HI Folks,
If you can’t read my whole message today, here’s the short version.
As many of you have already noticed, we put up a billboard last Friday near Ron Johnson’s home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to make sure he is reminded every day that on January 7th, one day after the insurrection, Wisconsin’s largest newspaper called for his expulsion from Congress for “siding with Trump against our Republic.”
We did the same thing in Wausau, the largest city in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, but instead put a picture of their Congressman Tom Tiffany, who was cited in that same explosive Milwaukee Journal editorial for his illegal role in the insurrection.
I’m hoping to raise money to put up more of these billboards around the state, and include some in Congressman Scott Fitzgerald’s 5th district (Milwaukee’s suburbs) because of his role in opening Wisconsin’s capitol to the fraudulent electors. I'd also like to put up billboards in Congressman Derrick Van Orden’s 3rd district (LaCrosse, Eau Claire, Stevens Point) because he actually took part in the capitol riots on that infamous day.
If you’d like to chip in, here’s a link to donate.
Now for the longer story.
If you are like me, you’ve been watching with anxiety as Trump continues to easily win Republican primaries while being buried in lawsuits—the last one being an $83M loss for rape and defamation cumulatively handed to him by two separate juries of his peers.
You know we’re living in a twilight zone when a guy like this is the presumptive Republican nominee, and like many of you, I feel compelled to do whatever I can to rid America of him.
It’s no secret that Wisconsin is once-again ground zero in the fight for the soul of our country, and I’m relieved that Biden and Harris both came to Superior and Waukesha, respectively, last week.
While we’ve followed the lead of Colorado and Maine by suing Trump to get him off Wisconsin's ballot, it’s more likely than not that SCOTUS will strike down those lawsuits, and we’ll have to face Trump at the ballot box.
We need to do what is necessary to help Biden win, but as I wrote last week, I think the best way to do that is to expose the rot in Wisconsin’s Republican Party that has wholly given itself over to a repulsive would-be dictator.
If we had an honest Republican senator and honest Republican congressmen, they would have told their Republican voters what they all tell each other behind closed doors--that Trump almost got away with a presidential coup and is dangerous for America. Instead, they cowardly repeat his lies and undermine our democratic institutions.
While I don’t think we can unseat all of these congressmen given how gerrymandered these districts are, I think it’s imperative to keep reminding voters that a guy like Trump wouldn’t still be around if not for the validation of his party’s leaders, who have enabled him to avoid accountability for his deception and projection.
On the contrary, too many of Wisconsin’s Republican leaders are part and parcel of the January 6th conspiracy and the continued effort to feed lies to voters.
To right Wisconsin’s ship is to clean out the MAGA movement, and that movement is led in our state by Johnson, Tiffany, Fitzgerald, and Van Orden.
The two signs we put up cost about $1K each, for two weeks in each location. The more money we can raise, the more signs we can put up in Hudson, Superior, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Stevens Point, Waukesha, and Brookfield--cities represented by these MAGA insurrectionists.
I know that in a few months, Wisconsin will be deluged by money from both sides, but right now, we're relatively early in putting up billboards, so the money spent on this project will hopefully pack more of a punch and leave a longer-lasting impression on voters.
If this a strategy you can get behind, here’s a link to donate.
Thanks for reading and thanks for believing that we’ve already turned the corner towards progress in Wisconsin.
All that’s left is to remove the MAGA rot that keeps our ship from fully floating, and to make sure we don’t leave anything to chance that accidentally lets Trump back in.
Kirk Bangstad,
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company
Founder, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC