Hong's DSA Membership Betrays Korean War Veterans' Sacrifice, Author Argues
Source: Brooke Brandtjen. "Hong’s DSA Campaign Spurns What My Grandfather Sacrificed To Give Her." August 11, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that Francesca Hong, a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, is a hypocrite and threat because she belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose platform calls for abolishing major government institutions. The author frames this as a personal betrayal, since her own grandfather fought in the Korean War to stop communism, and Hong's family benefited from the freedoms that war helped preserve—yet now Hong allegedly wants to tear down the same system.
Conclusion
Francesca Hong is unfit to be Wisconsin's governor because her DSA-aligned socialist platform betrays the anti-communist sacrifices of Korean War veterans, including the author's grandfather, who fought to protect freedom and democracy from communism.
Premises
- The author's grandfather fought in the Korean War specifically to contain communism and defend democracy, suffering lasting trauma as a result
- Hong's family, as Korean immigrants, benefited from the freedom and opportunity that resulted from veterans' sacrifices in the Korean War
- Hong is a member of the DSA, whose platform includes abolishing the Senate, Presidency, and Supreme Court, defunding the Pentagon, and other radical structural changes
- Hong advocates for specific policies (government-run grocery stores, abolishing ICE and police, universal childcare, wealth taxes) that the author characterizes as Marxist-adjacent
- Hong has associated with or aligned herself with other controversial DSA-affiliated figures who have made extreme statements
- By joining the DSA, Hong implicitly supports the organization's full platform, including the destruction of America's constitutional government
- Hong should feel gratitude for the opportunities America provided her family and should not seek to fundamentally alter the systems that provided them
Assumptions
- Membership in an organization implies full endorsement of all its stated platform positions, including those a member may not have personally advocated
- Support for progressive/socialist policies is equivalent to supporting communism or authoritarianism
- The systems and government structures veterans fought to protect are static and should not be reformed or restructured
- Personal gratitude for past opportunities obligates one to support the status quo rather than advocate for change
- Policies like universal childcare, wealth taxes, and criminal justice reform are inherently un-American or contrary to the values veterans fought for
- There is a direct causal and moral link between Cold War military service and the legitimacy of any given descendant's domestic policy positions decades later