Alas, the left isn’t immune from loud, obnoxious grifters

Vol. 85

In This Issue: ESSAY | NOW READ THIS | I WON A THING! | FINAL FRAME

I’m so tired of loud, obnoxious “liberal” men who think they’re the only ones who can save us.

Current example/reason for my deep, Marge Simpson-like groans: Minocqua Brewing Company owner and habitual drama king Kirk Bangstad. He’s just announced that he’s running for the soon-to-be-open governor’s seat in Wisconsin, in an increasingly crowded Democratic primary.

Why? He swears, using the very official medium of Facebook posts, that he reached out to other candidates to see if they met his rigorous standards, only to be met with disappointment. There was no recourse, then, but for him to throw his hat into the ring. He is the man who can save us all, you see, from Tom Tiffany and the Trump regime’s influence here.

After exhausting his list of people he wanted to see run–all white men, for the record–Bangstad said he began reaching out to the people already running for the post to ask, specifically, if they had an “election protection plan” as part of their platform. Bangstad’s number one concern, apparently eclipsing all other issues facing Wisconsinites to the point of being the only thing worth his time, is his fear that the Trump regime intends to rig/steal the Midterms.

This is where he shows his hand, yet again, as inherently nothing but a concern troll and misogynist. State Rep. Francesca Hong, Bangstad says, may be a “true progressive,” but she’s simply too “politically naive and unelectable” to win. Then, State Sen. Kelda Roys has “been in office so long that she thinks more about which coalition of voters she’ll piss off before checking in with her heart to saying what she believes.”

Alas and alack, these poor, overwhelmed, directionless women clearly need Bangstad to take care of business for them.

Meanwhile, he’s on his Facebook page openly encouraging his followers to harass a reporter with the local Fox News station who had the audacity to…ask him questions about his campaign for governor.

He’s got a history of resorting to childish name-calling and outright slander when it comes to people with whom he disagrees, including having to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a case where he falsely accused the co-owner of the Lakeland Times of intentionally allowing his own brother to die in order to take over the paper. And then pleading guilty to disorderly conduct for continuing to harass that guy even after a court order. Of course, he leans heavily on cries of “free speech!” whenever faced with consequences for his behavior. 

And then there’s his SuperPAC, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars mostly to put up obnoxious billboards and otherwise fail to disclose where any of that money is actually going.

But Bangstad is just one of far too many self-aggrandizing white men who call themselves liberal and use big public stunts and shitty language to make a name for themselves while failing to do anything to meaningfully build coalitions or create policies that actually improve people’s lives. They’re simply using people’s very real fears and anxieties about our present moment in order to raise their own profiles (and often money). 

But it seems their only real issue is that they’ve ever been held even a little accountable for their actions, and now have to make it everyone’s problem as they seek to use the battle cry of “free speech” to win power and freedom from responsibility. It’s easy to spot, because the “free speech” of these blueanon types very often veers directly into paranoia, racism, sexism, fatphobia, homophobia, transphobia, and classism to make its alleged point. Yes, you should have the right to say what you want without the government coming for you, but everyone else gets to tell you you’re being an asshole.

In the end, I’m neither surprised by or particularly mad at Bangstad for deciding to run. He wants to talk about being “politically naive and unelectable?” Pot, meet kettle (or Brett Hulsey).

In addition, it’s always up to the other candidates to do the work to rise above the noise and make the case for why people should support their campaign. We also have to make sure the Democratic Party doesn’t throw its weight around in order to tip the scales toward a candidate the internal (reactionary centrist) machine likes more, and that we then coalesce behind the eventual primary winner in order to beat the actually fascist Republican Party come November. 

The way to do that isn’t with fear and shouting and simply saying “Trump/Tiffany/Republicans are bad.” Or by saying “every other Democratic candidate sucks but me.” You don’t do that by doxxing reporters, patronizing the women in the race, or name-calling in lieu of actually making your case. 

You do that by showing us a compelling vision for a possible, better future for all of us (yes, even those folks still voting Republican)–one based in reality, with a dash of dreaming. It’s by demonstrating a whole lot of grit and willingness to set your ego aside and do the hard work of building real coalitions, passing meaningful policy, and shifting the culture to one of kindness and cooperation.

P.S.

I’m not saying you can’t be foul-mouthed or speak boldly and still be a good leader, either. I wouldn’t be personally throwing my support behind Rep. Hong if I thought so (will write more about her/my endorsement soon). But there’s a huge difference between using colorful language to push truly progressive policy and call out fascism where you see it, and using it to be self-aggrandizing and perpetually aggrieved. We should all be careful to see that distinction, not just in candidates for public office, but in our communities and social circles, too.

Now Read This.

“Don’t fall for the Tucker Carlson apology tour” [Parker Molloy]

Speaking of: 

Tucker Carlson has spent his entire career running the same rhetorical move. He identifies a real, legitimate problem. He builds the reader’s trust through the diagnosis. Then he uses that trust to deliver an extremist payload. In the Fox era, the bait was economic populism: the ruling class, the working class, capital taxed at half the rate of labor. The payload was that immigrants and trans people and feminists were why your life was bad. In 2026, the bait is the Iran war and Israel’s influence on American foreign policy. Both are real. Both are held by serious people. The payload is something different. He’s planning something, even if we don’t know what just yet. 

“The Coming Privacy Apocalypse” [Margaret Killjoy]

Soon enough, the entire internet might refuse to allow noncompliant computers to access it, and the global south (which heavily relies on older equipment) will be even further isolated. Open source coding will become, in many cases, illegal. Political organizing and outreach might become impossible online. The power that a de-anonymized internet hands to billionaires and their pet politicians is simply beyond understanding. 

“White Supremacy in Donald Trump’s White House” [Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor]

The administration’s crude vilification of anti-discrimination policies is meant to erase the radical promise of the Black freedom struggle.

“50 Moments in 50 Years” [Isthmus]

Congrats to Isthmus on 50 years of publishing! We’re lucky to have this little alt-paper-that-could in Madison, and I’m grateful to have been a contributor in the past (did you know? My first regular opinion column, called “Emily’s Post,” ran online–and occasionally in print–from 2009 to 2011).

I won a thing!

With big thanks to Dan Shafer and The Recombobulation Area for providing me with a platform to share my opinions with a wider audience, and for submitting one of my op-eds for consideration in the first place, I’m thrilled to announce that I won gold at the Milwaukee Press Club Awards for “Best Single Editorial, Statement of Editorial Position or Opinion.” This was for my June 2025 column, “How AI is harming Wisconsin’s path to renewable energy.” 

It’s been gutting to see the proliferation of energy-guzzling data centers since I wrote the piece, but also heartening to see so many people standing up to fight against the big tech companies trying to force them on our communities. Let’s keep it up!

Final frame.

I was in Door County over the weekend and made a point to visit some of my favorite spots for nature-lookin’, including Newport State Park, up near the very northeastern tip of the peninsula. Rolled up at sunset and took in some spectacular views. The white trillium flowers were blooming all over, too, and migratory songbirds were out singing. 

‘Til next time.

Take care of yourself and of each other. Free Palestine. Abolish ICE.

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