This was no costume - The businessman who appeared as Hitler

The man who appeared in a Des Moines bar dressed as Hitler and posed with laughing guests was no stranger. His name is Donnie Gardner, he lives in Johnston, Iowa, and runs the company D3 Carpet LLC in Ankeny, a suburb of the capital. The scene took place at the Miss Kitty’s Country Bar & Dance Nightclub, a well-known meeting place for country and line dancing in the western part of Des Moines.

Several guests took photos with Gardner, who posed in a black uniform with a swastika armband and a glued-on mustache, raising his arm in a Hitler salute. The venue apparently tolerated the costume, no one intervened. Only the following day did the photos appear - together with angry reactions from the region.

A regular at the bar said: “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Gardner is not expressing free speech - he is only showing his desire to freely behave like an asshole in public.” Others called for boycotts against D3 Carpet, publishing its business address and phone number. Within hours, Gardner’s Facebook profile was set to private. The outrage was not unfounded. Gardner’s own post shows him in costume with the remark that he had “made the snowflakes melt.” No hint of irony, no distancing, no attempt to explain the appearance as satire. It was a deliberate provocation, a common derogatory term for people who react sensitively to racist or fascist symbolism.

According to the commercial register, Gardner runs a flooring company in Ankeny and also works as a subcontractor for Nebraska Furniture Mart and Royal Flooring. It is unclear whether these companies will continue their cooperation. So far, neither D3 Carpet LLC nor Miss Kitty’s has responded to inquiries. Requests for comment from Gardner have also gone unanswered. In the region, embarrassment mixes with anger. “The man lives here, works here, and dresses up as a symbol of the greatest mass murder in history - and people still laugh about it,” said a young woman. Others accuse the bar of signaling complicity through inaction.

What remains is an incident that goes far beyond Halloween: a businessman who uses his public face to portray himself as a dictator. A venue that did not intervene. And a society that still has to learn that “freedom of speech” does not mean being able to celebrate the symbols of genocide without moral consequences. Gardner’s attempt to stage the outrage as proof of his “freedom” has shown above all that there are still places in Iowa and the United States where history has not been understood, where darkness becomes visible - how the Trump regime and right-wing populism bring out the worst in people.