October 20, 2025 • 39 mins
David Wheeler and Colonel Moe Davis welcome their guest, Lt. Col. Brian Bangs, a retired Air Force JAG officer and independent candidate for the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. Brian shares his motivations for running again after a tough first campaign, emphasizing the need for regular people to have a voice in a political landscape dominated by big money and party loyalty. He discusses the challenges faced by independents in a system designed to favor Republicans and Democrats, highlighting the importance of addressing issues like healthcare and the influence of billionaires on politics. Throughout their lively conversation, the trio underscores a shared commitment to representing the interests of everyday citizens over corporate interests, while also reflecting on the current state of U.S. politics and the stark divide between the rich and the rest. With humor and camaraderie, they explore what it means to be an independent in today's political climate, pushing for a return to fundamental values of honesty and community care.
In this engaging episode of Muck You, David Wheeler and Colonel Moe Davis sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Brian Bangs, an independent Senate candidate from South Dakota. The conversation kicks off with a humorous banter about personal backgrounds and the quirks of small-town life, quickly transitioning into a serious discussion about the current political climate. Brian elaborates on his previous run for office and the challenges he faced as an independent candidate, particularly in a polarized environment where party loyalty often supersedes substantive dialogue about policies. He shares personal anecdotes that highlight the disconnect between political parties and the concerns of ordinary voters, emphasizing the importance of addressing issues like healthcare and economic inequality. The dialogue also touches on the broader implications of big money in politics, with Brian arguing that the system is rigged to favor the wealthy while sidelining the majority. His candid reflections and insights into the motivations behind his campaign resonate deeply, offering listeners a glimpse into the struggles and aspirations of those who dare to challenge the political establishment. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to support independent candidates who prioritize the welfare of their constituents over party allegiances.
Takeaways:
- In the podcast, Brian Bings discusses his motivations for running as an independent in South Dakota, emphasizing the need for authentic representation beyond party affiliations.
- He highlights the challenges independents face in elections, particularly around ballot access and fundraising compared to established party candidates.
- The conversation touches on the common ground between voters, noting that many agree on critical issues like healthcare and taxation, which transcend party lines.
- Both Brian and Mo share their experiences with voters who disengage simply based on party labels, illustrating the polarized nature of current politics.
- They discuss how big money influences politics, arguing that both parties often ignore the needs of regular people in favor of wealthy donors.
- The podcast concludes with a call to action for listeners to support independent candidates who prioritize the concerns of everyday citizens over partisan politics.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Doge
- Elon Musk
- John Thune
- Mike Rounds
- Julian Boudouan
- Dan Osborne
- Todd Achilles
- Ty Pinkins
- Lost Cabin Brewing
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Well, welcome back to mucu,folks. This is David Wheeler in Spruce
Pine, North Carolina, and I'mhere with my good buddy and co host
Colonel Moe Davis, who, as Ilike to point out, is married up
to his lovely wife Lisa. She'sthe fortunate one out of this whole
deal Moe has put up with meand Lisa doesn't. So I'll throw it
(00:23):
over to Moe to introduce ourspecial guest today.
Well, thanks, David. Andwelcome back, everybody. And it's
a beautiful day here inwestern North Carolina. So what a
change from a year ago. We areall still digging out from Hurricane
Helene, so we got a lot to bethankful for. As David said, we got
another great show for youtoday. You know, we kind of alternate
(00:46):
back and forth betweenpolitical candidates and, you know,
folks in the news and thatkind of stuff. And so today we've
got someone who's thrown theirhat in the ring to, to run for office
out in South Dakota is BrianBings, who like me, is a retired
Air Force JAG officer runningfor Senate in South Dakota is an
(01:09):
independent. And Brian, thank,thanks for joining us this morning.
Oh, thank you guys for havingme. I appreciate the invitation.
Yeah. All right. So what,what, what got you into the Senate
race out there in South Dakotain the Black Hills?
Well, I don't know if youknow, but in, in 22, I ran before,
so this is the second goround, having learned a lot the first
time. So in just by way ofcomplete background here, I registered
(01:34):
as an independent when I was18 in, in Iowa where I grew up. And
I was a registered independentmy entire life until the fall of
21 when I decided to run foroffice the first time. And I was
motivated initially by thefact of January 6th that I watched
Americans beating lawenforcement officers with poles and
chanting for the murder of thevice president. And then I saw the
(01:56):
South Dakota Democrats prettymuch set up to give John Thune, the
current majority leader of theSenate, a free pass without anybody
running against him in 22. So,you know, as, as someone who is not
a multimillionaire myself, youcan't really run as an independent
unless you can self finance.So I changed my registration to a
(02:17):
Democratic Party and took offfrom there. Running as a Democrat
learned a whole bunch. One ofthe big things that I learned was
that I would go up to peopleevery I go up to people wearing Trump
hats and literally tell them,introduce myself as a candidate and
say I'm going to guaranteewith 100% certainty that you and
I will agree on at least two.But probably three things. Then I'd
(02:37):
run down my list, Boom, boom,boom. And they're nodding along.
Typically it's all three atthe end. I would go, okay, can I
count on your vote inNovember? We've agreed on, you know,
basically everything here. Andthen the first question out of their
mouth was, so, what are you.
Yeah.
And when I say, well, I was alifelong independent, but I'm run
as a Democrat, I more oftenthan not heard the I'll never vote
for a Democrat. And that wasthe big lesson for me, is that that
(03:00):
ended the conversation thatpeople would not engage with you
just because of the letternext to your name. That's the state
of our politics right now. SoI. After the election, I returned
back my registration toindependent, and I still feel the
same threat exists today forthe future of the Republic. So that's
why I'm running again as anindependent, having learned quite
(03:21):
a bit the first time, as I said.
Right, Yeah, I know exactlywhat you mean. I ran in 2020 for
the house. And, you know,like, I think our backgrounds are
pretty similar. Like, like Iwas saying, we both served in the
JAG Corps, we both went to GW,got our. Our LLMs from there.
Yeah.
You know, and when I wasrunning people out, and I think that,
(03:45):
you know, the demographic, youknow, in western North Carolina is
probably pretty similar toSouth Dakota, you know, pretty conservative.
And like you said, peoplewould, you know, you could talk about
the issues, and they wouldjust, you know, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Like that, like that, likethat. And then when they found that
you're a Democrat, it's like,I ain't voting for a Democrat just.
(04:06):
Just because of the. Of theletter, you know, next to the name.
So, you know, and you're notalone, you know, in your running
as an independent. I know DanOsborne out in Nebraska. You know,
he's gotten a good bit ofattention. You know, he, like you.
He ran before, and he'srunning again as an independent,
(04:26):
and it seems like that's whatpeople want. You know, I think people
are kind of tired of partypolitics and politicians that are
beholden to political parties.And it seems like that independent
streak, you know, might besomething that works in the 2026
midterms.
Yeah, that's. That's whatwe're thinking. I obviously, I paid
(04:48):
close attention to Dan's race,and I actually spoke to him before
I decided to do this again tokind of compare notes, his experience
running in 24 versus myexperience running in 22 and my experience
in 22 was like, I'm neverdoing that again. It was just a horrible,
draining experience. And hewas very positive about running as
an independent and, and notedto me that there were people with
(05:10):
Trump signs and his sign andpeople with hair signs and his sign
in their yards. And he's like,well, I kind of felt like I was unifying
to an extent. So there areactually four independents in the
race right now for Senate.There's Osborne in Nebraska, Todd
Achilles in Idaho, me in SouthDakota, and Ty Pinkins in Mississippi.
And we, we have spoken, andwe're kind of all of the same mindset.
(05:33):
We're all veterans of the samemindset of there's a core structural
issues that we need to fix tomake the government work for regular
people again. So we're callingourselves kind of like the fulcrum
group of. If you get a handfulof independents, say four or five
independents in the Senate,and given the. How closely divided
(05:53):
it is, if we can deny themajority to either party, then we
can actually kind of forcesome good changes to the system that
we're not seeing with theeither side majority pinging back
and forth.
All right, how's it working? Iknow, you know, both parties have
a pretty well organized, youknow, logistical support system and
(06:14):
fundraising systems and allthat. You know, they make. It seems
like they make it difficultfor. For an independent to run. So
how are you finding thechange, having run as a Democrat
last time, independent thistime in terms of logistics and fundraising
and that kind of stuff?
Yeah, it's. It is more of achallenge inherently. Independents
do have more of a challengebecause of the nature of the structural
(06:36):
system. So the system isdesigned to force you into one of
the two camps. So it is morechallenging. But I think we've kind
of got a beat on it now with,with our approach, and people are
more receptive to the idea ofan independent, particularly given
Dan Osborne's success and theprospect of actually having somebody
that wants to make somestructural changes. So they're receptive
(06:59):
to that?
Well, hopefully, you know,things certainly aren't working the
way it's going, but it seemslike there's a lot of, like you were
saying, it seems likeDemocrats and Republicans hate each
other, but they hate even morethe thought of a third party or another
player in the game rathercompete against each other than have
(07:19):
to compete against, you know,a third or fourth option.
Oh, absolutely. The, the SouthDakota laws. For me to get on the
ballot, I have to get roughlytwice as many signatures on a nominating
petition as either theRepublican or the Democratic candidate.
And that's obviously bydesign. I don't know what reason
it would serve other thanlike, we really do not want anybody
(07:41):
else to be on the ballot otherthan these two groups. So the system
is designed to prevent thiscompetition. But then in, in South
Dakota, independents are thesecond largest voting bloc. They're
now ahead of Democrats. Andnationally, if you look at the numbers,
independents, you know,counting the whole country, are the
largest group of registeredvoters at, you know, 40 plus percent.
(08:04):
So they're well more thanDemocrats or Republicans.
Yeah, it's the same way herein North Carolina. The biggest group
here, they're calledunaffiliated rather than independent.
But the biggest group, 42% ofthe voters are unaffiliated voters
in North Carolina. So it's.The Republicans have held pretty
steady at about 30%. But, youknow, the, the attrition has come
(08:26):
on the Democratic side wherepeople have switched from being Democrats
to being unaffiliated. Andyeah, I think this says a lot about
folks just being disillusionedwith party politics.
Yeah, I agree. I agree.
So what are the big issuesthat you're, you're trying to, to
hit on, to get folks to comeover on onto your side?
(08:47):
Well, the, well, the, thebroad theme that we think, I think
everybody agrees because I,when I talk to people in 22, everybody
would agree with me thatbillionaires should pay a higher
tax rate than people who workfor a living. So the broad theme
is that big money hascorrupted the system. They buy the
politicians, the lobbyists,the corporations, everything, and
(09:09):
regular people are, aregetting the shaft. So that is the
broad theme. And then we'regoing to run out with healthcare.
Everybody recognizes that's aproblem. So the, you know, the opponent
that I have, Mike Rounds, heis of course sticking to the party
line. He does what he's told,so he's a good soldier in that regard.
And he has, you know, cutMedicaid and Medicare funding. So
(09:33):
rural hospitals are going totake it on the chin and we're going
to see that soon. So peopleare concerned about that. And then
the ACA premium, stipends, taxcredits, that's also an issue that
people are concerned aboutbecause South Dakota is one of the
highest states that arelooking at premium increases at,
I think it was 235% is whatwe're looking at next year for people
(09:53):
that buy their insurancethrough the ACA market.
Yeah, yeah. Well, those arethe same issues we're facing here
because, know, we're a prettyrural area. And it's projected that
in North Carolina, five ruralhospitals will close because of the
Medicaid cuts. And two ofthose five are out here in the mountains
of western North Carolina,where we already have a shortage
of health care providers. Sothis notion that, hey, we're strengthening
(10:17):
the health care system isjust, you know, nonsense. But a lot
of people are buying into it.
Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, theconsequences will come home to roost
and people go like, well,what's wrong with this? Glad I didn't
vote for a damn Democrat thatwas trying to fix it, I guess.
Yeah. Hey, listen, I know you.After you left the service, you.
(10:38):
You taught at Northern StateUniversity, Both you and your wife
did. And more lately afterthat, you were a park ranger, part
of the National Park Service.So what became of that?
Yeah, I was teaching atNorthern State right after the Air
Force. I was teaching criminaljustice there. And then they gave
me a free hand to do what Iwanted so I could also do some Homeland
(11:00):
Security. I taught that class.I did some international law, which
is what my specialization wasin the Air Force. And, and, you know,
counterterrorism, that sort ofthing. So that was. That was fun.
When we bought our property inthe Hot Springs area of South Dakota,
southwest southern Black Hillsarea, there's a national park, Wind
(11:21):
Cave national park, about a 15minute drive north of here. And who
wouldn't want to work at anational park? It's just amazing
experience. So I applied for aposition there and was working as
a ranger until the. The Dogecuts. Elon went rampant, and we were
on the chopping block. I was aprobationary employee along with
a handful of other folks, andwe all expected to be fired. When
(11:44):
they were initially saying,we're going to let everybody go.
And it wasn't until the daythat they announced the firings that
we learned we were not firedbecause we all happened to be veterans.
So sitting back and watchingthat and seeing what was happening
to not only the National ParkService, but to all the other federal
entities where they were justrandomly firing people and chopping
the budgets and everything. Igot to thinking that I can do something
(12:06):
about this, potentially givenmy experience in 22 running. So that's
really kind of the motivatorto get back into this and try to
do what I can to restoresanity to how the government operates.
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's thesame again here in western North
Carolina. Our national parksand national forests are the lifeblood
of our economy. And certainlywhen Hurricane Helene hit, it's really
(12:28):
taken an impact on tourism,which has had a big impact on our
economy. But, you know, beforeHurricane Helene hit, the Park Service
and the Forest Service alreadyhad a $32 billion backlog of deferred
maintenance. And, you know,that's only getting worse. You know,
you can't say that we're goingto make it better by firing people
and cutting budgets, butthat's the argument they're trying
(12:51):
to make.
Yeah, that's. I experiencedthat same sort of backlog. The minor
issues at Wind Cave, wherethere's things that needed to be
done, there's no money to doit. And, of course, you look at the
staffing for the Park Servicenationally, and since 2010, they've
lost a huge percentage oftheir staff already. So they're operating
a little bit lean to beginwith, and then now we're going to
(13:12):
fire more of them. It's justcrazy. If you don't care about parks,
just say, I don't give a damnabout parks, and that's why we're
going to do this. ButAmericans, you know, having worked
the desk, Americans love thenational parks.
Right?
That category. I love thenational parks. The people that came
in love the national parks.And we would often hear of, like,
how you guys doing? And wewould get, you know, postcards. People
(13:34):
would just send postcards tothe. The rangers at Wind Cave saying,
hey, we're with you, and, youknow, we support you, and, you know,
what can we do for you? It wasvery gratifying to have that sort
of support.
Well, and. And then you put ontop of that the fact that Doge was
just a. A boondoggle. What wasthe purpose of Doge? Does anybody
(13:54):
know? Maybe one of ourlisteners can let us know what the
purpose of Doge, because itdidn't save any money. It ended up
costing, what, $12 billion orsomething like that. And everybody
they fired, they'vesubsequently had to rehire a bunch
of them. So sorry you've had.Had to be. Had to go through that,
Brian.
But.
(14:15):
So, Lieutenant Colonel, youhave Iowa background, smart enough
to get out and move to SouthDakota. As my friend James Mathis
says. What do you hunt up there?
Well, I've not. Not gotten toomuch into it. I was. I did pheasant
hunting when I was in Iowa,uh, growing up. So we got, you know,
(14:36):
east river has a lot ofpheasants out here. I'm still not
settled. I'm living in acamper at the moment. So there's
a fun fact. I'm just over ayear in a camper while my house is
under construction, so there'splenty out in the area where I am
now in terms of deer. You canget some elk tags. There's pheasant,
you know, not necessarilyright in this area, but not too far
(14:58):
away. So, yeah, I'm going tobe getting into it a little bit more
now that I'm in the area wherethere is things. My property has
deer coming across it aboutevery day, and we've got a gaggle
of wild turkeys that hang outand wander through every day as well.
Well, glad to hear every Iowaboy grew up pheasant hunting. I think
for the most part, I. Icertainly did with James Mathis,
(15:19):
who a good friend of mine wholives in. In Sioux Falls right now.
And. And actually my son andI, Nicholas Nico, who Mo has met
many times. We're heading upto go hunting with James. So maybe
we should invite you over tosee South Sioux Falls, join our hunting
party right around Thanksgiving.
Oh, nice.
(15:39):
Yeah. Yeah.
Have you been up there hunting before?
No, I haven't. I haven't. I'vebeen to Sioux Falls several times.
It's beautiful up there. Ilove it.
Yeah, Sioux Falls is a greatcity. Small but big. So, yeah, it's
got the hybrid situation going on.
Yeah, it's a. It's a. And it'sgrowing. So the other thing we want
(16:01):
to talk about was thiscampaign of yours. So how, first
of all, how can folks learnabout you? How could they donate
to your campaign? What's thebest way to do that?
Sorry, I have to turn off thefurnace there, so it's not as loud,
but.
Oh, that's all right.
That's okay. The website isbangsforsouthdakota.com and that
is b e n g s4south dakota.com.so we're in the process of getting
(16:25):
a policy platform up withinthe next probably week or so. So
it is. It is well developedfor what it is right now, but if
you're looking for specifics,they'll be there soon. But I encourage
everybody to check it out. Theapproach I'm trying to take is to
kind of remind people, SouthDakotans and Americans of who we
used to be. So I'm running onthe cowboy code of the west, which
(16:47):
you can kind of summarize astell the truth and take care of your
neighbors. And then there'ssome other points as well, but everybody
in South Dakota kind of thinksof themselves, like, oh, yeah, it's.
We're Old Westers, we'resettlers and that sort of thing.
And so I'm embracing thatbecause if we can, you know, get
everybody to act like that,things will turn out better.
Yeah, I agree. I agree 100%.Go back to the basics of taking care
(17:09):
of each other and pay yourfair share.
Yeah.
And as Tim Walz says mindyour own damn business.
Exactly.
Can you imagine if we didthat? We'd be in a different world
right now. But for somereason, these folks in Washington
right now think that they needto be in every part of our life,
which is, you know, I grew upin Iowa in the plains in the, you
(17:30):
know, the 70s and 80s, and theRepublicans mantra was government,
get off my back. Well,government is on everybody's back
right now in ways that wecould have never imagined. So tell
us a little bit about therace. Tell us about your Republican
opponent. Tell us, is theregoing to be a Democrat in the race
as well, or are we trying tohead that off?
(17:52):
Yeah, so Mike Rounds, he waskind of hedging for a bit. He's the
incumbent. He, this is, he'llbe running for his third term now.
He's a former governor of, ofSouth Dakota. And he, he's a yes
man fundamentally. So he doeswhat he's told. He's a good soldier
in that regard. And he willtell you with a straight face that,
like, oh, I'm looking out for,for regular people while he votes
(18:14):
to, to gut the Affordable Careact and to, you know, end Medicaid
and all this other stuff. Butso as an incumbent Republican, we
were just looking over his FECreports and he gets big money from
corporate packs and big moneydonors. We were comparing it to mine,
where my average donation is$30 and his is significantly more
(18:36):
from big dollar, big dollardonors. And there is in fact a Democrat
candidate as well, JulianBoudouan. He is, he is running and
I've spoken to him way backwhen and, you know, he's confident
that he can, he can do welland more power to him if he can.
I'm not running because Ithink I love running as a candidate.
(18:57):
I'm running because myexperience in 22 shaped my perception
of who can be competitive inSouth Dakota. And it, it wasn't a
Democrat, but, you know, Iguess hope springs eternal, so we'll
see.
Yeah, and, and Democrats arereally good at, you know, snatching
victory out of the mouth ofdefeat or whatever that phrase is.
(19:20):
It's just too bad theDemocrats can't think more strategically.
We have the same problem outhere in western North Carolina where
the Democrats would rather winand be right than win and. Yeah,
and I think it's a. It's atradition just across the party that,
you know, we try and. Try anddo the right thing, be the right
(19:42):
people, and if we lose, oh,shucks. Well, I think we're realizing
that, you know, we gotta get.We gotta get tougher. And Mo and
I have, you know, folks thatwill listen to this podcast know
that we tried to run campaignsthat way and we're tolerated by the
party here in West NorthCarolina. But so what. What else
do you think could help setyou apart from Rounds and from the
(20:06):
Democratic candidate and win?Because you seem like a. A perfect
fit for South Dakota. You'vegot the military background, you've
got the cowboy mentality oftake care of each other. You're an
educated guy. How do you. Howdo you break free from, you know,
(20:28):
all the money that round'sgoing to have in the Democrat?
Obviously, money is, you know,Colonel Davis, you ran, you know,
money is a key factor goingforward. So we are, as I said, I
think we're doing a little bitbetter. We've got a kind of a groove
down in terms of fundraising.So it seems like it's going better
this quarter and picking up.But fundamentally, my perception
(20:49):
as an independent is thatSouth Dakota is one of multiple states
where national party politicsisn't working for regular people.
Republicans take us forgranted, as evidenced by Mike Rounds
and John Thune and them notsaying a word about the tariffs despite
it, you know, basicallydestroying the soybean market and
the farmers that are growingthese crops that aren't going anywhere
(21:10):
because foreign governmentsare not allowing them to be purchased.
And then the Democratsbasically forget we exist at the
national level. So theapproach here is to try to sell the
idea that if you wantsomething that represents somebody
that represents you, regularpeople, and they do. I know that
again, because I've talked tothem, then an independent is going
(21:31):
to be the best sell for you,because the Republicans just are
happy with whatever thenational politics is, and they're
beholden to big money. So it'sa big money versus the little guy.
And the little guy alwayscomes out short of the stick here.
And so that's the fundamentalapproach here. And most South Dakotans,
they just don't see a Democratas a good alternative to a Republican.
(21:53):
They do, however, pretty muchsee themselves as fiercely independent.
And that's kind of what youmentioned with western North Carolina,
which is why they're willingto listen to an independent. The
standard approach of, I sawwhat happened to dan Osborne in 24.
And a little bit of what'shappening to me now is that the Republican
approach is like, no, no, no,he's a Democrat. You don't have to
(22:15):
listen to him because he's aDemocrat. So they don't want to engage
in the discussion of ideas.They just want to have you slotted
into the. He's a Democrat. SoI don't actually have to worry about
him because nobody wants tovote for a Democrat. And that's what
we're trying to pierce withthe independents is, no, here's the
ideas. And I'm different thana Democrat and I'm actually different
than a Republican as well.
Yeah, I was running, you know,again this time out here. I've dropped
(22:39):
out since then just because Iof money. I mean, it's unfortunate
that money is so ingrained inour political process, but that's
just a fact of life. But oneof the things I was trying to hit
on here, I mean, I think thekey to winning in places like South
Dakota or western NorthCarolina, if it comes down to a pick
(22:59):
between Democrat andRepublican, we just don't have the
numbers. Republicans are goingto win. But if we can make this a
race where the focus is you'reeither the rich or you're the rest,
and if you're part of therich, then this administration's
doing good things for you.You're going to get richer. But 90
plus percent of the populationare not rich. They're the rest and
(23:22):
they're the ones that arepaying the price for it. And no matter
how they try to paint it, youknow, cutting Medicaid, cutting snap,
you know, inflation is hurtingworking class people. In fact, that
was my campaign motto, waskicking ass for the working class
because we've neglected thosefolks for too long. And I think we
can make it a race where we'renot asking to pick Democrat or Republican.
(23:45):
You're picking between eitheryou're part of the rich or you're
part of the rest. And ifyou're part of the rest, then, you
know, you're on our team.
I, I agree. That's, that'sfundamentally the message that having
spoken to all the otherindependents that are running for
Senate, that's the samemessage. Everybody is, is saying
the same thing here, thatwe're getting screwed by the big
(24:06):
money interests.
Yep.
And the whole system isstructured so we can fight about
other things. Well, let'sfight about the culture wars and
then forget how the big moneyis picking your pocket.
Yeah.
The independent approach.Hopefully will allow us to kind of
cut through that culture warstuff and just go, look, here's the
deal as you highlighted. Whichparty are you? Are you ultra rich?
(24:28):
Then? Yeah, I guess you'reprobably not going to support me,
and I understand why. But ifyou're not ultra rich, then you should
be supporting me becauseyou're getting your pocket picked.
Yeah, yeah. You got to givethem credit. I mean, the billionaire
class has used their moneyeffectively to put out propaganda
to convince working classpeople that it's either your patriotic
(24:51):
duty or your religious duty tovote against your own interest.
Yeah.
And with one hand they'rewaving, oh, you know, transgender
athletes, and with the otherhand, they're picking your pocket,
you know, on issues that, youknow, in the grand scheme of things,
you know, I think for mostpeople, paying the rent or the mortgage
and putting food on the tableand being able to take their kid
to the doctor when they'resick are more important than where
(25:13):
people go to pee.
Yeah, that's, that's my take.But you've still got the die hards.
Like, no, that's that I'm asingle issue voter. And like, you
know, I was. I can't tell you.Maybe you had the same experience.
I was asked multiple times todefine a woman. How do you define
a woman? Like, okay, you guysare trained to just come up to people
and, and ask that. I'veliterally, in my life, never experienced
(25:36):
an issue where I had to go,whoa, are you a woman or a man? Because
it didn't matter. It did notmatter. Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, again, I think the otherside's done a really good job of
using their money effectivelyto persuade people to, you know,
hurt themselves and theirfamilies. We've got to, we've got
to do a better job ofmessaging because they've certainly
(25:56):
just beat us in that regard.Let me ask you, you know, as a, as
a retired military guy, what'syour take on? I mean, I think when
you and I served, the notionthat we'd be deployed to American
cities, to be on Americanstreets, to harass American citizens,
to shut them up was, Would beunimaginable. So what's your take
(26:19):
on what's happening with our military?
Yeah, I'm very worried aboutthat. I'm obviously opposed to deploying
military forces to a US City.Now I was in, I was at Barksdale
Air Force Base in Louisianawhen Katrina hit. And so New Orleans
was, was in dire strait, and Ivolunteered to go down there if they
needed people when I was onactive duty. And it didn't ultimately
(26:41):
need me, but they did sendsome groups down there and that I
would fully support, you know,going out to help people that you.
You can expect that. And ofcourse, that's legally permissible
as well. But when you'resending Marines into a city or you're
activating the National Guardto come use force or be seen as a
force against Americans, whatis that? I don't even understand,
(27:04):
like, particularly when you'vegot like the Portland situation where
they're wearing costumes nowto demonstrate how absurd the whole
war zone is.
