The Cowboy Code: Lt. Col Brian Bangs' Vision for South Dakota's US Senator

David Wheeler: 00:00:00

Well, welcome back to mucu, folks.

This is David Wheeler in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, and I'm here with my good buddy and co host Colonel Moe Davis, who, as I like to point out, is married up to his lovely wife Lisa. She's the fortunate one out of this whole deal Moe has put up with me and Lisa doesn't.

So I'll throw it over to Moe to introduce our special guest today.

Col Moe Davis: 00:00:26

Well, thanks, David. And welcome back, everybody. And it's a beautiful day here in western North Carolina. So what a change from a year ago.

We are all still digging out from Hurricane Helene, so we got a lot to be thankful for. As David said, we got another great show for you today.

You know, we kind of alternate back and forth between political candidates and, you know, folks in the news and that kind of stuff.

And so today we've got someone who's thrown their hat in the ring to, to run for office out in South Dakota is Brian Bings, who like me, is a retired Air Force JAG officer running for Senate in South Dakota is an independent. And Brian, thank, thanks for joining us this morning.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:01:13

Oh, thank you guys for having me. I appreciate the invitation.

Col Moe Davis: 00:01:15

Yeah. All right. So what, what, what got you into the Senate race out there in South Dakota in the Black Hills?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:01:21

Well, I don't know if you know, but in, in 22, I ran before, so this is the second go round, having learned a lot the first time. So in just by way of complete background here, I registered as an independent when I was 18 in, in Iowa where I grew up.

And I was a registered independent my entire life until the fall of 21 when I decided to run for office the first time.

And I was motivated initially by the fact of January 6th that I watched Americans beating law enforcement officers with poles and chanting for the murder of the vice president.

And then I saw the South Dakota Democrats pretty much set up to give John Thune, the current majority leader of the Senate, a free pass without anybody running against him in 22. So, you know, as, as someone who is not a multimillionaire myself, you can't really run as an independent unless you can self finance.

So I changed my registration to a Democratic Party and took off from there. Running as a Democrat learned a whole bunch.

One of the big things that I learned was that I would go up to people every I go up to people wearing Trump hats and literally tell them, introduce myself as a candidate and say I'm going to guarantee with 100% certainty that you and I will agree on at least two. But probably three things. Then I'd run down my list, Boom, boom, boom. And they're nodding along. Typically it's all three at the end.

I would go, okay, can I count on your vote in November? We've agreed on, you know, basically everything here. And then the first question out of their mouth was, so, what are you.

Col Moe Davis: 00:02:50

Yeah.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:02:51

And when I say, well, I was a lifelong independent, but I'm run as a Democrat, I more often than not heard the I'll never vote for a Democrat.

And that was the big lesson for me, is that that ended the conversation that people would not engage with you just because of the letter next to your name. That's the state of our politics right now. So I.

After the election, I returned back my registration to independent, and I still feel the same threat exists today for the future of the Republic. So that's why I'm running again as an independent, having learned quite a bit the first time, as I said.

Col Moe Davis: 00:03:22

actly what you mean. I ran in: 2020

Like, like I was saying, we both served in the JAG Corps, we both went to GW, got our. Our LLMs from there.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:03:39

Yeah.

Col Moe Davis: 00:03:40

You know, and when I was running people out, and I think that, you know, the demographic, you know, in western North Carolina is probably pretty similar to South Dakota, you know, pretty conservative. And like you said, people would, you know, you could talk about the issues, and they would just, you know, yep, yep, yep, yep.

Like that, like that, like that. And then when they found that you're a Democrat, it's like, I ain't voting for a Democrat just. Just because of the.

Of the letter, you know, next to the name. So, you know, and you're not alone, you know, in your running as an independent. I know Dan Osborne out in Nebraska.

You know, he's gotten a good bit of attention. You know, he, like you. He ran before, and he's running again as an independent, and it seems like that's what people want.

e something that works in the: 2026

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:04:45

Yeah, that's. That's what we're thinking.

