Wisconsin Socialist’s Thanksgiving Word Salad Blows Up On CNN

Francesca Hong’s deleted Thanksgiving post returned on CNN, and the Wisconsin democratic socialist still would not say plainly whether she stands by it.

The gubernatorial candidate was asked by Kaitlin Collins whether she still stood behind a deleted 2020 social media post declaring that Americans “should cancel Thanksgiving” and arguing the country “should have done this in 1621.”

Hong did not give Collins a yes or no. The former chef answered with talk about community, painful history and changing views.

She referenced “bringing folks around the table,” acknowledged that the holiday is “incredibly painful for many people in our communities” and added that “views can evolve.”

The exchange gave Republicans another opening in a governor’s race where Hong’s socialist record has already become a target.

Collins: Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?

Hong: I'm a chef, and one of the first meals that I made was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. But Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities.… pic.twitter.com/Kd5kBZMxZS

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 4, 2026

Tom Tiffany, the four-term Republican congressman and GOP front-runner for Wisconsin governor, has been using Hong’s politics as the core warning in his own bid.

“Does she want to abolish the police? Yep. Does she want to abolish prisons? Absolutely. Did she call for abolishing the U.S. Senate? Yes. Socialism is knocking on Wisconsin’s door. This November, we slam it shut.”

The prison issue came up on CNN, too. Collins pressed Hong on whether she still held the view she laid out in May, when she described a perfect world as one without prisons.

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Hong treated the idea as a wish-list discussion, not a straight answer about what she would do as governor.

“I think talking about what may be aspirational and then understanding the role of the governor, what they can and cannot do, and what is implementable right now,” Hong answered. “These are different conversations.”

The CNN exchange followed a South Milwaukee High School event that put Hong on stage with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Hasan Piker.

On his livestream of the Sunday appearance, Piker reached back into Wisconsin’s socialist history and called the state the birthplace of the American socialist movement “long before Zohran [Mamdani] and Bernie Sanders.”

Then he forecast a political wipeout for the GOP.

“A Republican will never be elected in this state ever again, once our movement is done,” Piker said.

When Hong was asked whether joining forces with a figure like Piker could become a campaign liability, she pointed to the risk of “not building the broadest coalition possible.”

Another resurfaced Hong post gave her campaign a separate headache.

In 2019, Hong wrote about leaving a Culver’s restaurant early after describing herself as “on the verge of a [sic] anxiety attack…to [sic] many old white people who didn’t think we spoke english [sic].”

Her campaign account did not back away from the post. It said she stands by it and added that the chain’s fries “leave much to be desired.”

Michigan Democrats are dealing with their own socialist-flank headaches.

In Michigan, William Lawrence is trying to win the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District while carrying both Democratic Socialists of America membership and a co-founder role with the Sunrise Movement.

The Daily Wire reported that Lawrence’s past appearances on left-wing podcasts and radio programs included three combustible themes: America’s “cult of hard work,” the need for more DSA members in Congress and a sweeping attack on Republicans.

Lawrence is running in Tuesday’s primary against former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam. The winner is set to challenge Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in November.

On his podcast “Hegemonicon,” Lawrence placed the work ethic line inside a critique of American politics and culture.

“You mentioned U.S. exceptionalism, the cult of hard work,” Lawrence said.

He also argued during that discussion that the Left needed more socialist lawmakers, not just more generally progressive ones. The endpoint, he said, was “more accountable DSA members in Congress.”

Lawrence described those lawmakers as needing “a lot of reinforcements” once they became outsiders to the establishment.

In a 2018 appearance on the left-wing radio program Rising Up With Sonali, Lawrence turned his fire on the GOP.

“I said it before. The Republican Party is an organized alliance between fossil fuel billionaires like the Koch brothers and white supremacists like Steve Bannon and Ron DeSantis,” Lawrence said.

He also accused Republicans of attacking democracy and dismantling civil liberties.

The Michigan race has pulled in both the Sanders wing and more establishment Democrats.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is backing Lawrence. Lawrence has also endorsed and been endorsed by Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Brink has the support of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, while Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., has lined up behind Maasdam.

El-Sayed is running in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., with endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

A resurfaced video from El-Sayed’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign showed him backing driver’s licenses for illegal aliens and legislation that would stop localities from using their resources to work with ICE.

“I look forward to pushing forward legislation that would preempt localities from participating with ICE and using their local resources to do the same,” he said in the video.