Francesca Hong, a Wisconsin state representative, speaks at a campaign event in Milwaukee on Aug. 2, 2026. (AFP/Yonhap)
US President Donald Trump has resorted to red-baiting in blasting Francesca Hong, 37, a Korean American candidate for the governorship of Wisconsin, based on her previous comments, calling her a “lunatic.”This strategy seeks to drive moderates away from the Democratic Party by highlighting the purported radicalism of democratic socialists, a growing force within the party.“In Wisconsin, the communists even have a woman who said that the holiday of Thanksgiving should be immediately abolished, and the police — the police only exist to, quote, ‘uphold white supremacy,’” Trump told a rally Wednesday at the Red Rocks Casino in Las Vegas. “These people are dangerous, and frankly, they are lunatics. They’re crazy, and we can’t let them get into office.”He called communism “the greatest threat to our country in its history, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, 9/11.”The president did not mention Hong by name, but she has come under attack from Republicans for her previous comments about Thanksgiving and police.In 2020, Hong wrote in a post on X, “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.”“If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women, so be it,” she said in the same post. A year later, she condemned the police shooting of Jacob Blake in her home state, saying on X, “Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option.”She later deleted these posts.Hong has since backtracked on these comments. In an interview with Newsweek on Wednesday, she said, “I’m not going to cancel Thanksgiving, but I know I’m going to be fighting the Republicans who are voting on policies that are making Thanksgiving dinners more expensive.”To CNN on July 31, she clarified her previous call to defund police by saying that “views can evolve,” and explaining, “The governor cannot defund the police, and I won’t defund the police.”A member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Hong is running in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, which will take place on Tuesday. A democratic socialist leading in opinion polls, she is a former chef, bartender and restaurateur who is serving her third term in the assembly since being elected in 2020.Trump also blasted Abdul El-Sayed, 41, who on the same day won the Democratic primary in Michigan for a Senate seat. “This guy hates Jews. Somebody said, ‘Oh, that’s a little strong.’ No, he hates Jews, and he hates Israel,” the president said, adding that El-Sayed “hates them with a passion that burns in his heart.”Supported by the democratic socialist camp, El-Sayed opposes American support for Israel in aiding the genocide of Palestinians. He also wants cuts to police budgets after the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis due to excessive force by law enforcement.By Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
