Welcome to the 574th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Dan Bongino, a former member of the NYPD and Secret Service as well as a carpet-bagger extraordinaire who has, in each of the past three elections, lost in an effort to get elected to office. In his first back in 2012, he failed to get into the U.S. Senate in Maryland. In his second in 2014, he failed to get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. And in 2016, Bongino decided to try his luck at running for U.S. House of Representatives again, but this time, way down in Florida’s 19th Congressional District.
Now, it was pretty clear that Bongino was pretty hard to the right from the jump. After all, his campaign website through the years had his stance on abortion being that he defined life from “conception until natural death”, and he actually advocated for a “flat tax” that most economic experts would take one quick look at and know it would wreck the American economy as well as the budget deficit. I mean, those are extreme policies, it’s not like Bongino gave any other sign that he was off-kilter, right? I mean, other than him actually campaigning at the Heritage Foundation on wondering where President Obama was on the night of Benghazi (which Obama’s whereabouts are totally verifiable and all).
Well, there how he responded to a story in the Naples Daily News as being “propaganda” and when he had Marc Caputo, a reporter from Politico contact him for a follow-up on that statement, Bongino decided to go ahead and level an extended, profanity-laced tirade while he was being recorded. All Caputo did so set him off was point out the fact that most of Bongino’s campaign donations were coming in from donors outside of his proposed district in Florida’s 19th, and the next thing you know, Bongino was trying to just talk over him before snapping, and then cursing a blue streak and making veiled threats at him.
BONGINO:“You don’t understand this story is a pinnacle of a series of narratives the Naples Daily News has put out from day one. I’ve already said this.”
CAPUTO: “But Dan, listen, you’re not making sense here. I was clearly referring to the story and then you refused to answer and started talking about some Tweet that had nothing to do with the actual question.”
BONGINO: “You need to drop an Adderall and talk to the candidate.”
CAPUTO: “If I can… you can’t understand because you’re not listening.”
BONGINO: “Slow down. I assure you. I hear exactly and I know what you’re trying to do.”
CAPUTO: “I’m trying to get you to answer a question, which you refuse to do.”
BONGINO: “WHAT’S THE QUESTION? WHAT’S THE QUESTION?”
CAPUTO: “Where’s the propaganda here? It seems like it’s a pretty straightforward story.”
*crosstalk*
CAPUTO: “You didn’t even let me finish. You didn’t let me ask the question. I know you’re angry, Dan, I understand…”
BONGINO: “No, Marc, I’m not angry.”
CAPUTO: “Yes, you are. That’s why you blocked me on Twitter. You’re angry that I just asked a simple question. Well, that’s fine. But again, I asked you a simple question about the ‘propaganda’ here-”
BONGINO: “What are you not getting?”
CAPUTO: “I’m not getting you not answering the question. That’s what I don’t get. I don’t get why you can’t answer the question.”
BONGINO: “You’re just going to keep talking. You’re just non-stop. It’s like verbal diarrhea. They call this a word salad when you’re in graduate school studying parapsychology.”
CAPUTO: “Okay well-”
BONGINO: “Slow down and listen and maybe you’ll get the answer.”
CAPUTO: “Do me a favor, answer my question first, and then you can continue with your slurs and insults. So where- Where in the story is there propaganda- No… Let me ask the question ― I’ll handle the questions and you handle the answers.”
BONGINO: “You don’t give me orders, you piece of s***, you understand? You piece of s***.”
CAPUTO: “Now you’re swearing? Good lord. I’ll handle the questions, and you handle the answers.
*crosstalk*
CAPUTO: Okay… you’re still not answering the question. We’ve been on the phone now-”
BONGINO: “Ask your question.”
CAPUTO: “Okay… are you going to interrupt me?”
BONGINO: “Ask your question.”
CAPUTO: “Where is the propaganda here, in this story? It seems pretty straight forward.”
BONGINO: “Again, for the fifteenth time, we do not have one donor in the district and we have communicated this information to the Naples Daily News.”
CAPUTO: “That’s not in that story he’s linking to. You’re not answering my question about THAT story.”
BONGINO: “Marc you’re not interested in anything You’re a total bulls*** artist with zero credibility.”
CAPUTO: “You’re really angry and you’re swearing Dan. You shouldn’t get so angry. Why don’t you just answer the question and be honest about it?”
BONGINO: “You don’t like the answers.”
CAPUTO: “Because you’re not answering my question, you’re inventing a different question.”
BONGINO: “You don’t… see, here’s the problem. You’re a hack, and now that you’ve been called on your hackery, you’re embarrassed.”
CAPUTO: “Um… no. You’re embarrassed because you can’t answer the question. Just to clarify… in this story… you can’t point to any propaganda in it?”
BONGINO: “We have communicated this information to the Naples Daily News, to which I have replied. I have actual screen shots.”
CAPUTO: “Hang on, let me look at my actual e-mail while we’re on the phone… Okay, you claim you’ve replied to me, but I don’t have this e-mail. So… once again, you’re telling me something that’s just not checking out, Dan. You’re not being straightforward with me. Now I understand if you’ve got a problem with other stories-”
BONGINO: “I’ll send you this e-mail because your IQ-level is not high enough to comprehend what I’m telling you, so I’m going to send it to you.”
CAPUTO: “I’m smart enough to when someone can’t answer the question and starts throwing around terms, and slurs, and swearing and raising his voice. I understand that.”
BONGINO: “Marc listen, you can go f*** yourself.”
CAPUTO: “Oh? You’re so angry.”
BONGINO: “You’re a loser. Let me tell you something… my higher following has been developed. Hating on people like you who try bulls*** like this with me.”
CAPUTO: “You’re really… you’re really…”
BONGINO: “So are you going to hurt me when you going to write this?”