I obviously, I paid close attention to Dan's race, and I actually spoke to him before I decided to do this again to kind of compare notes, his experience running in 24 versus my experience running in 22 and my experience in 22 was like, I'm never doing that again. It was just a horrible, draining experience.

And he was very positive about running as an independent and, and noted to me that there were people with Trump signs and his sign and people 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 are actually four independents in the race right now for Senate.

There's Osborne in Nebraska, Todd Achilles in Idaho, me in South Dakota, and Ty Pinkins in Mississippi. And we, we have spoken, and we're kind of all of the same mindset.

We're all veterans of the same mindset of there's a core structural issues that we need to fix to make the government work for regular people again. So we're calling ourselves kind of like the fulcrum group of.

If you get a handful of independents, say four or five independents in the Senate, and given the.

How closely divided it is, if we can deny the majority to either party, then we can actually kind of force some good changes to the system that we're not seeing with the either side majority pinging back and forth.

Col Moe Davis: 00:06:05

All right, how's it working? I know, you know, both parties have a pretty well organized, you know, logistical support system and fundraising systems and all that.

You know, they make. It seems like they make it difficult for. For an independent to run.

So how are you finding the change, having run as a Democrat last time, independent this time in terms of logistics and fundraising and that kind of stuff?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:06:28

Yeah, it's. It is more of a challenge inherently. Independents do have more of a challenge because of the nature of the structural system.

So the system is designed to force you into one of the two camps. So it is more challenging.

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 of an independent, particularly given Dan Osborne's success and the prospect of actually having somebody that wants to make some structural changes. So they're receptive to that?

Col Moe Davis: 00:07:00

Well, hopefully, you know, things certainly aren't working the way it's going, but it seems like there's a lot of, like you were saying, it seems like Democrats and Republicans hate each other, but they hate even more the thought of a third party or another player in the game rather compete against each other than have to compete against, you know, a third or fourth option.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:07:23

Oh, absolutely. The, the South Dakota laws.

For me to get on the ballot, I have to get roughly twice as many signatures on a nominating petition as either the Republican or the Democratic candidate. And that's obviously by design.

I don't know what reason it would serve other than like, we really do not want anybody else to be on the ballot other than these two groups. So the system is designed to prevent this competition. But then in, in South Dakota, independents are the second largest voting bloc.

They're now ahead of Democrats.

And nationally, if you look at the numbers, independents, you know, counting the whole country, are the largest group of registered voters at, you know, 40 plus percent. So they're well more than Democrats or Republicans.

Col Moe Davis: 00:08:07

Yeah, it's the same way here in North Carolina. The biggest group here, they're called unaffiliated rather than independent.

But the biggest group, 42% of the voters are unaffiliated voters in North Carolina. So it's. The Republicans have held pretty steady at about 30%.

But, you know, the, the attrition has come on the Democratic side where people have switched from being Democrats to being unaffiliated. And yeah, I think this says a lot about folks just being disillusioned with party politics.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:08:38

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Col Moe Davis: 00:08:40

So what are the big issues that you're, you're trying to, to hit on, to get folks to come over on onto your side?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:08:47

Well, the, well, the, the broad theme that we think, I think everybody agrees because I, when I talk to people in 22, everybody would agree with me that billionaires should pay a higher tax rate than people who work for a living. So the broad theme is that big money has corrupted the system.

They buy the politicians, the lobbyists, the corporations, everything, and regular people are, are getting the shaft. So that is the broad theme. And then we're going to run out with healthcare. Everybody recognizes that's a problem.

So the, you know, the opponent that I have, Mike Rounds, he is 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, cut Medicaid and Medicare funding.

So rural hospitals are going to take it on the chin and we're going to see that soon. So people are concerned about that.

And then the ACA premium, stipends, tax credits, that's also an issue that people are concerned about because South Dakota is one of the highest states that are looking at premium increases at, I think it was 235% is what we're looking at next year for people that buy their insurance through the ACA market.

