A Wisconsin mother says she was shocked when her 8-year-old daughter was handed a bracelet reading “Is he dead yet?”—a reference to President Donald Trump—by a volunteer at a Democratic Party booth during a local farmers market in Oshkosh.
Katy Neubauer described the encounter during an appearance Thursday on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus, recounting how what began as a family outing turned into a disturbing incident involving political messaging directed at children.
The bracelet, according to Neubauer, was given out by a volunteer with the Winnebago County Democratic Party, which was operating a booth at the market.
“We were down at the farmer’s market having a conversation, my sister-in-law next to their booth and they had free children’s books out and bubbles blowing in the wind and the kids were having a great time and we didn’t think much of it and continued our conversation,” Neubauer told host Harris Faulkner.
“And out of the corner of my eye I see the man leaning over and giving one of our children a bracelet and I kinda waited for it.”
“I thought oh, this will be fun, you know, whatever,” Neubauer continued.
“But the child runs over, hands it to us and we both look down and my sister-in-law says I don’t really know what it says and I said it says, ‘Is he dead yet?’ and we both kind of look at each other in shock and I walk back over to the table and hand it back to him and I had said we don’t wear hate speech here. And I had to walk away because I was seething.”
This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year
The encounter came amid heightened political tensions following two failed assassination attempts against President Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Democrats had ramped up attacks in the final weeks of the race, with Kamala Harris calling Trump “a fascist” during an October 23 town hall on CNN and later describing him as “unstable” in a major campaign speech.
A Rutgers University survey published in April found that 56 percent of “left-of-center” respondents said assassinating Trump would be at least partially justifiable, highlighting a growing acceptance of political violence among some voters.
Neubauer said she later decided to confront the volunteers again after discovering more inappropriate bracelets.
“I went and continued and bought a few more items and then I decided to confront them a second time,” she said.
“So, at that point I started going through the bracelets and found others that contained not-so-nice language, including 8647, which I’m sure you’ve heard that one before.”
The “8647” reference—an online meme implying a desire for Trump’s death—gained national attention in 2021 when former FBI Director James Comey posted, then deleted, a beach photo featuring the number.
“I said are any of these appropriate for children? He said no, I suppose they’re not. And I said okay, then why are you handing them to my 8-year-old child?” Neubauer continued.
“I read off a couple others to them and he picked up the basket and said here, I will remove them then. I said okay, that would be a good start.”
The incident prompted swift action from market officials. Michelle Schmid-Schultz, manager of the Oshkosh Farmers Market, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the Winnebago County Democratic Party’s booth had been banned for the remainder of the 2025 season.
The group’s eligibility to return in future years will be reviewed in November.
Neubauer said she contacted the market immediately after the incident.
“I called the farmers market manager as I was walking home,” she said.
“We live very close to downtown, our kids actually have a farmer’s market booth every other week and we’re down there a lot and we know the manager and she was very kind and she said you aren’t the first person to call and complain about their booth today. In fact, there were about ten complaints total that particular day.”
The Oshkosh Police Department confirmed it had received multiple complaints related to the farmers market that day but did not indicate whether charges would be filed.
Local officials say they will revisit vendor policies to prevent future incidents involving political materials being distributed to children.
Read the full article here