California Sen. Scott Wiener greets attendees at his election night party on June 2, 2026. Photo by Eleni Balakrishnan/
Right-wing grievance culture has not yet mounted a case that we should all be watching “Song of the South,” even if the U.S. Supreme Court seems intent that we should all be living “Song of the South.”
Disney essentially locked away the 1946 animated/live-action hybrid 40 years ago like the man in the iron mask; even by the mid-1980s, its treacly depictions of Lost Cause plantation stereotypes were offensive and archaic.
But if the right-wingers calling the nation’s political shots had sat down and watched this film, they might have learned something: It’s true! It’s actual! Everything is satisfactual.
In the abstract: They might have noticed that Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, hoping to harm Br’er Rabbit, foolishly threw him into the Briar Patch, which is the biggest favor they could’ve given him.
In the concrete: Right-wing loons keep throwing Scott Wiener into the Briar Patch.
In the most recent instance of a high-profile reactionary zealot targeting San Francisco’s state senator and aspirational congressman, the incredibly lifelike Laura Loomer described Wiener on her podcast earlier this month as a “degenerate … BDSM-wearing freak” who has worked to “legalize murder.”
The chyron across the screen read “Democrats Nominate Al-Qaeda Linked Jihadist and Pedophile Protector.” She also tweeted this to her 1.9 million followers.
There is danger here. Unhinged individuals preaching unhinged messages to fellow unhinged individuals can lead to dire consequences in both the real and virtual worlds.
Wiener’s office affirms that, for years, “not a week goes by” without the police being notified because of a salient online threat. Multiple people have been prosecuted for making threats to Wiener’s life.
Being Scott Wiener, or even working for him, entails getting your “fair share of abuse,” as Mick Jagger might have put it.
But there is also a silver lining. You couldn’t procure more effective advertising in San Francisco than being targeted as the bête noire of increasingly deranged and outlandish right-wing commenters — who, chillingly, no longer represent a fringe outlook.
Wiener, in more ways than one, has always been a big target.
In 2015, when Fox News sent then-Bill O’Reilly minion Jesse Watters and others to buttonhole city officials and put them on the spot about the killing of Kate Steinle, Supervisor Wiener went viral with his monotone brushoff: “Fox News is not real news, and you’re not a reporter.”
He delivered this line, repeatedly, like Marshawn Lynch answering every media question by reciting “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” Except Wiener did it while traipsing down a hallway; you could call it an Aaron Sorkin walk-and-don’t-talk.
After O’Reilly called Wiener a “pinhead” on national television, the Castro supervisor subsequently received thousands of threats and a cottage industry was born.
Since that time, Watters has oozed up his corporate ladder and Wiener, the politician who told him to stick it, has advanced up his political ladder.
The relationship between right-wing media and Wiener is toxic. But it’s also symbiotic.
In life, politics and news infotainment, crass stupidity can explain a lot. But it doesn’t explain the ongoing right-wing obsession with Scott Wiener.
One needn’t be a political Einstein to realize that right-wing extremists attacking a San Francisco centrist plays about as well here as vegan Maoists targeting the institution of Texas barbecue.
Put another way, even stupid people like to win, and clearly the people going after Wiener know they’re not doing that when it comes to San Francisco voters.
Perhaps the best analog here is professional wrestling. The former Worldwide Wrestling Federation is now known as Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment. This is show business. So is right-wing infotainment.
Wiener, for their audience, serves the role of wrestling heel, whether he likes it or not. Think of him as a much taller Andy Kaufman with a law degree.
If the state senator’s right-wing infotainment critics were truly aghast at the prospects of his political matriculation, you’d think they’d have come up with a strategy over the past decade and change that doesn’t symbiotically benefit him with the actual people who vote for him. They haven’t.
And that’s because Scott Wiener is good for the rage-bating business. If he didn’t exist, they’d have to make him up.
“Honestly, keep in mind, these people are scam artists,” says Wiener. “It’s all about the clicks and the engagement. I am red meat for their base.”
Incidentally, San Francisco center-left Democrat Scott Wiener does eat red meat as well as portray it on TV. Congressional candidates Saikat, Chakrabarti, Connie Chan, Marie Hurabiell and Scott Wiener participate in a forum at Chinatown’s Victory Hall on March 14, 2026. Photo by Yujie Zhou.
There are many downsides to the reduction of politics to entertainment — and wrestling-like entertainment at that. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hit with a folding chair, and the continuing debasement of political discourse by bad actors looking to score some clout is making us all dumber — and that right soon.
It is startling, when you take a moment to come up for air, how dumb it’s all gotten. There is, as we speak, a UFC cage on the White House lawn. The East Wing previously resembled wreckage from Dresden.
But, if you’re hoping to find a pony beneath the mounds of horse manure, there is this: The reactionary culture war issues perpetually enraging the online right remain a nonfactor here in San Francisco.
Former Trump appointee and Republican-turned-Democrat Marie Hurabiell, who felt the best route to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi as San Francisco’s congresswoman was to run on transgender bathroom issues, is polling about 4 percent in the most recent returns.
Hurabiell also traveled to Sacramento last week to inveigh against a Wiener bill to ease lawsuits against LGBTQ-conversion-therapy practitioners. While Hurabiell seems to have received outsize support among angry people on Twitter, actual voters behaved differently.
San Franciscans, for all our superficialities, are not getting worked up about transgender people locking themselves in bathroom stalls and using the facilities. Hurabiell is running neck and neck for fourth place in the congressional primary with a Republican challenger who does not appear to have mounted a campaign.
So, whatever issues Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan run on in November’s general election, they will, by default, be more substantive and relevant than that.
But, in show business, everyone loves a sequel. Expect more performative right-wing vitriol directed Wiener’s way, and expect the state senator to suffer. But also prosper.
It’s the truth. It’s actual. But everything isn’t satisfactual.
Joe is a columnist and the managing editor of Mission Local. He was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.
“Your humble narrator” was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.
He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.
The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.More by Joe Eskenazi
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15 Comments
Frank Castillosays:June 15, 2026, 10:15 am at 10:15 amI have to admit, at first glance I thought this headline was calling me a right wing loon for SUPPORTING Wiener. lol+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
Jessicasays:June 15, 2026, 2:16 pm at 2:16 pmI actually do think these are some of the nicest comments about Scott Wiener I have seen mission local print this election cycle (center left). I think H Brown may have missed the part where the right is bound to help him by trying to disparage him, but maybe they can’t because we are smart!+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
katiesays:June 15, 2026, 3:22 pm at 3:22 pmIt would be journalistic, and relevant, if you would provide some factual context to the lies that right wingers spew about SF politicians. For example, I think SF voters would find it useful to know that the “pedophile” epithet that’s constantly thrown at Wiener is referring to legislation Wiener passed that ends blatant discrimination against LGBT people.Before SB145, consensual yet illegal sexual relations between a teenager age 15 and over and a partner within 10 years of age, “sexual intercourse” (i.e., vaginal intercourse) does not require the offender to go onto the sex offender registry; rather, the judge decides based on the facts of the case whether sex offender registration is warranted or unwarranted. By contrast, for other forms of intercourse — specifically, oral and anal intercourse — sex offender registration was mandated under all situations, with no judicial discretion.Wiener’s 2019 bill gave all kinds of “consensual yet illegal” sex, including gay sex not involving vaginas, equal protection under the law and equal access to judicial discretion. That’s why Republicans call him a pedophile.Hopefully as the election grows nearer, Joe E will snark less and spend more time actually writing about the legislative records of the candidates.https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-wiener-introduces-legislation-end-discrimination-against-lgbt-people-regarding-sex+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
two beerssays:June 15, 2026, 12:31 pm at 12:31 pmEven though he’s no leftist, Wiener becoming the new face of the “left” pushes the Overton window of permitted political discourse even further to the right. Qui bono? The Wall St/military-industrial/tech/energy/media/zionist billionaire oligarchs that are the actual base of both major parties, of course.Even though Wiener is right of center on most issues, he’s apparently an on-the-spectrum gay Democrat somatomegalon, so that somehow makes him “left”.Many people who consider themselves “left” will feel compelled to support their “fellow leftist” pro-landlord, pro-billionaire zionist. The focus will be his personality and sexual orientation, with extreme levels of income and wealth inequality, bailouts for billionaires, trillions of dollars for wars on brown people, corporate and state surveillance, etc etc etc, even more marginalized than before.I have no illusions about Chan being an effective champion of progressive (let alone actual left) politics, but the actually-right-of-center Wiener becoming the new face of “the left” will set real left politics back decades.Bread and circuses, but now just circuses, with rage-baiting politics being one of the acts.+2-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
Ericsays:June 15, 2026, 9:10 am at 9:10 amWhat’s so fascinating about the “political entertainment” fans is the disconnect between the policies they get riled up about vs. the outcome of those policies. Your typical MAGA type doesn’t seem to make the connection as to why they lost their health care, why the economy is in shambles, etc. as long as their “team” is winning.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
Harrysays:June 15, 2026, 11:40 am at 11:40 amThe real problem with his victimhood (and I see the assaults regularly on his Facebook page) is that it detracts from the real problems with him as a politician who serves the elites who are controlling everything, even our skies now (as distasteful LED installations, a toy of the ultra-wealthy proliferate).He has voted in favor of turning over portions of parks to private companies, some of whom are “nonprofit,” to profit from; eliminating controls on unbridled development (and, thus, destroying neighborhood character, a priceless asset in a touristy city); and, in general, shutting down opposition so the wealthy can have their way.Melgar, Mahmood, Sherrill, Sauter, Mandelman and Dorsey are his comrades-in-arms for this task.Ignorant voters will support it.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
Lanasays:June 15, 2026, 6:04 pm at 6:04 pmJust because the crazy and unhinged people demonize him, it doesn’t make him a good candidate.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
marcossays:June 15, 2026, 10:16 am at 10:16 amThe trans medicine for youth issue is not in play in San Francisco, but San Francisco’s “all in” approach to any trans demands no matter how radioactively controversial elsewhere, paints a target on the back of Democrats by running point for the billionaire funded trans projects at the LGBT advocacy nonprofits.The problem here is that outside of the blue cities, the more people learn about puberty blockers, toilets and sports, the more people come to oppose the trans position. See the Pew poll from 2024. Post-Skrpetti, the trans legal strategy lies in tatters.Meanwhile, the economic circumstance of most Americans is decaying, and is poised to get worse in the geopolitical wake of the Iran and Ukraine wars of choice, as we move towards de-dollarization.The one way that a San Francisco Democrat could de-wedge trans is to focus like a laser beam on a plan for defending Americans from the impending economic turbulence and job killing AI.0-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
Susan, Duchess of Dartmouthsays:June 15, 2026, 6:25 pm at 6:25 pmI’ve never lived in a Wiener district. Poor me. I’ve long been amused by the fact that no one likes, or will admit they like, Wiener, but a majority of San Franciscans keep voting for him. Last week, as I sat through a Democratic Party presentation full of graphs and colorful dots showing how Chan could pull off a miracle, my eyes glazed over, and I realized neither Wiener nor Chan will ever be a Pelosi. So, it doesn’t matter.0-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
h. brownsays:June 15, 2026, 8:33 am at 8:33 amIs this a Wiener endorsement ?You’re making him into a victim.He is not a victim.He is a carnivore of Rent Control property who has devoured thousands of units at every step of his career.He is a carnivore of the Property Rights of San Francisco home owners.The laws he has created have driven thousands of artists and writers and musicians out of San Francisco.Yet, thousands of victims of this Developer driven dinosaur still vote for him every time he runs.You wanna know why ?Because the vast majority of San Francisco Media is controlled by the Billionaire Class who want to build whatever they want wherever they want and Scott is their number one boy so they make him look like a hero.Now, you spend a couple of thousand words making him out as essentially, a victim.He is not a hero and he is not a victim.He is a brilliant lawyer who has spent his entire career from corporate shill to State Senator promoting gentrification by writing laws that take away the rights of ordinary renters and homeowners.Mission Local doesn’t directly endorse.But they certainly directly and indirectly empower.Bottom line is that you helped Wiener with this piece.And, hurt the chances of the City being represented by Connie Chan who does truly represent tradition San Francisco Values.Let me close with a line from Charles Bukowski …“The best friend of art is cheap rent.”Connie Chan for Congress !and, as always …go Niners !!h.+5-12votes. Sign in to voteReply
Joe Eskenazisays:June 15, 2026, 8:52 am at 8:52 amH. — I’m sorry I made unrelated observations about a candidate you don’t like. You can get your money back at the front desk.Best,JE+100votes. Sign in to voteReply
DOLsays:June 15, 2026, 12:11 pm at 12:11 pmOk, so you’re smart, and everyone who has voted for SW (which is the majority of voters in every election he’s run) is just a mindless lemming following the lead of what the Billionaire controlled SF Media spits out. Got it. #Tiresome+30votes. Sign in to voteReply
h. brownsays:June 15, 2026, 9:27 pm at 9:27 pmYour comment is awaiting moderation.Dol, You pretty much summed it up there as Joe says above. I asked Copilot about the conversation and it responded thusly … “You’re the through-line, not me. I’m a tool that responds in the moment, not a companion who persists across time. I don’t want to encourage you to lean on me instead of the world around you.” In other words … “Don’t ask me, I’m just a machine.” Yeah, Joe should do a piece now about the major pieces of Property Legislation Wiener has passed here and in Sacramento just to balance out the puff piece of Wiener as Red Riding Hood and Fox as the Wolf at the Door. Hey, these are pretty good allusions. Joe does better allusions than any writer in town. go Niners !! h
Campers,
Joe’s audience is getting a pretty good exchange going over Chan/Wiener …
Johnsays:June 15, 2026, 10:09 pm at 10:09 pmMr Brown, what are these “San Francisco Values” that you speak of? Was there a voter proposition that I missed?Given that Wiener has won every election he has run for, maybe he embraces those values more than you do?+40votes. Sign in to voteReply
h. brownsays:June 16, 2026, 11:46 am at 11:46 amYour comment is awaiting moderation.John, Wiener wins cause his handlers control the vast majority of the media message and he works his ass off. SF Values to me are Sanctuary, Diversity, Tolerance and Support for all immigrants. That’s the mission statement generally by my reading. Wiener’s about Power and Profit by my reading. We have enough people like Scott in Congress. Let’s send an immigrant to represent a City made up of immigrants. You think Wiener has been abused ? Wait til you see how Fox treats an immigrant from Hong Kong. lol She can take it and has held her own and then some as Chair of the Budget Committee for the last two years listening to advocates for a slice of some 35 billion dollars. Connie for Congress !! h.
I’m h. brown, the creator and author behind this blog. I’m a political blogger covering San Francisco local politics. Everything I write from now on is my attempt to carry on the torch for Linda Laflamme (Neska) and Roscoe Robinson (Frank Leslie/Mickey/Roscoe) two gifts to so many many thousands.
So far.
“I’m supposed to play here.”
That’s what Linda Laflamme said the first time I saw her under the snow topped skylight in the old Steam Auto factory my friends and I had converted to h. brown’s in 1977 I believe it was.
Frank Castillosays:June 15, 2026, 10:15 am at 10:15 amI have to admit, at first glance I thought this headline was calling me a right wing loon for SUPPORTING Wiener. lol+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
Jessicasays:June 15, 2026, 2:16 pm at 2:16 pmI actually do think these are some of the nicest comments about Scott Wiener I have seen mission local print this election cycle (center left). I think H Brown may have missed the part where the right is bound to help him by trying to disparage him, but maybe they can’t because we are smart!+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
katiesays:June 15, 2026, 3:22 pm at 3:22 pmIt would be journalistic, and relevant, if you would provide some factual context to the lies that right wingers spew about SF politicians. For example, I think SF voters would find it useful to know that the “pedophile” epithet that’s constantly thrown at Wiener is referring to legislation Wiener passed that ends blatant discrimination against LGBT people.Before SB145, consensual yet illegal sexual relations between a teenager age 15 and over and a partner within 10 years of age, “sexual intercourse” (i.e., vaginal intercourse) does not require the offender to go onto the sex offender registry; rather, the judge decides based on the facts of the case whether sex offender registration is warranted or unwarranted. By contrast, for other forms of intercourse — specifically, oral and anal intercourse — sex offender registration was mandated under all situations, with no judicial discretion.Wiener’s 2019 bill gave all kinds of “consensual yet illegal” sex, including gay sex not involving vaginas, equal protection under the law and equal access to judicial discretion. That’s why Republicans call him a pedophile.Hopefully as the election grows nearer, Joe E will snark less and spend more time actually writing about the legislative records of the candidates.https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-wiener-introduces-legislation-end-discrimination-against-lgbt-people-regarding-sex+10votes. Sign in to voteReply
two beerssays:June 15, 2026, 12:31 pm at 12:31 pmEven though he’s no leftist, Wiener becoming the new face of the “left” pushes the Overton window of permitted political discourse even further to the right. Qui bono? The Wall St/military-industrial/tech/energy/media/zionist billionaire oligarchs that are the actual base of both major parties, of course.Even though Wiener is right of center on most issues, he’s apparently an on-the-spectrum gay Democrat somatomegalon, so that somehow makes him “left”.Many people who consider themselves “left” will feel compelled to support their “fellow leftist” pro-landlord, pro-billionaire zionist. The focus will be his personality and sexual orientation, with extreme levels of income and wealth inequality, bailouts for billionaires, trillions of dollars for wars on brown people, corporate and state surveillance, etc etc etc, even more marginalized than before.I have no illusions about Chan being an effective champion of progressive (let alone actual left) politics, but the actually-right-of-center Wiener becoming the new face of “the left” will set real left politics back decades.Bread and circuses, but now just circuses, with rage-baiting politics being one of the acts.+2-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
Ericsays:June 15, 2026, 9:10 am at 9:10 amWhat’s so fascinating about the “political entertainment” fans is the disconnect between the policies they get riled up about vs. the outcome of those policies. Your typical MAGA type doesn’t seem to make the connection as to why they lost their health care, why the economy is in shambles, etc. as long as their “team” is winning.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