Col Moe Davis: 00:09:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, those are the same issues we're facing here because, know, we're a pretty rural area.

And it's projected that in North Carolina, five rural hospitals will close because of the Medicaid cuts. And two of those five are out here in the mountains of western North Carolina, where we already have a shortage of health care providers.

So this notion that, hey, we're strengthening the health care system is just, you know, nonsense. But a lot of people are buying into it.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:10:23

Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, the consequences will come home to roost and people go like, well, what's wrong with this?

Glad I didn't vote for a damn Democrat that was trying to fix it, I guess.

Col Moe Davis: 00:10:33

Yeah. Hey, listen, I know you. After you left the service, you. You taught at Northern State University, Both you and your wife did.

And more lately after that, you were a park ranger, part of the National Park Service. So what became of that?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:10:50

Yeah, I was teaching at Northern State right after the Air Force. I was teaching criminal justice there. And then they gave me a free hand to do what I wanted so I could also do some Homeland Security.

I taught that class. I did some international law, which is what my specialization was in the Air Force. And, and, you know, counterterrorism, that sort of thing.

So that was. That was fun.

When we bought our property in the Hot Springs area of South Dakota, southwest southern Black Hills area, there's a national park, Wind Cave national park, about a 15 minute drive north of here. And who wouldn't want to work at a national park? It's just amazing experience.

So I applied for a position there and was working as a ranger until the. The Doge cuts. Elon went rampant, and we were on the chopping block.

I was a probationary employee along with a handful of other folks, and we all expected to be fired. When they were initially saying, we're going to let everybody go.

And it wasn't until the day that they announced the firings that we learned we were not fired because we all happened to be veterans.

So sitting back and watching that and seeing what was happening to not only the National Park Service, but to all the other federal entities where they were just randomly firing people and chopping the budgets and everything. I got to thinking that I can do something about this, potentially given my experience in 22 running.

So that's really kind of the motivator to get back into this and try to do what I can to restore sanity to how the government operates.

Col Moe Davis: 00:12:18

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's the same again here in western North Carolina. Our national parks and national forests are the lifeblood of our economy.

And certainly when Hurricane Helene hit, it's really taken an impact on tourism, which has had a big impact on our economy. But, you know, before Hurricane Helene hit, the Park Service and the Forest Service already had a $32 billion backlog of deferred maintenance.

And, you know, that's only getting worse. You know, you can't say that we're going to make it better by firing people and cutting budgets, but that's the argument they're trying to make.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:12:52

Yeah, that's. I experienced that same sort of backlog. The minor issues at Wind Cave, where there's things that needed to be done, there's no money to do it.

Service nationally, and since: 2010

If you don't care about parks, just say, I don't give a damn about parks, and that's why we're going to do this. But Americans, you know, having worked the desk, Americans love the national parks.

David Wheeler: 00:13:25

Right?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:13:26

That category. I love the national parks. The people that came in love the national parks. And we would often hear of, like, how you guys doing?

And we would get, you know, postcards. People would just send postcards to the.

The rangers at Wind Cave saying, hey, we're with you, and, you know, we support you, and, you know, what can we do for you? It was very gratifying to have that sort of support.

David Wheeler: 00:13:44

Well, and. And then you put on top of that the fact that Doge was just a. A boondoggle. What was the purpose of Doge? Does anybody know?

Maybe one of our listeners can let us know what the purpose of Doge, because it didn't save any money. It ended up costing, what, $12 billion or something like that. And everybody they fired, they've subsequently had to rehire a bunch of them.

So sorry you've had. Had to be. Had to go through that, Brian.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:14:13

But.

David Wheeler: 00:14:15

So, Lieutenant Colonel, you have Iowa background, smart enough to get out and move to South Dakota. As my friend James Mathis says. What do you hunt up there?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:14:28

Well, I've not. Not gotten too much into it. I was. I did pheasant hunting when I was in Iowa, uh, growing up.

So we got, you know, east river has a lot of pheasants out here. I'm still not settled. I'm living in a camper at the moment. So there's a fun fact.

