Trump Escalates Stochastic Terrorism Even as Minnesota Lawmaker Assassin is Sentenced
Even after the politically motivated assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband, Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue their dehumanization of opponents.
The following is an opinion piece by Sarah Jones of The Daily with Sarah Jones.
Around 3:30 AM on June 14, 2025, a masked and armed Vance Boelter, wearing a tactical uniform, pounded on the door of a Minnesota lawmaker’s home, yelling that he was a police officer.
When Mark Hortman answered the door, Vance Boelter demanded he summon his wife, Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman. He then murdered both of them.
Boelter also critically wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette that night.
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“I will never forget looking down and watching my blood slowly stream down that white washing machine as I felt myself sinking to the floor,” Yvette Hoffman said in court. “We always have an escape plan now. This isn’t how people should live.”
Boelter also went to the home of Democratic State Rep. Kristin Bahner that night.
Hortman’s daughter Sophie recalled having to say goodbye to her parent’s golden retriever, whom Boelter also shot that night.
Politically Motivated Killing Spree
On Thursday, Boelter was sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years. Lest anyone fret that Trump will pardon him, which would be on par with Trump’s gleeful embrace of his kind of people (i.e., violent criminals), Boelter also faces state charges.
Boelter’s motives were political. He wanted to change the balance of power in the Minnesota legislature and sought to do so by assassinating Democratic lawmakers. U.S. prosecutors’ presentence filing said he “had hoped to tip full control to Republicans through political violence.”
U.S. attorneys called his spree of violence “an attack on representative democracy itself.”
Federal prosecutors said Boelter held “great disdain” for the Democratic Party and the policies DFL lawmakers had enacted in Minnesota.
Yet, even after the politically motivated by disdain for Democrats assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband, Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue their dehumanization of opponents and critics.
Trump’s Dehumanizing Rhetoric
Yet, even after the politically motivated by disdain for Democrats assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband, Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue their dehumanization of opponents and critics.
Even after Trump’s rhetoric was criticized by civil rights groups, legal experts, and Democratic lawmakers as dangerous to democratic norms and public safety, Donald Trump frequently still uses intense and severe language against Democrats, labeling them as “the enemy within”, “demonic”, and “evil”.
The media barely clutches a single pearl in response. Yes, the same media that was so aghast at Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” that they could scarcely take a breath without scolding the Democrat for labeling a “basket” of MAGA — not all MAGA— deplorable.
Back in 2016, CNN even accused Clinton of engaging in “dog whistle” politics along with Trump, all because she said she “got it” regarding implicit racial bias. In other words, acknowledging a systemic injustice is equal to stoking racial animus in CNN’s view.
Trump calls Democrats the “enemy within”, a descriptor that labels his domestic political opposition as a greater threat to the nation than external adversaries. He frequently calls Democrats “Marxists, communists, and fascists,” characterizing them as “sick” and dangerous to the country.
He has labeled the Democratic Party as “the party of hate, evil, and Satan”, and stated publicly at rallies that they are “so evil”. He has targeted rival lawmakers by calling them “traitors” or accusing them of seditious behavior for opposing his platform or urging officials to follow the law.
Trump has routinely suggested that his political rivals and critics should face legal punishment, special prosecutors, or military tribunals.
I can already hear the “both sides” chorus starting, so allow me to remind folks that Trump calls opponents traitors for opposing his policies, which is not the same thing as someone suggesting Trump might be a traitor because his campaign worked with a hostile foreign power to get elected.