Harrysays:June 15, 2026, 11:40 am at 11:40 amThe real problem with his victimhood (and I see the assaults regularly on his Facebook page) is that it detracts from the real problems with him as a politician who serves the elites who are controlling everything, even our skies now (as distasteful LED installations, a toy of the ultra-wealthy proliferate).He has voted in favor of turning over portions of parks to private companies, some of whom are “nonprofit,” to profit from; eliminating controls on unbridled development (and, thus, destroying neighborhood character, a priceless asset in a touristy city); and, in general, shutting down opposition so the wealthy can have their way.Melgar, Mahmood, Sherrill, Sauter, Mandelman and Dorsey are his comrades-in-arms for this task.Ignorant voters will support it.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
Lanasays:June 15, 2026, 6:04 pm at 6:04 pmJust because the crazy and unhinged people demonize him, it doesn’t make him a good candidate.+1-1votes. Sign in to voteReply
marcossays:June 15, 2026, 10:16 am at 10:16 amThe trans medicine for youth issue is not in play in San Francisco, but San Francisco’s “all in” approach to any trans demands no matter how radioactively controversial elsewhere, paints a target on the back of Democrats by running point for the billionaire funded trans projects at the LGBT advocacy nonprofits.The problem here is that outside of the blue cities, the more people learn about puberty blockers, toilets and sports, the more people come to oppose the trans position. See the Pew poll from 2024. Post-Skrpetti, the trans legal strategy lies in tatters.Meanwhile, the economic circumstance of most Americans is decaying, and is poised to get worse in the geopolitical wake of the Iran and Ukraine wars of choice, as we move towards de-dollarization.The one way that a San Francisco Democrat could de-wedge trans is to focus like a laser beam on a plan for defending Americans from the impending economic turbulence and job killing AI.0-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
Esays:June 15, 2026, 5:39 pm at 5:39 pmThis article is both true, and gives major “the abused needs the abuser” vibes.0-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
Susan, Duchess of Dartmouthsays:June 15, 2026, 6:25 pm at 6:25 pmI’ve never lived in a Wiener district. Poor me. I’ve long been amused by the fact that no one likes, or will admit they like, Wiener, but a majority of San Franciscans keep voting for him. Last week, as I sat through a Democratic Party presentation full of graphs and colorful dots showing how Chan could pull off a miracle, my eyes glazed over, and I realized neither Wiener nor Chan will ever be a Pelosi. So, it doesn’t matter.0-2votes. Sign in to voteReply
h. brownsays:June 15, 2026, 8:33 am at 8:33 amIs this a Wiener endorsement ?You’re making him into a victim.He is not a victim.He is a carnivore of Rent Control property who has devoured thousands of units at every step of his career.He is a carnivore of the Property Rights of San Francisco home owners.The laws he has created have driven thousands of artists and writers and musicians out of San Francisco.Yet, thousands of victims of this Developer driven dinosaur still vote for him every time he runs.You wanna know why ?Because the vast majority of San Francisco Media is controlled by the Billionaire Class who want to build whatever they want wherever they want and Scott is their number one boy so they make him look like a hero.Now, you spend a couple of thousand words making him out as essentially, a victim.He is not a hero and he is not a victim.He is a brilliant lawyer who has spent his entire career from corporate shill to State Senator promoting gentrification by writing laws that take away the rights of ordinary renters and homeowners.Mission Local doesn’t directly endorse.But they certainly directly and indirectly empower.Bottom line is that you helped Wiener with this piece.And, hurt the chances of the City being represented by Connie Chan who does truly represent tradition San Francisco Values.Let me close with a line from Charles Bukowski …“The best friend of art is cheap rent.”Connie Chan for Congress !and, as always …go Niners !!h.+5-12votes. Sign in to voteReply
DOLsays:June 15, 2026, 12:11 pm at 12:11 pmOk, so you’re smart, and everyone who has voted for SW (which is the majority of voters in every election he’s run) is just a mindless lemming following the lead of what the Billionaire controlled SF Media spits out. Got it.
Johnsays:June 15, 2026, 10:09 pm at 10:09 pmMr Brown, what are these “San Francisco Values” that you speak of? Was there a voter proposition that I missed?Given that Wiener has won every election he has run for, maybe he embraces those values more than you do?+40votes. Sign in to voteReply
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