Yeah, yeah, I enjoy it. Iguess it was last weekend they had
their naked bike ride and hadthousands of people. That kind of
hard to argue that you'recarrying a concealed weapon when
you got no clothes on.
So.
(27:25):
Let me ask, you know, yourbackground in international law.
You know, I guess for thefourth time now, the military has
blown up Venezuelan boats thatare alleged to be. To be drug boats.
What's your take on the extrajudicial killing of Venezuelans?
(27:50):
Yeah. As I understand it,their kind of rationale here that
they're trying to sell isthat, oh, we are in an armed conflict
with these drug cartels,which. That, that doesn't work for
any number of ways. So you cantry to make that argument, in which
case, if it was valid that thedrug cartels were an armed force
that were actually invadingus, then targeting them as they are
(28:12):
would be valid. But that is,of course, not the case. So, you
know, just randomly executingpeople because, hey, this looks good
and I can talk about it on thenews. And they're from Venezuela,
although I understand maybesome were actually Colombian. Now
we are. Are going toincreasingly become a pariah in the
international system that webuilt to hold countries accountable
(28:33):
for doing stuff like what weare now apparently doing.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It'sironic that if you look at the, you
know, after World War II, as,you know, you know, we led the effort
to create the GenevaConventions, the law of war, the
un, NATO, all those things,you know, the US Was the leading,
the driving force behindthose. And to see us now turn our
(28:56):
back on the things that, youknow, we work so hard to put into
place. It's just, you know, 10years ago would have been unimaginable.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. This isnot the same country that I grew
up in. You could not imaginewhat was happening. As you, as you
point out 10 years ago, thewhole. I've approached this from
(29:16):
the standpoint of, like, theUS Has a identity crisis right now,
of what do we want to do orwho are we? And so far, who we used
to be is apparently losing towho we could imaginarily be. The.
The strong country that doeswhatever it wants, and everybody
bows to our will, disregardall these rules that we set up for
(29:39):
a good purpose. So my take onthis is that if we're going back
into isolation, isolationism,unilateral isolationism, and the.
The old prior TO World War IIsystem of the might makes right.
We're in a nuclear weapon era.And that doesn't end well for everybody,
(29:59):
because when you get morecountries going, wow, I really need
a nuclear weapon, then you'vegot more problems for, wow, I really
need to use this nuclearweapon potentially. So this is not
the time to be regret goingback to what it used to be in the
19th century.
Yeah, yeah, I'm reallydisappointed that, you know, my first
court martial I ever did wasback in 1984. And my opponent, one
(30:23):
of my opponents was a youngcaptain from South Carolina named
Lindsey Graham. And so I'veknown him for, you know, 40, 41 years
and worked with him and JohnMcCain on the military Commissions
act when, you know, they werethe two Republicans pushing back
on the abuse of executiveauthority by the Bush administration.
(30:45):
And to see him, you know,capitulate now and, you know, bend
the knee to Trump and. AndRoger Wicker, you know, Roger Wicker
was in the. In the reserves,in the JAG Corps, was briefly assigned
to my office when I was the SJat Columbus Air Force Base. And,
you know, those are two guysthat I know know better, but they've
(31:08):
made the calculation that it'sin their interest to do Trump's bidding.
I mean, there are other peoplethat are just stupid and got sucked
into the whole MAGA thing,but, you know, those are at least,
you know, two of our formerAir Force JAG colleagues that know
better but have made thedecision to. To bend their values.
Yeah, I think I would say thatboth of the senators from South Dakota,
(31:32):
they're more of yourtraditional Republican, but they
are quite happy to remainsilent and do what they are told
to do now. So people who sellout their values for a position do
not deserve that position. Youshould. There should be a line somewhere
where, like, I will not. Iwill lose. You know, I do not agree
(31:52):
with Liz Cheney, but, youknow, I respect her completely for
what she did.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I,you know, when I was chief prosecutor
at Guantanamo, it was her dadthat, you know, was one of the prime
architects the torture policyand all that in Fact, you know, Liz
Cheney had blocked me onTwitter because of my criticism of
her dad. But like you said,I've got great respect, you know,
(32:17):
for her. And we've had. AdamKinzinger is on our show, you know,
several months ago, and, youknow, the two of them, you know,
had the courage of theirconvictions and, you know, paid the
price for it. But I'm bettingthey sleep pretty well at night fraving,
you know, stuck by their guns.
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Thoseare, you know, the profiles encourage
(32:39):
they. They embody that spirit,I would say.
So. Lieutenant Colonel, let'sgive folks your website one more
time so they can understandhow to get a hold of you and. And
potentially donate.
Okay. The website isbangsforsouthdakota.com and that
is B N G S for South Dakotadot com. And I'd also draw their
(33:00):
attention if anybody'sinterested. Brian. Bangs has a substack
where I publish articlesabout. Well, I publish discussions
of policy, you know, thingsthat are going on in the news. My
take on that. So there's a lotof different sources where they can
find me on Twitter, Facebook,you know, all that stuff.
Okay, great.
(33:20):
So it's Bangs. B E N G S forSouth Dakota. Folks. Go check Brian
out. If you're inclined,please send him a donation. I'm a
big fan of any way to beat theRepublicans. Let's do it. Brian's
a good guy and has served thiscountry honorably and extremely intelligent,
(33:41):
educated guy that I thinkwould do well in government. I also
want to. We have a traditionhere. Talking about our favorite
libation. Do you imbibe at allor a bourbon guy?
I. Well, I'm not so much intothe hard stuff, but, yes, I. I have.
(34:02):
I'm more of a routine beerdrinker, so. In the Black Hills.
We have some decent breweriesout here.
All right, let's highlight a couple.
As do we here in western North Carolina.
Well, yeah, I know that was.
That's right.
Mo. I visited Asheville of.There was so many breweries that.
That we went to.
Yeah.
But my favorite out here is.It's from Lost Cabin Brewing. It's
(34:23):
called Lord Grizzly. It's aScotch ale, and it's got some kick
to it. It's a, you know, morerobust beer. And it's just a really
nice thing to. To sit downwith a meal or just to have a beer
unto itself.
Oh, well, we'll have to. I'llcheck that out and see if we can
find it out in this part ofthe woods.
Hey, Brian. And. And the waywe got on this, this ending the show,
(34:45):
talking about alcohol. One ofour early guests was another Air
Force guy, Denver Riggleman,former congressman from Virginia.
And a few years back, he andhis wife started a distillery. So
that's how we've gotten on.It's got an Air Force connection
in a roundabout way, but itwas Denver Revelman that kind of
triggered this whole alcohol discussion.
(35:06):
I should add that my wife andI. Probably more so my wife, but
I also enjoy it. We alsoenjoy. It's not the Moscow Mule,
but it is the ginger beer. Andin lieu of vodka, we put in Jagermeister.
So it's a fuel. It's quite nice.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, that bring itback. Some fond early morning memories
(35:29):
of Iowa City, Jagenmeister.And some terrible mornings after
that. I didn't make class,but. So what was your hangout in
Iowa City when you were in lawschool there?
We spent a lot of time at the airliner.
All right. Yeah, that's aclassic, classic place. I love that
place.
Yeah, the pizza there wasoutstanding. And then the beer specials
(35:50):
were good, too.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, those weretimes long ago and. And certainly
we had a great time in. InIowa City as well, so. So do you
have kids, Brian?
I do. I have two daughters.The oldest, she went to. Well, she's
Air Force rotc, by the way, aswell. So she's. She benefited from
(36:12):
our time in Germany where shelearned German, because we just sent
her to the local school andlike, hey, go learn German. So she
learned German and was like,well, I like languages. And the Air
Force was willing to pay forher to learn Russian. So she went
to the University of Georgiadown in, you know, your neck of the
woods, where she was able toparticipate in the Russian language
flagship program that the DoDsponsors at a handful of universities
(36:33):
across the country. And she'sactually studying her capstone year
in Kazakhstan right now, whereshe is immersed in Russian to make
sure that she is, no kidding,professionally proficient with Russian
at the end of it.
Wow, that's terrific.
And your other daughter, myyoungest, is a sophomore at the University
of Northern Iowa, where she isstudying history, public history,
(36:55):
and public administration.She's interested in museum administration,
that sort of stuff, althoughshe has recently mentioned, like,
hey, should I consider lawschool? So that's a possibility as
well, potentially.
Well, that's great. That'sterrific. Well, we need more female,
intelligent lawyers, and so wewish her the best on that. And thank
(37:16):
you again for joining us.That's a wrap for this episode of
Muckyou. I'm David Wheelerhere with a big thanks to my partner
in crime, Colonel Mo Davis,for co hosting and keeping the conversation
just the right amount ofdanger. Huge thanks as well to Lt.
Col. Brian Bang, running forthe north or the South Dakota Senate.