CAPUTO: “It sounds like I’m hurting you, because you’re yelling and you’re swearing at me, Dan. Okay, listen-”
BONGINO: “You’re a loser. You write for a loser paper. Nobody cares. You lie about me. You-”
CAPUTO: “What lie did I say about you?”
BONGINO: ”And my audience is far bigger than yours and frankly, I’m worried that I-.
CAPUTO: “Listen, we’re all very, I’m very impressed- I’m very impressed that you have a big audience and that you need to brag about that.”
BONGINO: “You should be. Until both of us got paid in our private life to do this…I don’t anymore, but your audience is far smaller than mine.”
CAPUTO: “It seems like you get paid to campaign, you dropped like $1200 at Outback Steakhouse. Are you living off of your campaign donations?”
BONGINO: “No, I actually have my New York Times Bestselling Book, unlike you.”
CAPUTO: “Well it looks… it looks like you’re actually kind of like a professional candidate. So you ran and lost in Maryland, then you ran and lost for another House seat there. Did you lose in Maryland? How many times did you lose in Maryland? How many times did you lose in Maryland? You’re not going to answer that question, either?”
BONGINO: “Let me read to you from a presidential campaign: ‘Caputo is an ***hole, always. He thinks he is a part of the story.”
CAPUTO: “Are you going to answer the question?”
BONGINO: “That’s from a presidential campaign. That’s you.”
CAPUTO: “All right.”
BONGINO: “That’s from a presidential campaign, I kid you not. Caputo is an ***hole. That’s your reputation.”
CAPUTO: “So… great. Again-.”
BONGINO: “It’s great for me. Not for you.”
CAPUTO: “How many races did you lose in Maryland?”
BONGINO: “I lost two. How many have you run in?”
CAPUTO: “And how many… now you’re running for 19-”
BONGINO: “You get paid to write about people like me. You don’t have the balls to do it yourself.”
CAPUTO: “I don’t have the balls to run losing campaigns? And to live off the campaign money?”
BONGINO: “You talk about people inside the box and will never get in yourself, and then write lies about them.”
CAPUTO: “You still haven’t specified what the lie is.”
BONGINO: “You’re the very definition of a loser. You’re a loser. You’re life’s loser. You write about what other people do. You’ve never done what I’ve done. The Secret Service would laugh at a guy like you.”
CAPUTO: “Well, you did- you did- You did leave the Secret Service under strange circumstances, right?”
BONGINO: “Yeah, that’s right, I was 56 out of 56, right? The perfect score. I also put out a block piece out publishing my departure notice. Dan Bongino was exceptional. You missed that, too, you loser?”
CAPUTO: *laughing*
BONGINO: “You are such a loser. You’re such a discredit-”
CAPUTO: “You are so angry because you’re not answering the question. You’ve lost two races in Maryland….”
BONGINO: “I’m angry because… you’re not capable of asking. You’re not capable of comprehending the answer to the question.”
CAPUTO: “We’ve already established you’re not going to answer the question of what was wrong in this story specifically.”
BONGINO: “Marc, I am going to humiliate you from this point. You are now Chapter 4 of my book. And unlike you-”
CAPUTO: “Do me a favor? My first name? Spell it with a ‘C’, if you don’t mind. ”
BONGINO: “We’ve had a conversation, and I’m going to make you an example. You are going to regret the day we had this conversation.”
CAPUTO: “Okay… I will- If you want to threaten me and swear at me, you’re free to do that. ”
BONGINO: “I promise you, you will rue the day you lied about me.”
CAPUTO: “I didn’t lie about you, Dan. You still haven’t said what the lie is.”
BONGINO: “You’re a liar.”
CAPUTO: “What’s the lie?”
BONGINO: “You’re nothing but a liar hack journalist.”
CAPUTO: “What’s the lie?”
BONGINO: “You’ve got nothing. You can’t accept the quote that ‘Caputo is an ***hole. Always, he thinks he is a part of the story.’ Ignore this loser.”
CAPUTO: “I can accept that people are critical of me. It seems like you’re unable to accept-”
BONGINO: “No, they’re not critical of you. They say you’re an ***hole. That’s different.”
CAPUTO: “Well, I would say that’s critical.”
BONGINO: “You’re an ***hole.”
CAPUTO: “In your world, that’s not critical, I guess.”
The whole ugly thing goes on for, no joke, over seventeen minutes, where Bongino berates Caputo non-stop, including telling him “you were the guy that got beat up a lot in high school, huh?” or “The Secret Service would fire people like you, because you were so pathetic and you’d have to go into journalism”, or “You’re a real disgusting piece of s***.” Towards the end of the phone call, Bongino realized that maybe this audio getting to the public would be a bad thing, and threatened to sue Caputo for recording him without his consent. Unfortunately for Bongino, Caputo has a message dialogue where he told him the call would be recorded, and Bongino agreeing… so Bongino was pretty boned on the PR front on this. At the 15:44 mark, it gets really real, and you get Bongino screaming:
As you might expect, the good people of Florida’s 19th District did not think having Capt. Sweary McSaltypants as their next Congressman was a good idea, and Bongino failed to even advance out of the primary, finishing a distant third with only 15.7% of the vote. Perhaps after three straight election losses, Bongino might not resurface to run for any office in 2018, if ever again. In the meantime, he’s been a regular guest on InfoWars and the Alt-Right media to predict things like that Hillary Clinton will be indicted, and of late he’s been trying to back up Donald Trump’s claims that President Obama did the “wire-tapps” to Trump. It’s looking more and more like he’s going off the rails in a great many ways, and could prove to be politically toxic in the long run. Hopefully, that means the Republican Party will stop allowing him to speak on their behalf and run for office under their banner, in any event.