave your DC penthouse, pick up a sparkler and a strawberry wine cooler, and go to a Jump River picnic or something. Relax. For just one day.

Democrat Vining-lookalike and governor candidate Kelda Roys, these two are doppelgängers, shaded Paul Revere, to which a non-fan responded by posting a graphic showing Revere riding with the text, “The Communists Are Coming.”

Zohran Mamdani, the socialist New York mayor, is loved by Wisconsin Democrats like Rebecca Cooke and Fran Hong, even though he helped a primary winner who once proudly wiped her dirty hand on an American flag. He launched into an angry rant for the 4th that used the phrase “arena of supremacy” while sitting at George Washington’s desk, and Hong and Cooke couldn’t find it in themselves to call it out.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro did heroically call it all out on July 5, his party’s internal war with antisemites that is, but, hate to tell him, the Democratic Party is being taken over by the antisemites. Not sure a Jewish man is electable on that side of the fence anymore, which is a really scary and terrible thought.

Other Democrats got the tone right.

Mandela Barnes, who once wished the Ayatollah of Iran a wonderful year, charismatically hopped around suburban parades gleefully meeting voters. Republicans underestimate him at their own peril. I think he’s going to win the Democrat primary.

Anarchist Hong, a proud anti-capitalist and police abolisher who cozied up to a man who thinks America deserved 9/11 and called Jewish people awful names, posted a graphic of a blue bald Eagle, prompting a guy to snipe, “Do you refuse to post the American flag?”

Now that you mention it…On Facebook, Hong posted a video in a weird blue jumpsuit hugging some guy at a parade. The emojis she used were an eagle and… a red rose. Dare you to post a photo of an America flag, Fran.

By the way, the red rose was first adopted by socialists in the French Revolution of 1848. Fran, if we were a monarchy, you wouldn’t be able to run around ranting about abolishing prisons.

The Wisconsin Democrat Party posted a video about patriotism, which included a sign saying “ICE out” and another with Turning Point crossed out. So optimistic. It’s a free country, but for those who need the reminder, if we didn’t have ICE, a lot of illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes would get to stay in #Wisconsin. And that’s just a fact. If you don’t believe me, pull some of the jail lists.

Being optimistic about this country isn’t something you should only do one day a year. “Why is it so hard for liberal candidates to simply say Happy Independence Day or Happy 250th? They always have to air their grievances with it,” a guy named RJ wrote on social media. He had a point.

Sara Rodriguez’s Surge Is Over

Sara “you know, I can compete in Waukesha!” Rodriguez was in Waukesha. One senses the surge is over or it was manufactured nonsense all along based on an unscientific straw poll of establishment insiders.

One observer, who goes by Wisconsin’s Conservative Sponge on social media, claimed it didn’t go so well for Sara, the sitting lieutenant governor whose own boss, Tony Evers, doesn’t like her. “Was there when she walked through the Waukesha parade. Very few people knew who she was and the energy was nonexistent,” shared Conservative Sponge. He said the League of Women Voters received more applause.

Sponge followed that up by sharing a graphic that read, “It’s mind boggling that we just celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday, which is still 150 years shorter than Governor Evers’ 400 year property tax (every year) annual rate increase allowance that he created!”

David Crowley, the Milwaukee County Executive who is the most reasonable Democrat running for governor, posted a wonderful series of photos at a parade with family and praised the country… and included an American flag emoji.

State Dad Tom Tiffany was Up North. His page bragged that he walked 25,000 steps in six parades. And I thought it was great when I managed to do 14,000 around Fowler Lake the other day listening to Crime Junkies. Tiffany is working very hard.

I wonder if he tendered a dam or something in between the parades. Not trying to be mean, but the truth is that people who know what being a dam tender is don’t think it’s very impressive (it’s like being the weed guy on Lake Keesus. Nice gig, but it doesn’t make me want to elect Weed Guy governor.) Everyone else doesn’t know what it is. But it does define him as a nice rural Wisconsin fatherly fix-it dude, which, as I pointed out before, is good because the entire Democratic strategy is to unfairly turn him into a “toxic” federal guy yoked to Trump.

Eric Toney, the Republican running for AG, posted a cool video showing him shaking hands with little kids and cops and running down the street. I half expected the theme music from Chariots of Fire to erupt. Campaign comms guru Alec Zimmerman, who makes Eric’s videos, and Courtney Gustafson, who takes the footage for them, deserve a raise. They’re effective.

Celebrating 250, rain or shine!
📍Pewaukee
📍Stone Bank
📍West Bend
📍New Berlin
Happy Independence Day to you and your family. God Bless America! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BIH5PpAtbB

— Eric Toney (@EricJToney) July 5, 2026

Former Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden drove around parades on a Harley. Ron Johnson donned a red Save America hat and posed with a bunch of American flags – and no red roses.

WW2 vets – one was 107! – watched the breathtaking DC fireworks for the 250th after being honored in the president’s speech. Incredible. Honor them while we have them. Because we won’t have the Greatest Generation for very long.

Marine veteran and businessman Kevin Hermening, who heroically survived terrorism to fight for Republican ideals Up North, was spotted at a Rhinelander parade with Tiffany. Hermening, who is running for Congress and was a hostage in Iran, valiantly paid a price for our freedom, but pro-Mike Alfonso Republicans tried to turn that into a negative this week by lying about him anyway. Sick.

AG Josh Kaul – or more likely some Josh Kaul campaign operative – posted three carefully worded text only posts and a boring graphic about the Fourth, but no photos of Kaul at parades. Maybe the AWOL AG stayed in bed all day in his Snoopy pajamas again watching old Lincoln Lawyer episodes or something. Who knows. Let’s hope he at least got to shoot off a firework snake in the backyard or something.

I went to the Hartford parade in #Wisconsin, and it was glorious. Kids of all races waved little American flags around, patriotic old men punched the air with their fists to God Bless the USA’s crescendo, and they didn’t ban candy. All is good in America, as it turns out.

God Bless America.