(37:39):
I have one job to get itright, Brian, and I can't even get
it out of my mouth. So we'lltry that again one day. Thank you
for joining us. He's runningfor the United States Senate in South
Dakota. It's refreshing tohear from somebody who actually gives
a shot about this countryinstead of just serving up talking
points. If you liked what youheard today, hit subscribe, share
(38:02):
it with a friend and maybeeven an enemy. We're equal opportunity
truth tellers around here.Until next time, keep your coffee
strong, your facts stronger,and whatever you do, don't let anybody
muck with you.
This has been Muck you cohosted by colonel Mo Davis in Asheville
and David Williams Wheeler inSpruce Pine, North Carolina. Thanks
(38:23):
to our guest today, lieutenantcolonel Brian Bangs, candidate for
United States Senate in South Dakota.
Learn more about Lt. Col.Bang's campaign.
And donate at BS for SouthDakota.com muck you is produced by
American Muckrakers, copyright2025 and all rights are reserved.
Enjoy additional Muck youepisodes with Errol Musk, Anthony
(38:47):
Scaramucci, David Jolly, AdamKinzinger, Paul Bigala, Mark McKinnon
andothers@AmericanMokrakers.com Please
subscribe and support our workon Substack. Thanks for listening
and y' all come back for thenext episode of Muck you. You know
(39:28):
who made it? Sam.
Well, welcome back to mucu,folks. This is David Wheeler in Spruce
Pine, North Carolina, and I'mhere with my good buddy and co host
Colonel Moe Davis, who, as Ilike to point out, is married up
to his lovely wife Lisa. She'sthe fortunate one out of this whole
deal Moe has put up with meand Lisa doesn't. So I'll throw it
(00:23):
over to Moe to introduce ourspecial guest today.
Well, thanks, David. Andwelcome back, everybody. And it's
a beautiful day here inwestern North Carolina. So what a
change from a year ago. We areall still digging out from Hurricane
Helene, so we got a lot to bethankful for. As David said, we got
another great show for youtoday. You know, we kind of alternate
(00:46):
back and forth betweenpolitical candidates and, you know,
folks in the news and thatkind of stuff. And so today we've
got someone who's thrown theirhat in the ring to, to run for office
out in South Dakota is BrianBings, who like me, is a retired
Air Force JAG officer runningfor Senate in South Dakota is an
(01:09):
independent. And Brian, thank,thanks for joining us this morning.
Oh, thank you guys for havingme. I appreciate the invitation.
Yeah. All right. So what,what, what got you into the Senate
race out there in South Dakotain the Black Hills?
Well, I don't know if youknow, but in, in 22, I ran before,
so this is the second goround, having learned a lot the first
time. So in just by way ofcomplete background here, I registered
(01:34):
as an independent when I was18 in, in Iowa where I grew up. And
I was a registered independentmy entire life until the fall of
21 when I decided to run foroffice the first time. And I was
motivated initially by thefact of January 6th that I watched
Americans beating lawenforcement officers with poles and
chanting for the murder of thevice president. And then I saw the
(01:56):
South Dakota Democrats prettymuch set up to give John Thune, the
current majority leader of theSenate, a free pass without anybody
running against him in 22. So,you know, as, as someone who is not
a multimillionaire myself, youcan't really run as an independent
unless you can self finance.So I changed my registration to a
(02:17):
Democratic Party and took offfrom there. Running as a Democrat
learned a whole bunch. One ofthe big things that I learned was
that I would go up to peopleevery I go up to people wearing Trump
hats and literally tell them,introduce myself as a candidate and
say I'm going to guaranteewith 100% certainty that you and
I will agree on at least two.But probably three things. Then I'd
(02:37):
run down my list, Boom, boom,boom. And they're nodding along.
Typically it's all three atthe end. I would go, okay, can I
count on your vote inNovember? We've agreed on, you know,
basically everything here. Andthen the first question out of their
mouth was, so, what are you.
Yeah.
And when I say, well, I was alifelong independent, but I'm run
as a Democrat, I more oftenthan not heard the I'll never vote
for a Democrat. And that wasthe big lesson for me, is that that
(03:00):
ended the conversation thatpeople would not engage with you
just because of the letternext to your name. That's the state
of our politics right now. SoI. After the election, I returned
back my registration toindependent, and I still feel the
same threat exists today forthe future of the Republic. So that's
why I'm running again as anindependent, having learned quite
(03:21):
a bit the first time, as I said.
Right, Yeah, I know exactlywhat you mean. I ran in 2020 for
the house. And, you know,like, I think our backgrounds are
pretty similar. Like, like Iwas saying, we both served in the
JAG Corps, we both went to GW,got our. Our LLMs from there.
Yeah.
You know, and when I wasrunning people out, and I think that,
(03:45):
you know, the demographic, youknow, in western North Carolina is
probably pretty similar toSouth Dakota, you know, pretty conservative.
And like you said, peoplewould, you know, you could talk about
the issues, and they wouldjust, you know, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Like that, like that, likethat. And then when they found that
you're a Democrat, it's like,I ain't voting for a Democrat just.
(04:06):
Just because of the. Of theletter, you know, next to the name.
So, you know, and you're notalone, you know, in your running
as an independent. I know DanOsborne out in Nebraska. You know,
he's gotten a good bit ofattention. You know, he, like you.
He ran before, and he'srunning again as an independent,
(04:26):
and it seems like that's whatpeople want. You know, I think people
are kind of tired of partypolitics and politicians that are
beholden to political parties.And it seems like that independent
streak, you know, might besomething that works in the 2026
midterms.
Yeah, that's. That's whatwe're thinking. I obviously, I paid
(04:48):
close attention to Dan's race,and I actually spoke to him before
I decided to do this again tokind of compare notes, his experience
running in 24 versus myexperience running in 22 and my experience
in 22 was like, I'm neverdoing that again. It was just a horrible,
draining experience. And hewas very positive about running as
an independent and, and notedto me that there were people with
(05:10):
Trump signs and his sign andpeople with hair signs and his sign
in their yards. And he's like,well, I kind of felt like I was unifying
to an extent. So there areactually four independents in the
race right now for Senate.There's Osborne in Nebraska, Todd
Achilles in Idaho, me in SouthDakota, and Ty Pinkins in Mississippi.
And we, we have spoken, andwe're kind of all of the same mindset.
(05:33):
We're all veterans of the samemindset of there's a core structural
issues that we need to fix tomake the government work for regular
people again. So we're callingourselves kind of like the fulcrum
group of. If you get a handfulof independents, say four or five
independents in the Senate,and given the. How closely divided
(05:53):
it is, if we can deny themajority to either party, then we
can actually kind of forcesome good changes to the system that
we're not seeing with theeither side majority pinging back
and forth.
All right, how's it working? Iknow, you know, both parties have
a pretty well organized, youknow, logistical support system and
(06:14):
fundraising systems and allthat. You know, they make. It seems
like they make it difficultfor. For an independent to run. So
how are you finding thechange, having run as a Democrat
last time, independent thistime in terms of logistics and fundraising
and that kind of stuff?
Yeah, it's. It is more of achallenge inherently. Independents
do have more of a challengebecause of the nature of the structural
(06:36):
system. So the system isdesigned to force you into one of
the two camps. So it is morechallenging. But I think we've kind
of got a beat on it now with,with our approach, and people are
more receptive to the idea ofan independent, particularly given
Dan Osborne's success and theprospect of actually having somebody
that wants to make somestructural changes. So they're receptive
(06:59):
to that?
Well, hopefully, you know,things certainly aren't working the
way it's going, but it seemslike there's a lot of, like you were
saying, it seems likeDemocrats and Republicans hate each
other, but they hate even morethe thought of a third party or another
player in the game rathercompete against each other than have
(07:19):
to compete against, you know,a third or fourth option.
Oh, absolutely. The, the SouthDakota laws. For me to get on the
ballot, I have to get roughlytwice as many signatures on a nominating
petition as either theRepublican or the Democratic candidate.
And that's obviously bydesign. I don't know what reason
it would serve other thanlike, we really do not want anybody
(07:41):
else to be on the ballot otherthan these two groups. So the system
is designed to prevent thiscompetition. But then in, in South
Dakota, independents are thesecond largest voting bloc. They're
now ahead of Democrats. Andnationally, if you look at the numbers,
independents, you know,counting the whole country, are the
largest group of registeredvoters at, you know, 40 plus percent.
(08:04):
So they're well more thanDemocrats or Republicans.
Yeah, it's the same way herein North Carolina. The biggest group
here, they're calledunaffiliated rather than independent.
But the biggest group, 42% ofthe voters are unaffiliated voters
in North Carolina. So it's.The Republicans have held pretty
steady at about 30%. But, youknow, the, the attrition has come
(08:26):
on the Democratic side wherepeople have switched from being Democrats
to being unaffiliated. Andyeah, I think this says a lot about
folks just being disillusionedwith party politics.
Yeah, I agree. I agree.