I'm just over a year in a camper while my house is under construction, so there's plenty out in the area where I am now in terms of deer. You can get some elk tags. There's pheasant, you know, not necessarily right in this area, but not too far away.

So, yeah, I'm going to be getting into it a little bit more now that I'm in the area where there is things. My property has deer coming across it about every day, and we've got a gaggle of wild turkeys that hang out and wander through every day as well.

David Wheeler: 00:15:11

Well, glad to hear every Iowa boy grew up pheasant hunting. I think for the most part, I. I certainly did with James Mathis, who a good friend of mine who lives in. In Sioux Falls right now. And.

And actually my son and I, Nicholas Nico, who Mo has met many times. We're heading up to go hunting with James.

So maybe we should invite you over to see South Sioux Falls, join our hunting party right around Thanksgiving.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:15:38

Oh, nice.

David Wheeler: 00:15:39

Yeah. Yeah.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:15:40

Have you been up there hunting before?

David Wheeler: 00:15:42

No, I haven't. I haven't. I've been to Sioux Falls several times. It's beautiful up there. I love it.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:15:49

Yeah, Sioux Falls is a great city. Small but big. So, yeah, it's got the hybrid situation going on.

David Wheeler: 00:15:56

Yeah, it's a. It's a. And it's growing. So the other thing we want to talk about was this campaign of yours. So how, first of all, how can folks learn about you?

How could they donate to your campaign? What's the best way to do that?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:16:11

Sorry, I have to turn off the furnace there, so it's not as loud, but.

David Wheeler: 00:16:14

Oh, that's all right.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:16:15

That's okay. The website is bangsforsouthdakota.com and that is b e n g s4south dakota.com.

so we're in the process of getting a policy platform up within the next probably week or so. So it is. It is well developed for 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. The approach I'm trying to take is to kind of remind people, South Dakotans and Americans of who we used to be.

So I'm running on the cowboy code of the west, which you can kind of summarize as tell the truth and take care of your neighbors. And then there's some other points as well, but everybody in South Dakota kind of thinks of themselves, like, oh, yeah, it's.

We're Old Westers, we're settlers and that sort of thing. And so I'm embracing that because if we can, you know, get everybody to act like that, things will turn out better.

David Wheeler: 00:17:05

Yeah, I agree. I agree 100%. Go back to the basics of taking care of each other and pay your fair share.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:17:12

Yeah.

David Wheeler: 00:17:12

And as Tim Walz says, mind your own damn business.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:17:16

Exactly.

David Wheeler: 00:17:16

Can you imagine if we did that? We'd be in a different world right now.

But for some reason, these folks in Washington right now think that they need to be in every part of our life, which is, you know, I grew up in Iowa in the plains in the, you know, the 70s and 80s, and the Republicans mantra was government, get off my back. Well, government is on everybody's back right now in ways that we could have never imagined. So tell us a little bit about the race.

Tell us about your Republican opponent. Tell us, is there going to be a Democrat in the race as well, or are we trying to head that off?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:17:52

Yeah, so Mike Rounds, he was kind of hedging for a bit. He's the incumbent. He, this is, he'll be running for his third term now. He's a former governor of, of South Dakota.

And he, he's a yes man fundamentally. So he does what he's told. He's a good soldier in that regard.

And he will tell you with a straight face that, like, oh, I'm looking out for, for regular people while he votes to, to gut the Affordable Care act and to, you know, end Medicaid and all this other stuff. But so as an incumbent Republican, we were just looking over his FEC reports and he gets big money from corporate packs and big money donors.

We were comparing it to mine, where my average donation is $30 and his is significantly more from big dollar, big dollar donors. And there is in fact a Democrat candidate as well, Julian Boudouan.

He is, he is running and I've spoken to him way back when and, you know, he's confident that he can, he can do well and more power to him if he can. I'm not running because I think I love running as a candidate.

I'm running because my experience in 22 shaped my perception of who can be competitive in South Dakota. And it, it wasn't a Democrat, but, you know, I guess hope springs eternal, so we'll see.

David Wheeler: 00:19:10

Yeah, and, and Democrats are really good at, you know, snatching victory out of the mouth of defeat or whatever that phrase is. It's just too bad the Democrats can't think more strategically.

We have the same problem out here in western North Carolina where the Democrats would rather win and be right than win and. Yeah, and I think it's a. It's a tradition just across the party that, you know, we try and.

Try and do the right thing, be the right 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 that will listen to this podcast know that we tried to run campaigns that way and we're tolerated by the party here in West North Carolina. But so what. What else do you think could help set you apart from Rounds and from the Democratic candidate and win? Because you seem like a.

A perfect fit for South Dakota. You've got the military background, you've got the cowboy mentality of take care of each other. You're an educated guy. How do you.

How do you break free from, you know, all the money that round's going to have in the Democrat?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:20:30

Obviously, money is, you know, Colonel Davis, you ran, you know, money is a key factor going forward. So we are, as I said, I think we're doing a little bit better. 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 as an independent is that South Dakota is one of multiple states where national party politics isn't working for regular people.

Republicans take us for granted, as evidenced by Mike Rounds and John Thune and them not saying a word about the tariffs despite it, you know, basically destroying the soybean market and the farmers that are growing these crops that aren't going anywhere because foreign governments are not allowing them to be purchased. And then the Democrats basically forget we exist at the national level.

So the approach here is to try to sell the idea that if you want something that represents somebody that represents you, regular people, and they do.

I know that again, because I've talked to them, then an independent is going to be the best sell for you, because the Republicans just are happy with whatever the national politics is, and they're beholden to big money. So it's a big money versus the little guy. And the little guy always comes out short of the stick here. And so that's the fundamental approach here.

And most South Dakotans, they just don't see a Democrat as a good alternative to a Republican. They do, however, pretty much see themselves as fiercely independent.

And that's kind of what you mentioned with western North Carolina, which is why they're willing to listen to an independent. The standard approach of, I saw what happened to dan Osborne in 24.

And a little bit of what's happening to me now is that the Republican approach is like, no, no, no, he's a Democrat. You don't have to listen to him because he's a Democrat. 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. So I don't actually have to worry about him because nobody wants to vote for a Democrat.

And that's what we're trying to pierce with the independents is, no, here's the ideas. And I'm different than a Democrat and I'm actually different than a Republican as well.

Col Moe Davis: 00:22:34

Yeah, I was running, you know, again this time out here. I've dropped out since then just because I of money.

I mean, it's unfortunate that money is so ingrained in our political process, but that's just a fact of life.

But one of the things I was trying to hit on here, I mean, I think the key to winning in places like South Dakota or western North Carolina, if it comes down to a pick between Democrat and Republican, we just don't have the numbers. Republicans are going to win.

But if we can make this a race where the focus is you're either the rich or you're the rest, and if you're part of the rich, then this administration's doing good things for you. You're going to get richer. But 90 plus percent of the population are not rich. They're the rest and they're the ones that are paying the price for it.

And no matter how they try to paint it, you know, cutting Medicaid, cutting snap, you know, inflation is hurting working class people. In fact, that was my campaign motto, was kicking ass for the working class because we've neglected those folks for too long.

And I think we can make it a race where we're not asking to pick Democrat or Republican. You're picking between either you're part of the rich or you're part of the rest. And if you're part of the rest, then, you know, you're on our team.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:23:52

I, I agree. That's, that's fundamentally the message that having spoken to all the other independents that are running for Senate, that's the same message.

Everybody is, is saying the same thing here, that we're getting screwed by the big money interests.

David Wheeler: 00:24:07

Yep.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:24:07

And the whole system is structured so we can fight about other things. Well, let's fight about the culture wars and then forget how the big money is picking your pocket.

Col Moe Davis: 00:24:18

Yeah.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:24:18

The independent approach. Hopefully will allow us to kind of cut through that culture war stuff and just go, look, here's the deal as you highlighted. Which party are you?

