The
fact is that it took little time for Republican
pundits, politicians, influencers and other
right-wing sycophants to blame Democratic
politicians and liberals for the assassinations of
Minnesota
politicians and
couple, Mark and Melissa Hortman. Indeed,
partisan politics emerged as several Republican
politicians, among them J. D. Vance, Tim Scott,
Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Steve Scalise,
(whose life a Black, liberal, lesbian police
officer saved), blamed the shootings on the “far
left” and liberals’ continual demonization of
President Trump.
Others
on the right avidly jumped into the political
fray. Right-wing social media personality Mike
Cernovich, with 1.5 million followers, amplified
the falsehood that Governor Tim Walz ordered the
assassination. Cernovich has yet to remove the
post and has continued to promote bogus claims,
posting that “Democrats know they are now seen
as the party of political violence, so their
propaganda agents are trying to shift the blame.
It won’t work.” Laura “loony” Loomer, far-right
conspiracy theorist and Trump whisperer, posted
that “Walz’s goons are now assassinating
lawmakers who support legislation Walz opposes”
and denounced the Democratic Party as “a
terrorist organization.” Moreover, Loomer and
others on the right also tried to link the
suspected assassin Vance Luther Boelter to the
“No Kings” protests against the Trump
administration.
Elon
Musk, a Trump “frenemy” and frequent poster of
unproven right-wing claims, enhanced the
narrative to his 200 million followers,
quote-tweeting claims that “the left” killed
Hortman and saying, “the far left is murderously
violent.” Viva Frei, a far-right Twitter user
with more than 700,000 followers, posted a
thread casting doubt on Boelter being a Trump
supporter. Her account initially continued to
post about the shootings, attempting to link Tim
Walz to Boelter and his wife, Jennifer.
Such
nonsensical and despicable lies overlook
indisputable evidence of Boelter’s authentic
political leanings: his roommate David Carlson
told reporters that Boelter voted for Trump and
“was a strong supporter” of the president. Other
longtime friends told local media Boelter was
right leaning. His recorded sermons expose his
extremist views. In a sermon he delivered in
Congo a few years ago, he is documented as
stating “The churches are so messed up, they
don’t know abortion is wrong.” He ranted against
LGBTQ+ people as “confused,” claiming “the enemy
has gotten so far into their mind and their
soul.” His alleged hit list included abortion
providers, pro-choice advocates and other
Democratic politicians. His most recent voter
registration indicated that he was a registered
Republican in Oklahoma in 2004.
Police
captured Boelter,
57, on June 15 (Father’s Day) after allegedly
murdering Hortman, a Democratic house speaker,
and her husband. He also wounded John Hoffman, Minnesota-assassination-democrats a
state senator, and his wife. Wearing a mask, the
suspect reportedly went to the homes of the
state lawmakers in the early hours of Saturday
morning disguised as a police officer. According
to the DOJ, he allegedly first drove to the
Hoffmans’ home and repeatedly shot them after
they tried to close the door on him. The gunman
later went to the Hortmans’ home and killed
them. His actions were devious, disturbing,
alarming, and sinister, to put it mildly.
The
truth is that the Republican Party of 2025 is
alarmingly and tragically duplicative of the
Democratic Party of the 1850s: callous,
arrogant, confrontational, violent, and prone to
dishonest messaging and propaganda. The primary
issue of that era was slavery. Today, the
dissension is stratified across several issues,
including immigration, race, states’ rights,
abortion, sexuality, free speech, and religious
freedom.
The
current Republican Party has become so
rapacious, barbarous, and amoral in its blind
thirst for power that it seems determined to
attack and, if possible, overturn any social
movements and political norms established in our
constitution’s fabric. The party is willing,
even eager, to disregard if not outright replace
or dismiss any organization, laws, or movements
not conducive to its agenda. We have already
seen the GOP engage in this sort of undemocratic
activity with the voter registration and
education laws they have enacted in various
state legislatures. The far right’s acrimonious
rhetoric betrays an undeniable truth: they are
terrified and aware their current political
stronghold will erode if they are unable to
manipulate the laws and future elections. Thus,
they are attempting to establish a form of
minority rule. As many left-wing activists have
observed, such retrograde antics are a form of
“Jim Crow 2.0” In fact, some scholars have
argued that November 5, 2024 was the end of
America’s second reconstruction (1964–2024). I
hope they are wrong.
Fear,
resistance, and anxiety permeate the current
political climate. Things certainly are tense
and depressingly adversarial but, in my opinion,
redeemable. Those of us committed to maintaining
equality and equal rights for all citizens as
opposed to a select few are facing an uphill
battle, but we must continue to fight and
fiercely agitate against such repressive forces.
We can and must do it.
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