So what are the big issuesthat you're, you're trying to, to
hit on, to get folks to comeover on onto your side?
(08:47):
Well, the, well, the, thebroad theme that we think, I think
everybody agrees because I,when I talk to people in 22, everybody
would agree with me thatbillionaires should pay a higher
tax rate than people who workfor a living. So the broad theme
is that big money hascorrupted the system. They buy the
politicians, the lobbyists,the corporations, everything, and
(09:09):
regular people are, aregetting the shaft. So that is the
broad theme. And then we'regoing to run out with healthcare.
Everybody recognizes that's aproblem. So the, you know, the opponent
that I have, Mike Rounds, heis of course sticking to the party
line. He does what he's told,so he's a good soldier in that regard.
And he has, you know, cutMedicaid and Medicare funding. So
(09:33):
rural hospitals are going totake it on the chin and we're going
to see that soon. So peopleare concerned about that. And then
the ACA premium, stipends, taxcredits, that's also an issue that
people are concerned aboutbecause South Dakota is one of the
highest states that arelooking at premium increases at,
I think it was 235% is whatwe're looking at next year for people
(09:53):
that buy their insurancethrough the ACA market.
Yeah, yeah. Well, those arethe same issues we're facing here
because, know, we're a prettyrural area. And it's projected that
in North Carolina, five ruralhospitals will close because of the
Medicaid cuts. And two ofthose five are out here in the mountains
of western North Carolina,where we already have a shortage
of health care providers. Sothis notion that, hey, we're strengthening
(10:17):
the health care system isjust, you know, nonsense. But a lot
of people are buying into it.
Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, theconsequences will come home to roost
and people go like, well,what's wrong with this? Glad I didn't
vote for a damn Democrat thatwas trying to fix it, I guess.
Yeah. Hey, listen, I know you.After you left the service, you.
(10:38):
You taught at Northern StateUniversity, Both you and your wife
did. And more lately afterthat, you were a park ranger, part
of the National Park Service.So what became of that?
Yeah, I was teaching atNorthern State right after the Air
Force. I was teaching criminaljustice there. And then they gave
me a free hand to do what Iwanted so I could also do some Homeland
(11:00):
Security. I taught that class.I did some international law, which
is what my specialization wasin the Air Force. And, and, you know,
counterterrorism, that sort ofthing. So that was. That was fun.
When we bought our property inthe Hot Springs area of South Dakota,
southwest southern Black Hillsarea, there's a national park, Wind
(11:21):
Cave national park, about a 15minute drive north of here. And who
wouldn't want to work at anational park? It's just amazing
experience. So I applied for aposition there and was working as
a ranger until the. The Dogecuts. Elon went rampant, and we were
on the chopping block. I was aprobationary employee along with
a handful of other folks, andwe all expected to be fired. When
(11:44):
they were initially saying,we're going to let everybody go.
And it wasn't until the daythat they announced the firings that
we learned we were not firedbecause we all happened to be veterans.
So sitting back and watchingthat and seeing what was happening
to not only the National ParkService, but to all the other federal
entities where they were justrandomly firing people and chopping
the budgets and everything. Igot to thinking that I can do something
(12:06):
about this, potentially givenmy experience in 22 running. So that's
really kind of the motivatorto get back into this and try to
do what I can to restoresanity to how the government operates.
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's thesame again here in western North
Carolina. Our national parksand national forests are the lifeblood
of our economy. And certainlywhen Hurricane Helene hit, it's really
(12:28):
taken an impact on tourism,which has had a big impact on our
economy. But, you know, beforeHurricane Helene hit, the Park Service
and the Forest Service alreadyhad a $32 billion backlog of deferred
maintenance. And, you know,that's only getting worse. You know,
you can't say that we're goingto make it better by firing people
and cutting budgets, butthat's the argument they're trying
(12:51):
to make.
Yeah, that's. I experiencedthat same sort of backlog. The minor
issues at Wind Cave, wherethere's things that needed to be
done, there's no money to doit. And, of course, you look at the
staffing for the Park Servicenationally, and since 2010, they've
lost a huge percentage oftheir staff already. So they're operating
a little bit lean to beginwith, and then now we're going to
(13:12):
fire more of them. It's justcrazy. If you don't care about parks,
just say, I don't give a damnabout parks, and that's why we're
going to do this. ButAmericans, you know, having worked
the desk, Americans love thenational parks.
Right?
That category. I love thenational parks. The people that came
in love the national parks.And we would often hear of, like,
how you guys doing? And wewould get, you know, postcards. People
(13:34):
would just send postcards tothe. The rangers at Wind Cave saying,
hey, we're with you, and, youknow, we support you, and, you know,
what can we do for you? It wasvery gratifying to have that sort
of support.
Well, and. And then you put ontop of that the fact that Doge was
just a. A boondoggle. What wasthe purpose of Doge? Does anybody
(13:54):
know? Maybe one of ourlisteners can let us know what the
purpose of Doge, because itdidn't save any money. It ended up
costing, what, $12 billion orsomething like that. And everybody
they fired, they'vesubsequently had to rehire a bunch
of them. So sorry you've had.Had to be. Had to go through that,
Brian.
But.
(14:15):
So, Lieutenant Colonel, youhave Iowa background, smart enough
to get out and move to SouthDakota. As my friend James Mathis
says. What do you hunt up there?
Well, I've not. Not gotten toomuch into it. I was. I did pheasant
hunting when I was in Iowa,uh, growing up. So we got, you know,
(14:36):
east river has a lot ofpheasants out here. I'm still not
settled. I'm living in acamper at the moment. So there's
a fun fact. I'm just over ayear in a camper while my house is
under construction, so there'splenty out in the area where I am
now in terms of deer. You canget some elk tags. There's pheasant,
you know, not necessarilyright in this area, but not too far
(14:58):
away. So, yeah, I'm going tobe getting into it a little bit more
now that I'm in the area wherethere is things. My property has
deer coming across it aboutevery day, and we've got a gaggle
of wild turkeys that hang outand wander through every day as well.
Well, glad to hear every Iowaboy grew up pheasant hunting. I think
for the most part, I. Icertainly did with James Mathis,
(15:19):
who a good friend of mine wholives in. In Sioux Falls right now.
And. And actually my son andI, Nicholas Nico, who Mo has met
many times. We're heading upto go hunting with James. So maybe
we should invite you over tosee South Sioux Falls, join our hunting
party right around Thanksgiving.
Oh, nice.
(15:39):
Yeah. Yeah.
Have you been up there hunting before?
No, I haven't. I haven't. I'vebeen to Sioux Falls several times.
It's beautiful up there. Ilove it.
Yeah, Sioux Falls is a greatcity. Small but big. So, yeah, it's
got the hybrid situation going on.
Yeah, it's a. It's a. And it'sgrowing. So the other thing we want
(16:01):
to talk about was thiscampaign of yours. So how, first
of all, how can folks learnabout you? How could they donate
to your campaign? What's thebest way to do that?
Sorry, I have to turn off thefurnace there, so it's not as loud,
but.
Oh, that's all right.
That's okay. The website isbangsforsouthdakota.com and that
is b e n g s4south dakota.com.so we're in the process of getting
(16:25):
a policy platform up withinthe next probably week or so. So
it is. It is well developedfor what it is right now, but if
you're looking for specifics,they'll be there soon. But I encourage
everybody to check it out. Theapproach I'm trying to take is to
kind of remind people, SouthDakotans and Americans of who we
used to be. So I'm running onthe cowboy code of the west, which
(16:47):
you can kind of summarize astell the truth and take care of your
neighbors. And then there'ssome other points as well, but everybody
in South Dakota kind of thinksof themselves, like, oh, yeah, it's.
We're Old Westers, we'resettlers and that sort of thing.
And so I'm embracing thatbecause if we can, you know, get
everybody to act like that,things will turn out better.
Yeah, I agree. I agree 100%.Go back to the basics of taking care
(17:09):
of each other and pay yourfair share.
Yeah.
And as Tim Walz says mindyour own damn business.
Exactly.
Can you imagine if we didthat? We'd be in a different world
right now. But for somereason, these folks in Washington
right now think that they needto be in every part of our life,
which is, you know, I grew upin Iowa in the plains in the, you
(17:30):
know, the 70s and 80s, and theRepublicans mantra was government,
get off my back. Well,government is on everybody's back
right now in ways that wecould have never imagined. So tell
us a little bit about therace. Tell us about your Republican
opponent. Tell us, is theregoing to be a Democrat in the race
as well, or are we trying tohead that off?
(17:52):
Yeah, so Mike Rounds, he waskind of hedging for a bit. He's the
incumbent. He, this is, he'llbe running for his third term now.