Are you ultra rich? Then? Yeah, I guess you're probably not going to support me, and I understand why.

But if you're not ultra rich, then you should be supporting me because you're getting your pocket picked.

Col Moe Davis: 00:24:38

Yeah, yeah. You got to give them credit.

I mean, the billionaire class has used their money effectively to put out propaganda to convince working class people that it's either your patriotic duty or your religious duty to vote against your own interest.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:24:55

Yeah.

Col Moe Davis: 00:24:56

And with one hand they're waving, oh, you know, transgender athletes, and with the other hand, they're picking your pocket, you know, on issues that, you know, in the grand scheme of things, you know, I think for most people, paying the rent or the mortgage and putting food on the table and being able to take their kid to the doctor when they're sick are more important than where people go to pee.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:25:15

Yeah, that's, that's my take. But you've still got the die hards. Like, no, that's that I'm a single issue voter. And like, you know, I was. I can't tell you.

Maybe you had the same experience. I was asked multiple times to define a woman. How do you define a woman? Like, okay, you guys are trained to just come up to people and, and ask that.

I've literally, in my life, never experienced an issue where I had to go, whoa, are you a woman or a man? Because it didn't matter. It did not matter. Yeah.

David Wheeler: 00:25:42

Yeah.

Col Moe Davis: 00:25:43

Well, again, I think the other side's done a really good job of using their money effectively to persuade people to, you know, hurt themselves and their families. We've got to, we've got to do a better job of messaging because they've certainly just beat us in that regard.

Let me ask you, you know, as a, as a retired military guy, what's your take on?

I mean, I think when you and I served, the notion that we'd be deployed to American cities, to be on American streets, to harass American citizens, to shut them up was, Would be unimaginable. So what's your take on what's happening with our military?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:26:21

Yeah, I'm very worried about that. I'm obviously opposed to deploying military forces to a US City. Now I was in, I was at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana when Katrina hit.

And so New Orleans was, was in dire strait, and I volunteered to go down there if they needed people when I was on active duty.

And it didn't ultimately need me, but they did send some groups down there and that I would fully support, you know, going out to help people that you. You can expect that. And of course, that's legally permissible as well.

But when you're sending Marines into a city or you're activating the National Guard to come use force or be seen as a force against Americans, what is that?

I don't even understand, like, particularly when you've got like the Portland situation where they're wearing costumes now to demonstrate how absurd the whole war zone is.

Col Moe Davis: 00:27:12

Yeah, yeah, I enjoy it. I guess it was last weekend they had their naked bike ride and had thousands of people.

That kind of hard to argue that you're carrying a concealed weapon when you got no clothes on.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:27:23

So.

Col Moe Davis: 00:27:25

Let me ask, you know, your background in international law. You know, I guess for the fourth time now, the military has blown up Venezuelan boats that are alleged to be. To be drug boats.

What's your take on the extra judicial killing of Venezuelans?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:27:50

Yeah. As I understand it, their kind of rationale here that they're trying to sell is that, oh, we are in an armed conflict with these drug cartels, which.

That, that doesn't work for any number of ways.

So you can try to make that argument, in which case, if it was valid that the drug cartels were an armed force that were actually invading us, then targeting them as they are would be valid. But that is, of course, not the case. So, you know, just randomly executing people because, hey, this looks good and I can talk about it on the news.

And they're from Venezuela, although I understand maybe some were actually Colombian. Now we are.

Are going to increasingly become a pariah in the international system that we built to hold countries accountable for doing stuff like what we are now apparently doing.

Col Moe Davis: 00:28:36

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It's ironic that if you look at the, you know, after World War II, as, you know, you know, we led the effort to create the Geneva Conventions, the law of war, the un, NATO, all those things, you know, the US Was the leading, the driving force behind those. And to see us now turn our back on the things that, you know, we work so hard to put into place.

It's just, you know, 10 years ago would have been unimaginable.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:29:05

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. This is not the same country that I grew up in. You could not imagine what was happening. As you, as you point out 10 years ago, the whole.

