Two Minnesota politicians attacked in politically motivated attack.

 

Flyers found in the suspects vehicle referencing the "No Kings" protest today. New York Post/Police hand out.

Four people were shot, including two prominent Minnesota Democrats and their spouses, in a deadly politically motivated rampage. New York Post. A suspect, Vance Boelter, shot and wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife before moving on to shoot and kill State House member Melissa Hortman and her husband. Hortman is the former Speaker of the House for the state of Minnesota. Boelter is on the run despite getting into a gunfight with police that responded to the shooting of Hortman. The suspect was dressed as a police officer and wore a chilling latex mask during his crimes. The motive of the case is unclear though leaflets saying "no kings", a reference to the anti-Trump protests today, were found in his car, along with several rifles. Boelter had been twice assigned to positions by Democratic Governors, most recently by failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz. A manifesto was apparently written by the suspect that named many Minnesota Democrats as potential targets, but also included pro-choice organizations like Planned Parenthood. The manifesto has not been released. 

Surveillance video showing the attacker wearing a latex mask. Police handout. 

My Comment:

Strange and disturbing case out of Minnesota and one that isn't easily explained. Boelter appears to be a radical leftist and one that was associated pretty strongly with the Democratic Party, but he assassinated a Democratic Lawmaker and wounded another one. He also supposedly was going to target Planned Parenthood, which would be very odd for a Democrat. It's possible that is misinformation as I don't think police have released it directly, but if it's true it doesn't make much sense. 

What it looks like to me is another example of a purity spiral. Melissa Hortman just voted to end medical benefits for illegal aliens in Minnesota, and was the only Democrat to do so. Because of her joining the Republicans, the legislation passed. The problem with the purity spiral theory is that Senator Hoffman did not vote with Republicans, though there was quite a bit of confusion about that this morning, so it's possible the attacker was misinformed as well? 

And the presence of the "No Kings" flyers, obviously hand made, seems to indicate something as well. The No Kings protest was a leftist one held today that was anti-Trump. If the guy was really a right wing attacker, why would he have those flyers in his car? Some kind of weird false flag is possible, but again, the guy was a leftist political appointee, it wouldn't make much sense for him to flip on his beliefs 180 degrees. Such a thing is possible, but very unlikely. 

I am guessing that whatever the motive was, that it is probably damaging to the Democrats in some way. Usually if it's a right wing attacker the motive will be released almost instantly, but when it's damaging in some way to the left it either never comes out at all or comes out months later after leaks, like the transgender shooter in Nashville Tennessee, Audrey Hale, that shot up a school. 

Of course, it's very possible that this is just another insane person who has motives that may not even make sense to him. It's not as likely due to this man being older and having a steady career, it's certainly possible he had some kind of mental break. It might even be a personal motive, like when Charles Guiteau assassinated President Garfield because he thought he was owed a political position. 

What is sure is that political violence is becoming fairly common these days and it appears to be mostly coming from leftists. This is the third politically motivated assassination since Trump got inaugurated and if you count the two assassination attempts against him as well, it's part of a very disturbing trend. And that's on top of the politically motivated Los Angeles riots and all the attacks on Tesla owners and dealerships that were downplayed and excused by the media. 

In short, it seems like this country is heading towards a dark place where political violence is tolerated to a degree that we haven't seen since the 1970's. And it obviously seems to be backfiring on Democrats as the golem they created by not purging the most radical and unhinged voices in their party is now fully out of their control.  

Of course the elephant in the room is that the suspect in this case is still on the run as of this writing. How he was able to escape from police on foot is a mystery but it's very possible that he could launch follow up attacks, though with his car and rifles captured he would be pretty limited in what he could accomplish. He supposedly still has a handgun, but given he shot four people and a dog and got into a gunfight with police he's probably out of ammo. I am guessing that he will either be captured or found dead, either from wounds inflicted during the shootout with police or by his own hand, shortly. 

Finally, as an aside, I have to say that the pictures of the assassin wearing the latex mask are absolutely chilling. I almost wonder if the killer was inspired by the scene in the movie Drive, where Ryan Gosling does something similar during the climax of the movie. Either way, I know that I would not have opened the door for him if I had gotten a good look at that mask...