The leftist Wisconsin brewpub owner who lamented last month’s failed assassination attempt against President Donald Trump is using his 15 minutes of radical fame to run for governor. And, as you might expect, his platform is full-on Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Kirk Bangstad, owner of the leftist front business Minocqua Brewery, posted on his company Facebook page that the “rumors are true.”
“5 minutes before I started writing this essay, I filed papers to become the next Governor of Wisconsin,” Bangstad declared. He added that he’s throwing his hat into the crowded field of far-left candidates because he believes Wisconsin “needs a battle-hardened fighter to join the rest of America to save our Democracy from Trump’s regime.” He thinks he’s the only gubernatorial candidate who fits his particular Trump-hating credentials.
Bangstad’s campaign announcement came a week after a Minocqua Brewery social media post urged the next would-be Trump assassin to improve his “marksmanship.”
“Well, we almost got #freebeerday,” Bangstad apparently wrote in now-deleted posts after a gunman stormed past a lax security post at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25. Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California man, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president, transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
“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,” the incendiary post stated. “Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens.”
Bangstad earlier this year promised “free beer, all day long” on the day of the president’s death.
‘What a Piece of Work’
The activist’s latest post garnered the attention of the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, with spokespeople from both agencies confirming to The Federalist that they are “aware” of the despicable invitation to an increasingly unhinged left.
On Thursday, officials from the agencies paid a call on the northern Wisconsin brewery to ask Bangstad some questions. True to form, the leftist attention whore posted a livestream video of two extremely patient and polite government officials asking him some very salient questions. He said his lawyer, Fred, was with him and that he was live-streaming to “make sure this is transparent and public because we don’t trust the federal government anymore.”
One of the agents asked the brewer — drunk on his sense of self-importance — whether he wanted to “kill, kidnap, inflict bodily harm to the president or the vice president, or has made threats to do that.”
Bangstad said he did not.
His lawyer said the brewpub owner doesn’t know anyone who wants to provide support to anyone who wants to harm Trump. So, why did Bangstad post about a “brother or sister in the Resistance?” one of the agents asked.
Attorney Fred responded that what Bangstad meant was “the left in general … All of those who don’t like what’s going on right now and they are mostly peacefully protesting the actions of the administration.”
In a follow-up post, Bangstad included the phone number of the Secret Service agent.
“Wow, imagine being so entitled that you incentivize the assassination of the President and don’t think you should be asked about that. Then, you post the phone number of the Secret Service agent and encourage people to harass him. What a piece of work,” wrote a follower identified as Andrew1776.
In an email to The Federalist Sunday evening, Caroline Clancy, Public Affairs Officer for the FBI’s Milwaukee Division, said the investigation is ongoing.
“The FBI and U.S. Secret Service follows up on perceived threats against the President of the United States or any one of our protectees,” Clancy wrote. “The FBI and Secret Service together followed up on information received and conducted further investigative steps, which included a voluntary interview with the individual. This is an ongoing matter, and we do not have further comment.”
An official from the U.S. Secret Service could not be reached for comment.
‘Spin Machine’
While it seems clear that Bangstad and his free beer-hoping homies want Trump to die and they don’t exactly care how, the activist sees himself as a martyr. On his Facebook page, Bangstad blames the “spin machine on the right” for suggesting that his call to “the Resistance” to “work on their marksmanship” marks the radical as “pro-political violence.” Bangstad claims “that’s not true at all.”
This isn’t Bangstad’s first political rodeo. The radical activist in 2020 ran against incumbent Republican state Rep. Rob Swearingen for Wisconsin’s 24th Assembly District seat. He lost. Badly. He raised nearly $88,000 in that campaign, with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin his largest individual donor ($2,837), according to Ballotpedia.
The DPW begrudgingly released a statement condemning Bangstad’s post, asserting the “rhetoric is completely unacceptable and should be retracted immediately.” The rhetoric was so bad that state Rep. Francesca Hong, the Madison leftie leading the pack of jackals in the Democrats’ primary race for governor, ultimately had to acknowledge that the post was not good. She claimed that, “Joking about a sitting president’s assassination — or anyone’s — is wrong.” But Hong refused to call out Bangstad by name, while she played the left’s usual twisted whataboutism game.
“I also want to point out: The state enacts political violence on its citizens every day. 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,” Hong wrote on X last week.
The Democrats’ condemnations, of course, are for show. They agree with Bangstad’s sentiments, they just don’t want to lose elections over what a majority of voters still believe is a bridge too far.
‘I am Holding You Accountable’
Conservatives turned out over the weekend to push back, in a protest outside the Minocqua Brewery.
“I would like to ask [Bangstad] to stop saying the things he’s saying,” Jessica Agnew, a protester organizer told WJFW in Rhinelander. “Yes, there is free speech but when you’re talking about murder and cheering it on, especially in the climate we have, just stop.”
But they won’t. Stoking the flames of political violence against Trump and the MAGA movement is central to today’s Democratic Party messaging campaign.
Still, some Democrats aren’t happy with Bangstad cashing in on his 15 minutes to roil the waters of an already turbulent party primary election race for Wisconsin governor.
“Hi Kirk, if [GOP candidate] Tom Tiffany becomes elected over Hong. I am holding you accountable. You shouldn’t use your current notoriety to stir the pot more and use it to keep promoting your business,” Mitch Rufer wrote on the Minocqua Brewery Facebook page.