I've approached this from the standpoint of, like, the US Has a identity crisis right now, of what do we want to do or who are we? And so far, who we used to be is apparently losing to who we could imaginarily be. The.

The strong country that does whatever it wants, and everybody bows to our will, disregard all these rules that we set up for a good purpose. So my take on this is that if we're going back into isolation, isolationism, unilateral isolationism, and the.

The old prior TO World War II system of the might makes right. We're in a nuclear weapon era.

And that doesn't end well for everybody, because when you get more countries going, wow, I really need a nuclear weapon, then you've got more problems for, wow, I really need to use this nuclear weapon potentially. So this is not the time to be regret going back to what it used to be in the 19th century.

Col Moe Davis: 00:30:15

artial I ever did was back in: 1984

And so I've known him for, you know, 40, 41 years and worked with him and John McCain on the military Commissions act when, you know, they were the two Republicans pushing back on the abuse of executive authority by the Bush administration. And to see him, you know, capitulate now and, you know, bend the knee to Trump and. And Roger 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 SJ at Columbus Air Force Base. And, you know, those are two guys that I know know better, but they've made the calculation that it's in their interest to do Trump's bidding.

I mean, there are other people that are just stupid and got sucked into the whole MAGA thing, but, you know, those are at least, you know, two of our former Air Force JAG colleagues that know better but have made the decision to. To bend their values.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:31:26

Yeah, I think I would say that both of the senators from South Dakota, they're more of your traditional Republican, but they are quite happy to remain silent and do what they are told to do now. So people who sell out their values for a position do not deserve that position. You should. There should be a line somewhere where, like, I will not.

I will lose. You know, I do not agree with Liz Cheney, but, you know, I respect her completely for what she did.

Col Moe Davis: 00:31:57

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I, you know, when I was chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, it was her dad that, you know, was one of the prime architects the torture policy and all that in Fact, you know, Liz Cheney had blocked me on Twitter because of my criticism of her dad. But like you said, I've got great respect, you know, for her. And we've had.

Adam Kinzinger is on our show, you know, several months ago, and, you know, the two of them, you know, had the courage of their convictions and, you know, paid the price for it. But I'm betting they sleep pretty well at night fraving, you know, stuck by their guns.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:32:34

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Those are, you know, the profiles encourage they. They embody that spirit, I would say.

David Wheeler: 00:32:42

So. Lieutenant Colonel, let's give folks your website one more time so they can understand how to get a hold of you and. And potentially donate.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:32:52

Okay. The website is bangsforsouthdakota.com and that is B N G S for South Dakota dot com. And I'd also draw their attention if anybody's interested. Brian.

Bangs has a substack where I publish articles about. Well, I publish discussions of policy, you know, things that are going on in the news. My take on that.

So there's a lot of different sources where they can find me on Twitter, Facebook, you know, all that stuff.

Col Moe Davis: 00:33:19

Okay, great.

David Wheeler: 00:33:20

So it's Bangs. B E N G S for South 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 the Republicans.

Let's do it. Brian's a good guy and has served this country honorably and extremely intelligent, educated guy that I think would do well in government.

I also want to. We have a tradition here. Talking about our favorite libation. Do you imbibe at all or a bourbon guy?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:33:58

I. Well, I'm not so much into the hard stuff, but, yes, I. I have. I'm more of a routine beer drinker, so. In the Black Hills.

We have some decent breweries out here.

David Wheeler: 00:34:08

All right, let's highlight a couple.

Col Moe Davis: 00:34:09

As do we here in western North Carolina.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:34:11

Well, yeah, I know that was.

David Wheeler: 00:34:12

That's right.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:34:13

Mo. I visited Asheville of. There was so many breweries that. That we went to.

David Wheeler: 00:34:18

Yeah.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:34:19

But my favorite out here is. It's from Lost Cabin Brewing. It's called Lord Grizzly. It's a Scotch ale, and it's got some kick to it. It's a, you know, more robust beer.

