June 15, 2025.

Yesterday began with the horrific news that a gunman had shot two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses

in what Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said appeared to be a politically motivated assassination. State

representative Melissa Hortman, who was the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband,

Mark, both died in the attack at their home in Brooklyn Park, a city near Minneapolis. The gunman also

shot Democratic Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman nine times

and his wife Yvette ate at their home in Champlain. The hospital reports they are in stable condition

after surgery. Law enforcement officers encountered the suspected gunman, 57-year-old Vance Bolter, coming out of Hortman's

house. He was dressed as a police officer. Officers exchanged gunfire with him before he fled,

leaving behind his vehicle, which looked much like a police car. In it was a list of dozens of

people he wanted to kill. They were mostly

Democrats or people connected to abortion rights efforts. Law enforcement officers captured

Bolter tonight. Maga Republicans are working hard to identify Bolter with what Senator Mike Lee,

a Republican of Utah, called Marxism,

and Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican of Ohio, called the extreme left. But as investigative

journalist Phil Williams of News Channel 5 Nashville notes, public databases show Bolter was in the

past a registered Republican.

His evangelical religion and his anti-LGBQ and anti-abortion stances reflect MAGA positions.

Bolter's roommate told reporters that Bolter was a strong supporter of President Trump.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, noted that MAGA has been bathed in political violence for the last five years.

Trump's pardoning of the January 6th rioters,

including those convicted of extreme violence,

...