Early on the Saturday morning of June 14, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a DFLer, and her husband Mark were brutally killed in their Brooklyn Park home. Two days later, Vance Luther Boelter was arrested. Boelter stands accused also of savagely attacking Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, also a DFLer, and his wife Yvette in their Champlin home, earlier that same morning. Sen. Hoffman took nine bullets and Yvette eight. Both, miraculously, are expected to survive.
Minnesotans were shocked, just as they were shocked when Minnesotan Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, was gunned down on the streets of New York City in December, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Thompson lived in Maple Grove, which borders Champlin and Brooklyn Park. That makes three targeted assassinations and assassination attempts of prominent north-metro citizens in less than seven months.
All these cases are horrific and should be equally condemned by all.
Unfortunately, these attacks are being used by political extremists of all types to further warped ideologies.
For example, hours after the shootings in Minnesota, right-wing extremist Elon Musk posted on X that, “The far left is murderously violent”. He also reposted the claims that, “The left kills the CEO of United Healthcare … (and) now kills a MN state rep and her husband and injures a Senator and his wife. The left has become a full blown domestic terrorist organization.”
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones echoed Musk’s view by posting on his Infowars site , “Exclusive: Evidence Mounts that the Reported Minnesota Assassin Vance Luther Boelter is a Patsy Who is Being Framed to Cover Up a Larger False Flag Deep State Operation.”
The very tragic thing is that millions of Americans believe such nonsense because of the fractured nature of our political sphere today. A friend of mine, for example, within hours of the Brooklyn Park executions, texted me that he thought it could be a false-flag operation to make President Donald Trump look bad. Of course, my friend is a very big Trump supporter and extreme X fan.
This same dangerous nonsense has been paralleled by extremists on the left. Shortly after the tragic death of CEO Brian Thompson, a commentary by Arwa Mahdawi at The Guardian implied he deserved to be killed. Mahdawi wrote, “Thompson was the face of an unfair system that has screwed millions of people over. … Many people seem to think Thompson got what he deserved.” While she also wrote she did not personally condone the killing, Mahdawi did not condemn those who felt he had it coming.
This was as irresponsible as Musk’s and Jones’ comments. Both sides are encouraging violence against the other. This must stop.
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The day following the shootings in Minnesota, I was texted by another friend that the right-wing MAGA movement and Trump killed the Hortmans because of the violent rhetoric they embrace. She went on to note that Boelter, from everything we know, only targeted Democrats. She also insisted that Trump would probably pardon the terrorist because he supports political violence, and he already pardoned the criminals who participated in the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Such hyper-anxiety is not warranted and is also a sign of the severe fractures in our political landscape. So many seem to be on edge and ready to assume the worst based upon extreme ideological tendencies.
Such divisive political delusion reminds me of L. Frank Baum’s book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” In it, everyone living in the Emerald City has to wear green-tinted glasses, the wizard’s way of making them all feel they lived in a beautiful emerald city when, in fact, it was no different than any other place.
Today, a large portion of our population seems to be wearing either red- or blue-tinted glasses representing the extreme political perspectives within the Republican and Democratic parties. It’s time to take off those extremist spectacles and see the world for what it really is: a place where everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and where no one should use violence or violent rhetoric to support their causes — not ever.
Dave Berger of Maple Grove, Minnesota, is a retired sociology professor, freelance writer, author of the upcoming play “A Woman’s Place is in the House: A Comedy,” and regular contributor to the New Tribune Opinion Page.
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