He's a former governor of, ofSouth Dakota. And he, he's a yes
man fundamentally. So he doeswhat he's told. He's a good soldier
in that regard. And he willtell you with a straight face that,
like, oh, I'm looking out for,for regular people while he votes
(18:14):
to, to gut the Affordable Careact and to, you know, end Medicaid
and all this other stuff. Butso as an incumbent Republican, we
were just looking over his FECreports and he gets big money from
corporate packs and big moneydonors. We were comparing it to mine,
where my average donation is$30 and his is significantly more
(18:36):
from big dollar, big dollardonors. And there is in fact a Democrat
candidate as well, JulianBoudouan. He is, he is running and
I've spoken to him way backwhen and, you know, he's confident
that he can, he can do welland more power to him if he can.
I'm not running because Ithink I love running as a candidate.
(18:57):
I'm running because myexperience in 22 shaped my perception
of who can be competitive inSouth Dakota. And it, it wasn't a
Democrat, but, you know, Iguess hope springs eternal, so we'll
see.
Yeah, and, and Democrats arereally good at, you know, snatching
victory out of the mouth ofdefeat or whatever that phrase is.
(19:20):
It's just too bad theDemocrats can't think more strategically.
We have the same problem outhere in western North Carolina where
the Democrats would rather winand be right than win and. Yeah,
and I think it's a. It's atradition just across the party that,
you know, we try and. Try anddo the right thing, be the right
(19:42):
people, and if we lose, oh,shucks. Well, I think we're realizing
that, you know, we gotta get.We gotta get tougher. And Mo and
I have, you know, folks thatwill listen to this podcast know
that we tried to run campaignsthat way and we're tolerated by the
party here in West NorthCarolina. But so what. What else
do you think could help setyou apart from Rounds and from the
(20:06):
Democratic candidate and win?Because you seem like a. A perfect
fit for South Dakota. You'vegot the military background, you've
got the cowboy mentality oftake care of each other. You're an
educated guy. How do you. Howdo you break free from, you know,
(20:28):
all the money that round'sgoing to have in the Democrat?
Obviously, money is, you know,Colonel Davis, you ran, you know,
money is a key factor goingforward. So we are, as I said, I
think we're doing a little bitbetter. We've got a kind of a groove
down in terms of fundraising.So it seems like it's going better
this quarter and picking up.But fundamentally, my perception
(20:49):
as an independent is thatSouth Dakota is one of multiple states
where national party politicsisn't working for regular people.
Republicans take us forgranted, as evidenced by Mike Rounds
and John Thune and them notsaying a word about the tariffs despite
it, you know, basicallydestroying the soybean market and
the farmers that are growingthese crops that aren't going anywhere
(21:10):
because foreign governmentsare not allowing them to be purchased.
And then the Democratsbasically forget we exist at the
national level. So theapproach here is to try to sell the
idea that if you wantsomething that represents somebody
that represents you, regularpeople, and they do. I know that
again, because I've talked tothem, then an independent is going
(21:31):
to be the best sell for you,because the Republicans just are
happy with whatever thenational politics is, and they're
beholden to big money. So it'sa big money versus the little guy.
And the little guy alwayscomes out short of the stick here.
And so that's the fundamentalapproach here. And most South Dakotans,
they just don't see a Democratas a good alternative to a Republican.
(21:53):
They do, however, pretty muchsee themselves as fiercely independent.
And that's kind of what youmentioned with western North Carolina,
which is why they're willingto listen to an independent. The
standard approach of, I sawwhat happened to dan Osborne in 24.
And a little bit of what'shappening to me now is that the Republican
approach is like, no, no, no,he's a Democrat. You don't have to
(22:15):
listen to him because he's aDemocrat. So they don't want to engage
in the discussion of ideas.They just want to have you slotted
into the. He's a Democrat. SoI don't actually have to worry about
him because nobody wants tovote for a Democrat. And that's what
we're trying to pierce withthe independents is, no, here's the
ideas. And I'm different thana Democrat and I'm actually different
than a Republican as well.
Yeah, I was running, you know,again this time out here. I've dropped
(22:39):
out since then just because Iof money. I mean, it's unfortunate
that money is so ingrained inour political process, but that's
just a fact of life. But oneof the things I was trying to hit
on here, I mean, I think thekey to winning in places like South
Dakota or western NorthCarolina, if it comes down to a pick
(22:59):
between Democrat andRepublican, we just don't have the
numbers. Republicans are goingto win. But if we can make this a
race where the focus is you'reeither the rich or you're the rest,
and if you're part of therich, then this administration's
doing good things for you.You're going to get richer. But 90
plus percent of the populationare not rich. They're the rest and
(23:22):
they're the ones that arepaying the price for it. And no matter
how they try to paint it, youknow, cutting Medicaid, cutting snap,
you know, inflation is hurtingworking class people. In fact, that
was my campaign motto, waskicking ass for the working class
because we've neglected thosefolks for too long. And I think we
can make it a race where we'renot asking to pick Democrat or Republican.
(23:45):
You're picking between eitheryou're part of the rich or you're
part of the rest. And ifyou're part of the rest, then, you
know, you're on our team.
I, I agree. That's, that'sfundamentally the message that having
spoken to all the otherindependents that are running for
Senate, that's the samemessage. Everybody is, is saying
the same thing here, thatwe're getting screwed by the big
(24:06):
money interests.
Yep.
And the whole system isstructured so we can fight about
other things. Well, let'sfight about the culture wars and
then forget how the big moneyis picking your pocket.
Yeah.
The independent approach.Hopefully will allow us to kind of
cut through that culture warstuff and just go, look, here's the
deal as you highlighted. Whichparty are you? Are you ultra rich?
(24:28):
Then? Yeah, I guess you'reprobably not going to support me,
and I understand why. But ifyou're not ultra rich, then you should
be supporting me becauseyou're getting your pocket picked.
Yeah, yeah. You got to givethem credit. I mean, the billionaire
class has used their moneyeffectively to put out propaganda
to convince working classpeople that it's either your patriotic
(24:51):
duty or your religious duty tovote against your own interest.
Yeah.
And with one hand they'rewaving, oh, you know, transgender
athletes, and with the otherhand, they're picking your pocket,
you know, on issues that, youknow, in the grand scheme of things,
you know, I think for mostpeople, paying the rent or the mortgage
and putting food on the tableand being able to take their kid
to the doctor when they'resick are more important than where
(25:13):
people go to pee.
Yeah, that's, that's my take.But you've still got the die hards.
Like, no, that's that I'm asingle issue voter. And like, you
know, I was. I can't tell you.Maybe you had the same experience.
I was asked multiple times todefine a woman. How do you define
a woman? Like, okay, you guysare trained to just come up to people
and, and ask that. I'veliterally, in my life, never experienced
(25:36):
an issue where I had to go,whoa, are you a woman or a man? Because
it didn't matter. It did notmatter. Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, again, I think the otherside's done a really good job of
using their money effectivelyto persuade people to, you know,
hurt themselves and theirfamilies. We've got to, we've got
to do a better job ofmessaging because they've certainly
(25:56):
just beat us in that regard.Let me ask you, you know, as a, as
a retired military guy, what'syour take on? I mean, I think when
you and I served, the notionthat we'd be deployed to American
cities, to be on Americanstreets, to harass American citizens,
to shut them up was, Would beunimaginable. So what's your take
(26:19):
on what's happening with our military?
Yeah, I'm very worried aboutthat. I'm obviously opposed to deploying
military forces to a US City.Now I was in, I was at Barksdale
Air Force Base in Louisianawhen Katrina hit. And so New Orleans
was, was in dire strait, and Ivolunteered to go down there if they
needed people when I was onactive duty. And it didn't ultimately
(26:41):
need me, but they did sendsome groups down there and that I
would fully support, you know,going out to help people that you.
You can expect that. And ofcourse, that's legally permissible
as well. But when you'resending Marines into a city or you're
activating the National Guardto come use force or be seen as a
force against Americans, whatis that? I don't even understand,
(27:04):
like, particularly when you'vegot like the Portland situation where
they're wearing costumes nowto demonstrate how absurd the whole
war zone is.
Yeah, yeah, I enjoy it. Iguess it was last weekend they had
their naked bike ride and hadthousands of people. That kind of
hard to argue that you'recarrying a concealed weapon when
you got no clothes on.
So.
(27:25):
Let me ask, you know, yourbackground in international law.
You know, I guess for thefourth time now, the military has
blown up Venezuelan boats thatare alleged to be. To be drug boats.
What's your take on the extrajudicial killing of Venezuelans?
(27:50):
Yeah. As I understand it,their kind of rationale here that
they're trying to sell isthat, oh, we are in an armed conflict
with these drug cartels,which. That, that doesn't work for
any number of ways. So you cantry to make that argument, in which
case, if it was valid that thedrug cartels were an armed force
that were actually invadingus, then targeting them as they are
(28:12):
would be valid. But that is,of course, not the case. So, you
know, just randomly executingpeople because, hey, this looks good
and I can talk about it on thenews. And they're from Venezuela,
although I understand maybesome were actually Colombian. Now
we are. Are going toincreasingly become a pariah in the
international system that webuilt to hold countries accountable
(28:33):
for doing stuff like what weare now apparently doing.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It'sironic that if you look at the, you
know, after World War II, as,you know, you know, we led the effort
to create the GenevaConventions, the law of war, the
un, NATO, all those things,you know, the US Was the leading,
the driving force behindthose. And to see us now turn our
(28:56):
back on the things that, youknow, we work so hard to put into
place. It's just, you know, 10years ago would have been unimaginable.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. This isnot the same country that I grew
up in. You could not imaginewhat was happening. As you, as you
point out 10 years ago, thewhole. I've approached this from
(29:16):
the standpoint of, like, theUS Has a identity crisis right now,
of what do we want to do orwho are we? And so far, who we used
to be is apparently losing towho we could imaginarily be. The.
