The Consultant Class Did Francesca Hong and the Voters Wrong

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI’ll vote for David Crowley, but I don’t know who he is. Yes, I understand that Tom Tiffany is a loathsome MAGA who has been working really hard to cover up for child rapists for the last year. He needs to be defeated, but until the end of my days I’ll insist that the best person to defeat him was Francesca Hong.Why do I think that?Because while David Crowley was dropping out of the campaign because of a lack of support, Francesca Hong was building a grassroots movement like nothing I’ve ever seen. She was out there talking to people. She came to talk to me twice. She was listening to our concerns. Then, she took our concerns onto the national stage.She showed us how to fight back against MAGA and she was winning. Unfortunately, like so many others, she never earned the support of the DNC.Francesca Hong is and remains a fighter. When you’re up against a criminal regime that’s busy building concentration camps and arming domestic abusers who are cosplaying as law enforcement, you need somebody willing to fight for the people.But on Tuesday, August 11th, Hong lost the gubernatorial race by around 3,000 votes even though she was polling with a double digit lead.What happened?To put it simply, the rich, out-of-touch, consultant class of the DNC stepped in. These were a bunch of jerks who spent the whole campaign cycle floating around in their swimming pools within their gated communities. One day one of them happened to wander into the kitchen where he turned on the television and saw Fox news spewing lies and propaganda about the people’s choice to govern. As smart as these consultants think they are, it never occurs to them that Republicans save their fiercest attacks for the candidates they fear the most. Why do DNC consultants listen to the right wing more than their own base? Why do they always take the lies of the right at face value?Anyway, armed with a spreadsheet and his rich privilege, the consultant roused his buddies, got a couple suitcases full of money from daddy, and showed up at the networks. The next thing you know, everyone in the state of Wisconsin was subjected to a run of cheap-shot, MAGA style, fearmongering ads that began with, “Tiffany needs to be defeated, but Hong isn’t the right choice.”The result was the narrowest of wins with the majority of the people choosing between “Hong” and “Not-Hong.”“Not-Hong” won, but what is it? What’s the identity? I knew who Hong was and she aligned with my values. The DNC has replaced a vision with a mystery and that’s dangerous.Today, all the consultants are sitting around patting each other on the back, because they believed the right wing lies that were based on absolute terror over the fact that Hong had created such a powerful movement. What truly breaks my heart is that the consultants managed to suck all the air out of the state. We’ve gone from having a candidate that inspired some genuine enthusiasm with an army of supporters, to having to do internet searches for “Who is David Crowley?”Do the consultants even know?I was chatting about this today with Anthony Christian. What’s got me concerned is that this is what the “we’re smarter than you so be quiet” DNC consultant class always does. Rather than take two seconds to recognize that Francesca Hong was leading because she was onto something, they took a look at some spreadsheets about a week before the campaign ended and decided she must be defeated at all costs.Crawley didn’t win because he was going from county to county generating support. He’d pulled out once already. Some establishment power decided to “anoint” him and that’s frustrating.Now comes the second wave of attacks where anyone who criticizes these events is set upon by a horde of keyboard warrior flying monkeys. The DNC has to earn the votes of Hong supporters. It’s as simple as that. Just say nice things about her. Stop following the MAGA playbook. We’re sick and tired of it.Read the room.The problem is that these consultants never calculate the cost of their dishonest tactics. If they’d run a fair campaign and did what Francesca did, I’d be all for it. If they had boots on the ground and an army of millions of enthusiastic volunteers, I’d say, “Okay, that is a candidate who has a chance of winning.”But when they just swoop in at the last minute and sink the popular nominee with a bunch of lies and fearmongering, it deeply hurts our chances.The simple fact is that the reason we were enthusiastic about Hong wasn’t because of her in particular, it was because of what she stood for. She wasn’t b**********g us. She was listening to the people and voicing our concerns. We need that!As we look around the smoking ruin of this nation, it’s clear that we have to make some major changes. We have to change our culture and get to a place where rapists and con artists aren’t constantly elevated to the highest offices in the land. We’re sick of seeing all our taxpayer dollars stolen to finance genocide and child rape.All that’s done because the general public has been brainwashed into accepting an abuse culture over the common sense notion that public funds should be spent on public good.That’s what we need people to say. But when the Democratic establishment looks up from their sudoku in their mansion to reply, “but they’ll call us communists,” then we all feel pretty betrayed.What we need are leaders who have the courage to defend the rights of all people to have their viewpoint respected. We’re sick and tired of the lawless right being seen as the default ideology.As I said before, I am disgusted by Tom Tiffany and I will absolutely vote for David Crowley. But I’m just one vote. There are other voters that need to be convinced, and the simple fact is that the entitled consultants have really irritated a lot of people. The best thing they could do right now is show a bit of respect to Francesca. I’d love to see her on the campaign trail every day. I’d love to talk to her again. I’d love to see her on the national media fighting for us.We need that voice!What we don’t need is yet another milquetoast politician lecturing us about the need for “bipartisanship.” Read the room buddy, the right is literally out there murdering us.I’m going to continue to advocate for common sense policies like funding public schools and ensuring we have access to healthcare. I want to see lawless men who abused their office held accountable. If you want to call me radical, I hope you have the courage to insult me to my face.But we don’t ever actually get to see these consultants do we? It’s so frustrating when you see a person of courage doing the actual work, only to have her rightful prize stolen at the last second and given to the choice of nepo babies. David Crawley might be a good guy, but he didn’t put in the campaign work like Francesca did. If he loses, that’s on the establishment—but they never seem to practice much accountability.We’ve seen this happen again and again. We gave the establishment all the power they needed in 2020 to save us from this, and they didn’t even try. They had the authority to lock up this corrupt, criminal regime. Instead, children are getting raped in concentration camps, and schools are getting bombed abroad.The entitlement class has blood on its hands. That’s the whole reason why a popular candidate who has actually had to work for a living could come within a percentage point of winning the nomination.If David Crawley loses, the consultants will be to blame. They’re the ones who ran the MAGA style hate ads that insulted and divided the voter base. They’re the ones that don’t think they ever have to apologize. Even if they do pull out the win, it’s not enough to elevate somebody who “isn’t MAGA.”We need a person of integrity willing to fight for our children. If David Crawley is that person, then he needs to prove it like Francesca Hong did. That will be the strategy that gives him the best chance of defeating Tiffany. I’m just terrified the consultant class is too insulated, out-of-touch, and entitled to recognize it.Democrats need to respect and embrace the movement Francesca Hong started. If they’re embarrassed by it, they should join the other party.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe