On late Saturday, the country was alerted to another assassination on her soil. Two Minnesota state legislators were targeted. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot by a man impersonating law enforcement and wearing a silicone mask to hide his identity. Thankfully, both Hoffman and his wife survived the shooting, but the other lawmaker was not so lucky. State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were assassinated by the evil shooter. Throughout the post, we will not use the names of these malevolent agents because the point doesn’t require their names, nor should they get any more publicity than they already have.
A motive behind the Minnesota murders and assaults has not been made public. However, the present Governor and failed Vice President candidate Tim Walz claimed the violence was a politically motivated assassination. The latest alleged murderer takes his place in line with the other high-profile assassinations and attempts within the last year.
The sickening trend began last July when a young man attempted to kill presidential candidate Donald Trump during one of his rallies in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter wounded Trump’s ear and killed one of the rallygoers, Corey Comperatore. The Secret Service killed the sniper, and his motive has never been clearly articulated.
In September of the same year, a would-be assassin hid in the shrubbery of Trump International Golf Club with the intent of killing the candidate Trump during one of his rounds of golf. The suspect fled and was later identified and arrested. This would mark the second attempt on Trump’s life within the same year.
In December 2024, closed-circuit TV recorded the dreadful execution of United Healthcare’s CEO, Brian Thompson, outside the Manhattan hotel hosting the company’s annual meeting. According to AP, the suspect’s diary indicated his motive. He said he was rebelling against “the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.” Referencing Thompson, the cold-blooded murderer believes his death “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.”
In less than a year, four men whose hearts were filled with hate either wished or killed individuals whom they thought were an existential threat. The rhetoric of the left spewing the endless litany of grievances and existential threats, in part, led to these horrific crimes. Everything to them is an existential threat, be it political differences, the climate, transgender ideology, immigration, you name it. These sinful men are hiding behind the shield of a mortal threat, and have no reluctance to kill or attempt to kill those whom they think are responsible for threatening their ideologies or what they perceive as an attack on their way of life.
The absurdity of the positions is akin to that of John Wilkes Booth, who was an ardent defender of slavery in the South. He was another existentialist, believing that Abraham Lincoln was about to destroy his and his ilk’s way of life by abolishing slavery. Booth’s solution was to kill the person he thought was ruining his life and the country. The parallels are striking, and the country is divided; when that happens, violence will follow, as we have seen in the past year.
In a democracy, people can and should have disagreements. Also, in a democracy, there are means by which elections and negotiations settle those differences. The left loves to throw around threats to democracy and pin it on those who work against their agendas. Violence is part of the resistance; once that happens, democracy dies and tyranny begins.
The good news is that over 73 million people voted for civility, and those demonic killers are still outliers and not the mainstream. The followers of John Wilkes Booth and those contemplating such actions must be vilified by society, demanding that law and order be restored.