Abraham Lincoln Made Thanksgiving a National Holiday and This Democrat Thinks He Got It Wrong

August 6, 2026 Cat2, The Media
Billion Photos via shutterstock

Gavin Newsom ordered 40 million Californians to skip Thanksgiving in 2020 – then got photographed at a $310-a-plate Napa Valley dinner without a mask that same week.

Now Wisconsin's Democrat frontrunner for governor just told CNN she still isn't sure the holiday should exist.

And Abraham Lincoln survived a Civil War to give America Thanksgiving – but Democrats can't survive one interview question about it.

The Tweet She Deleted and the Answer She Couldn't Give

In November 2020, Francesca Hong posted this to X: "Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621."

She called the holiday "the original superspreader event" and "colonialism."

Then she deleted it when a Wisconsin governor's race was on the line.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked her Monday night point blank: "Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled?"

Hong talked about being a chef.

She talked about making a Thanksgiving meal at age 16.

She talked about "bringing folks around the table."

Then she said this: "Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities."

She never said no.

Her actual answer was that "views can evolve" – which is politician-speak for "I still believe this but I know it will cost me votes."

The Holiday Democrats Have Always Hated

Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in October 1863 – in the middle of the Civil War, when the country was tearing itself apart.

He called on Americans to set aside one day to give thanks to God, tend to the wounded, and remember that the nation was worth saving.

Democrats have been trying to cancel it ever since.

That same November 2020, while Newsom was photographed maskless at an indoor dinner party, Lori Lightfoot told Chicagoans to "cancel traditional Thanksgiving plans" – days after she stood maskless in a crowd of thousands celebrating Biden's projected win.

And Francesca Hong was on Twitter calling for the holiday to be abolished entirely.

Same year. Same party.

Same contempt for the traditions that hold this country together.

Hong isn't an outlier.

She's the logical endpoint of what the Democrat Party actually believes about America.

This Is the Frontrunner Democrats Are Stuck With

Hong isn't some fringe protest candidate.

She leads the Democrat primary with 44 percent of likely voters, according to a July poll from Main Street Action.

She spent last weekend campaigning alongside Ilhan Omar and Hasan Piker – a streamer who once wore a Mao Zedong shirt while calling for moderates to be driven out of the Democratic Party.

She is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

She calls Trump's administration "authoritarians who aim to increase mass suffering."

She calls wealthy Americans the "Epstein class."

And when CNN handed her a free shot to put the Thanksgiving controversy behind her – all she had to do was say "no, I don't want to cancel Thanksgiving" – she couldn't do it.

Why Tom Tiffany Is Going to Win Wisconsin

Republican Tom Tiffany enters the general election with nearly $5 million on hand.

Prediction markets show the Wisconsin governor's race is now a dead heat – and Hong hasn't even survived her primary yet.

Republican odds have quadrupled since April.

Democrats dragged Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley back into the race specifically to stop her because they know what she is.

It didn't work.

Wisconsin is a swing state Trump won by less than a point in 2024.

Tiffany framed the race as a choice between "common sense" and "socialism."

A Democratic socialist who deleted a tweet calling for the cancellation of Thanksgiving – and then couldn't disavow it on national television – is not going to win a swing state in November.

Wisconsin voters are going to have something to say about that.

Sources:

  • Ian Hanchett, "Francesca Hong: Thanksgiving 'Incredibly Painful for Many', 'There Are Multiple Views, But Views Can Evolve'," Breitbart, August 3, 2026.
  • "Socialist frontrunner in the hot seat after 'Cancel Thanksgiving' post emerges online," Fox News, August 1, 2026.
  • "Main Street Action: New poll: Francesca Hong holds commanding lead in Wisconsin Democratic governor primary," WisPolitics, July 28, 2026.
  • Amy Curtis, "The Wisconsin Governor's Race Is Now a Dead Heat," Townhall, August 3, 2026.
  • "Lincoln Made Thanksgiving a National Holiday. Francesca Hong Wanted It Canceled," PJ Media, August 1, 2026.
  • "Chicago Mayor's Lockdown Orders, 'Canceling' of Thanksgiving Draw Pushback," Fox News, November 2020.
  • "Covid Flashback: Remember Gov. Newsom's 2020 Thanksgiving Stay-Home, No 'Gatherings', and Curfew Order," California Globe, 2025.