June 16, 2025 01:27 PM UTC

GOP Knee-Jerk Blame For Minnesota Shooting Boomerangs

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• by: Colorado Pols

In the immediate aftermath of Saturday morning’s harrowing assassination of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and the wounding of a second along with their spouses, as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, Republicans across the nation jumped to conclusions based on partial and as it turns out highly incomplete information about the suspected killer, Vance Boelter, and Boelter’s relationship with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz:

Some on social media have speculated about Boelter’s political views and what motivated him to carry out the shootings…

Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X that “the far left is murderously violent” while quoting a post alleging “the left” killed Hortman. Right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich suggested it was at Walz’s direction “to send a message.”

Laura Loomer, a prominent far-right personality who has spread 9/11 conspiracies and lodged racist attacks against former Vice President Kamala Harris, claimed “Walz’s goons are now assassinating lawmakers who support legislation Walz opposes,” and called the Democratic party “a terrorist organization.”

Right-wing commentator Nick Sortor claimed Hortman sounded “absolutely terrified” speaking to media after voting to end the health coverage for undocumented adults.

But as it turns out, although Vance Boelter had been appointed to a state transportation commission in 2019 by Gov. Walz, there is no evidence of any political or personal connection between them. AP reports via Minneapolis’ KARE-TV:

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by AP described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for President Donald Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota where voters don’t list party affiliation.

Near the scene at Hortman’s home, authorities say they found an SUV made to look like those used by law enforcement. Inside they found fliers for a local anti-Trump “No Kings” rally scheduled for Saturday and a notebook with names of other lawmakers. The list also included the names of abortion rights advocates and health care officials, according to two law enforcement officials who could not discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

No explanation has yet been offered for the apparenly hand-scrawled “No Kings” flyers found in Boelter’s car, but the target list recovered makes it clear that he intended to kill more pro-choice lawmakers and abortion rights activists. Right-wing luminaries and elected officials like Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee who pounced on Saturday morning have moved on to new subjects, but (of course) never bothered to correct their horrendously false statements. Had the circumstances been reversed, these same Republicans would be demanding resignations or worse from anyone who dared shift the blame this wrongly and hypocritically.

One local Republican who leapt to conclusions before the facts were known was, unsurprisingly, far-right Rep. Brandi Bradley of Highlands Ranch:

All of this turned out to be false, but per usual Rep. Bradley hasn’t seen fit to correct any of it. It’s doubly ironic for Rep. Bradley to decry this act of violence against two lawmakers for their pro-abortion politics after firmly establishing her own reputation as one of the most combative and occasionally threatening lawmakers in the Colorado House. Bradley’s close ally in the Republican House minority, gubernatorial candidate Scott Bottoms, regularly compares abortion to the Holocaust. Both of these lawmakers have made extremely personal attacks on fellow lawmakers a regular feature in this once collegial body.

And no we know that this assassination was carried out by someone who agreed with them. That does not make local Republicans responsible for this terrible tragedy.

But it does make their attempt to shift the blame…even more objectionable.