The strong country that doeswhatever it wants, and everybody
bows to our will, disregardall these rules that we set up for
(29:39):
a good purpose. So my take onthis is that if we're going back
into isolation, isolationism,unilateral isolationism, and the.
The old prior TO World War IIsystem of the might makes right.
We're in a nuclear weapon era.And that doesn't end well for everybody,
(29:59):
because when you get morecountries going, wow, I really need
a nuclear weapon, then you'vegot more problems for, wow, I really
need to use this nuclearweapon potentially. So this is not
the time to be regret goingback to what it used to be in the
19th century.
Yeah, yeah, I'm reallydisappointed that, you know, my first
court martial I ever did wasback in 1984. And my opponent, one
(30:23):
of my opponents was a youngcaptain from South Carolina named
Lindsey Graham. And so I'veknown him for, you know, 40, 41 years
and worked with him and JohnMcCain on the military Commissions
act when, you know, they werethe two Republicans pushing back
on the abuse of executiveauthority by the Bush administration.
(30:45):
And to see him, you know,capitulate now and, you know, bend
the knee to Trump and. AndRoger Wicker, you know, Roger Wicker
was in the. In the reserves,in the JAG Corps, was briefly assigned
to my office when I was the SJat Columbus Air Force Base. And,
you know, those are two guysthat I know know better, but they've
(31:08):
made the calculation that it'sin their interest to do Trump's bidding.
I mean, there are other peoplethat are just stupid and got sucked
into the whole MAGA thing,but, you know, those are at least,
you know, two of our formerAir Force JAG colleagues that know
better but have made thedecision to. To bend their values.
Yeah, I think I would say thatboth of the senators from South Dakota,
(31:32):
they're more of yourtraditional Republican, but they
are quite happy to remainsilent and do what they are told
to do now. So people who sellout their values for a position do
not deserve that position. Youshould. There should be a line somewhere
where, like, I will not. Iwill lose. You know, I do not agree
(31:52):
with Liz Cheney, but, youknow, I respect her completely for
what she did.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I,you know, when I was chief prosecutor
at Guantanamo, it was her dadthat, you know, was one of the prime
architects the torture policyand all that in Fact, you know, Liz
Cheney had blocked me onTwitter because of my criticism of
her dad. But like you said,I've got great respect, you know,
(32:17):
for her. And we've had. AdamKinzinger is on our show, you know,
several months ago, and, youknow, the two of them, you know,
had the courage of theirconvictions and, you know, paid the
price for it. But I'm bettingthey sleep pretty well at night fraving,
you know, stuck by their guns.
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Thoseare, you know, the profiles encourage
(32:39):
they. They embody that spirit,I would say.
So. Lieutenant Colonel, let'sgive folks your website one more
time so they can understandhow to get a hold of you and. And
potentially donate.
Okay. The website isbangsforsouthdakota.com and that
is B N G S for South Dakotadot com. And I'd also draw their
(33:00):
attention if anybody'sinterested. Brian. Bangs has a substack
where I publish articlesabout. Well, I publish discussions
of policy, you know, thingsthat are going on in the news. My
take on that. So there's a lotof different sources where they can
find me on Twitter, Facebook,you know, all that stuff.
Okay, great.
(33:20):
So it's Bangs. B E N G S forSouth Dakota. Folks. Go check Brian
out. If you're inclined,please send him a donation. I'm a
big fan of any way to beat theRepublicans. Let's do it. Brian's
a good guy and has served thiscountry honorably and extremely intelligent,
(33:41):
educated guy that I thinkwould do well in government. I also
want to. We have a traditionhere. Talking about our favorite
libation. Do you imbibe at allor a bourbon guy?
I. Well, I'm not so much intothe hard stuff, but, yes, I. I have.
(34:02):
I'm more of a routine beerdrinker, so. In the Black Hills.
We have some decent breweriesout here.
All right, let's highlight a couple.
As do we here in western North Carolina.
Well, yeah, I know that was.
That's right.
Mo. I visited Asheville of.There was so many breweries that.
That we went to.
Yeah.
But my favorite out here is.It's from Lost Cabin Brewing. It's
(34:23):
called Lord Grizzly. It's aScotch ale, and it's got some kick
to it. It's a, you know, morerobust beer. And it's just a really
nice thing to. To sit downwith a meal or just to have a beer
unto itself.
Oh, well, we'll have to. I'llcheck that out and see if we can
find it out in this part ofthe woods.
Hey, Brian. And. And the waywe got on this, this ending the show,
(34:45):
talking about alcohol. One ofour early guests was another Air
Force guy, Denver Riggleman,former congressman from Virginia.
And a few years back, he andhis wife started a distillery. So
that's how we've gotten on.It's got an Air Force connection
in a roundabout way, but itwas Denver Revelman that kind of
triggered this whole alcohol discussion.
(35:06):
I should add that my wife andI. Probably more so my wife, but
I also enjoy it. We alsoenjoy. It's not the Moscow Mule,
but it is the ginger beer. Andin lieu of vodka, we put in Jagermeister.
So it's a fuel. It's quite nice.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, that bring itback. Some fond early morning memories
(35:29):
of Iowa City, Jagenmeister.And some terrible mornings after
that. I didn't make class,but. So what was your hangout in
Iowa City when you were in lawschool there?
We spent a lot of time at the airliner.
All right. Yeah, that's aclassic, classic place. I love that
place.
Yeah, the pizza there wasoutstanding. And then the beer specials
(35:50):
were good, too.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, those weretimes long ago and. And certainly
we had a great time in. InIowa City as well, so. So do you
have kids, Brian?
I do. I have two daughters.The oldest, she went to. Well, she's
Air Force rotc, by the way, aswell. So she's. She benefited from
(36:12):
our time in Germany where shelearned German, because we just sent
her to the local school andlike, hey, go learn German. So she
learned German and was like,well, I like languages. And the Air
Force was willing to pay forher to learn Russian. So she went
to the University of Georgiadown in, you know, your neck of the
woods, where she was able toparticipate in the Russian language
flagship program that the DoDsponsors at a handful of universities
(36:33):
across the country. And she'sactually studying her capstone year
in Kazakhstan right now, whereshe is immersed in Russian to make
sure that she is, no kidding,professionally proficient with Russian
at the end of it.
Wow, that's terrific.
And your other daughter, myyoungest, is a sophomore at the University
of Northern Iowa, where she isstudying history, public history,
(36:55):
and public administration.She's interested in museum administration,
that sort of stuff, althoughshe has recently mentioned, like,
hey, should I consider lawschool? So that's a possibility as
well, potentially.
Well, that's great. That'sterrific. Well, we need more female,
intelligent lawyers, and so wewish her the best on that. And thank
(37:16):
you again for joining us.That's a wrap for this episode of
Muckyou. I'm David Wheelerhere with a big thanks to my partner
in crime, Colonel Mo Davis,for co hosting and keeping the conversation
just the right amount ofdanger. Huge thanks as well to Lt.
Col. Brian Bang, running forthe north or the South Dakota Senate.
(37:39):
I have one job to get itright, Brian, and I can't even get
it out of my mouth. So we'lltry that again one day. Thank you
for joining us. He's runningfor the United States Senate in South
Dakota. It's refreshing tohear from somebody who actually gives
a shot about this countryinstead of just serving up talking
points. If you liked what youheard today, hit subscribe, share
(38:02):
it with a friend and maybeeven an enemy. We're equal opportunity
truth tellers around here.Until next time, keep your coffee
strong, your facts stronger,and whatever you do, don't let anybody
muck with you.
This has been Muck you cohosted by colonel Mo Davis in Asheville
and David Williams Wheeler inSpruce Pine, North Carolina. Thanks
(38:23):
to our guest today, lieutenantcolonel Brian Bangs, candidate for
United States Senate in South Dakota.
Learn more about Lt. Col.Bang's campaign.
And donate at BS for SouthDakota.com muck you is produced by
American Muckrakers, copyright2025 and all rights are reserved.
Enjoy additional Muck youepisodes with Errol Musk, Anthony
(38:47):
Scaramucci, David Jolly, AdamKinzinger, Paul Bigala, Mark McKinnon
andothers@AmericanMokrakers.com Please
subscribe and support our workon Substack. Thanks for listening
and y' all come back for thenext episode of Muck you. You know
(39:28):
who made it? Sam.
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