Democrat Businessman Promises Free Beer When Trump Is Killed

There’s a line in American political discourse that most people understand instinctively, even if they can’t articulate exactly where it sits. You know it when you see it crossed. Kirk Bangstad, owner of Minocqua Brewing Company in Wisconsin and a former Democratic candidate for state assembly, didn’t just cross that line. He stomped on it, set it on fire, and then complained the flames weren’t hot enough.

Following the recent incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that forced President Trump’s evacuation, Bangstad took to social media with a message that should shock anyone with a functioning moral compass. “Well, we almost got free beer day,” he wrote, referencing his company’s longstanding promise to give away free beer the day Trump is assassinated. He went further, suggesting either someone in “the Resistance” needs better marksmanship or Trump staged the whole thing for positive press coverage.

Let that sink in for a moment. A businessman who ran for public office, who presumably swore allegiance to constitutional principles, is openly lamenting that an assassination attempt failed. This isn’t some anonymous troll in a basement. This is someone who founded a Super PAC, raised millions for Democratic causes, and presented himself as a legitimate political figure in Wisconsin.

The casual cruelty is breathtaking. The complete absence of human decency is worse. But what really gets me is the performative nature of it all. Bangstad isn’t just wishing violence on a sitting president. He’s monetizing it, branding it, turning political murder into a marketing campaign for his brewery. Free beer day. Like it’s some kind of holiday to celebrate.

This is what happens when political opposition morphs into something darker and more dangerous. We’ve watched the temperature rise for years now. The rhetoric has gotten hotter, the accusations wilder, the dehumanization more complete. But there used to be guardrails. There used to be things you simply didn’t say, not because the law forbade it, but because basic human decency did.

Those guardrails are gone now, apparently. At least for some people.

What troubles me most isn’t just Bangstad’s statement. It’s the ecosystem that produced it. This man ran as a Democrat. He raised money through official party channels. His Super PAC supported mainstream candidates. And yet here he is, publicly cheering for presidential assassination, and the silence from Democratic leadership has been deafening. Where’s the condemnation? Where’s the distance?

Imagine for half a second if the roles were reversed. If a Republican brewery owner and former candidate posted similar messages about a Democratic president, the media would be in full meltdown mode. Cable news would run it 24/7. There’d be calls for investigations, for boycotts, for criminal charges. The story would dominate coverage for weeks.

The double standard isn’t subtle anymore. It’s not even trying to hide.

This goes beyond partisan politics. This touches something fundamental about who we are as a country. You can despise a president’s policies. You can work tirelessly to defeat him at the ballot box. You can write scathing critiques and organize peaceful protests. That’s all fair game in a republic. But celebrating violence? Promising parties when someone gets murdered? That’s not politics anymore. That’s pathology.

Bangstad’s brewery can promise whatever it wants. But the rest of us don’t have to pretend this is normal, acceptable, or anything other than grotesque.

Related: Jimmy Kimmel Joked About Trump’s Death Days Before Third Assassination Attempt