And it's just a really nice thing to. To sit down with a meal or just to have a beer unto itself.

David Wheeler: 00:34:35

Oh, well, we'll have to. I'll check that out and see if we can find it out in this part of the woods.

Col Moe Davis: 00:34:40

Hey, Brian. And. And the way we got on this, this ending the show, talking about alcohol.

One of our early guests was another Air Force guy, Denver Riggleman, former congressman from Virginia. And a few years back, he and his wife started a distillery. So that's how we've gotten on.

It's got an Air Force connection in a roundabout way, but it was Denver Revelman that kind of triggered this whole alcohol discussion.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:35:06

I should add that my wife and I. Probably more so my wife, but I also enjoy it. We also enjoy. It's not the Moscow Mule, but it is the ginger beer.

And in lieu of vodka, we put in Jagermeister. So it's a fuel. It's quite nice.

Col Moe Davis: 00:35:23

Yeah.

David Wheeler: 00:35:24

Yeah. Well, that bring it back. Some fond early morning memories 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 law school there?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:35:41

We spent a lot of time at the airliner.

David Wheeler: 00:35:43

All right. Yeah, that's a classic, classic place. I love that place.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:35:47

Yeah, the pizza there was outstanding. And then the beer specials were good, too.

David Wheeler: 00:35:51

Yeah. Yeah. Well, those were times long ago and. And certainly we had a great time in. In Iowa City as well, so. So do you have kids, Brian?

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:36:02

I do. I have two daughters. The oldest, she went to. Well, she's Air Force rotc, by the way, as well. So she's.

She benefited from our time in Germany where she learned German, because we just sent her to the local school and like, hey, go learn German. So she learned German and was like, well, I like languages. And the Air Force was willing to pay for her to learn Russian.

So she went to the University of Georgia down in, you know, your neck of the woods, where she was able to participate in the Russian language flagship program that the DoD sponsors at a handful of universities across the country.

And she's actually studying her capstone year in Kazakhstan right now, where she is immersed in Russian to make sure that she is, no kidding, professionally proficient with Russian at the end of it.

David Wheeler: 00:36:45

Wow, that's terrific.

Lt. Colonel Brian Bengs: 00:36:47

And your other daughter, my youngest, is a sophomore at the University of Northern Iowa, where she is studying history, public history, and public administration. She's interested in museum administration, that sort of stuff, although she has recently mentioned, like, hey, should I consider law school?

So that's a possibility as well, potentially.

David Wheeler: 00:37:07

Well, that's great. That's terrific. Well, we need more female, intelligent lawyers, and so we wish her the best on that. And thank you again for joining us.

That's a wrap for this episode of Muckyou.

I'm David Wheeler here with a big thanks to my partner in crime, Colonel Mo Davis, for co hosting and keeping the conversation just the right amount of danger. Huge thanks as well to Lt. Col. Brian Bang, running for the north or the South Dakota Senate.

I have one job to get it right, Brian, and I can't even get it out of my mouth. So we'll try that again one day. Thank you for joining us. He's running for the United States Senate in South Dakota.

It's refreshing to hear from somebody who actually gives a shot about this country instead of just serving up talking points. If you liked what you heard today, hit subscribe, share it with a friend and maybe even 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.

Suzie Muckraker: 00:38:16

This has been Muck you co hosted by colonel Mo Davis in Asheville and David Williams Wheeler in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Thanks to our guest today, lieutenant colonel Brian Bangs, candidate for United States Senate in South Dakota.

Suzie Muckraker: 00:38:29

Learn more about Lt. Col. Bang's campaign.

Suzie Muckraker: 00:38:32

merican Muckrakers, copyright: 2025

Enjoy additional Muck you episodes with Errol Musk, Anthony Scaramucci, David Jolly, Adam Kinzinger, Paul Bigala, Mark McKinnon and others@AmericanMokrakers.com Please subscribe and support our work on Substack. Thanks for listening and y' all come back for the next episode of Muck you. You know who made it? Sam.