MINNEAPOLIS—What happened in Minnesota on June 14 wasn’t senseless. It wasn’t random. It wasn’t the work of one disturbed man. It was political violence, born of a fascist movement that has been cultivated and emboldened in this country for years.
Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in their home. Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and wounded. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was arrested late Sunday night after a two-day manhunt. When his vehicle was found, police discovered what many of us feared: a hit list. A list of Democratic lawmakers, abortion providers, and activists—people who have fought for justice and equality, targeted for death by a man whose politics were shaped by Trumpism, Christian nationalism, and a deep hatred of democracy.
This was a political assassination. This was terrorism. And it is part of a pattern.
We’ve been told for years that the greatest danger to this country is “division,” “polarization,” or “extremism on both sides.” That’s a lie. It’s a convenient story meant to disguise the truth: the overwhelming source of political violence in the United States today is coming from the far right.
From the same political current that stormed the Capitol. From the same movement that inspired Kyle Rittenhouse to gun down protesters and Daniel Penny to murder a homeless Black man on the subway. That encouraged a man to enter Nancy Pelosi’s home and shatter her husband’s skull. That fueled the massacre of Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and a church in Charleston, Latino people in an El Paso Walmart, and Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. From the same fascist base that, when enraged or called to act, turns on teachers, journalists, doctors, trans youth, immigrants, and elected officials alike.
This isn’t happening in isolation. It’s not about “mental illness” or “social media.” It’s about a movement—a movement that has grown out of the decay of American capitalism. It’s about decades of organized right-wing reaction, fueled by billionaires, churches, and media networks, that have trained millions to believe that their enemies aren’t the corporations robbing them blind, but the poor, the queer, the Black, the feminist, the immigrant, the left.
Boelter wasn’t just a man with a gun. He was a militant of a fascist political theology, where violence is not just acceptable but righteous—where killing a pro-choice lawmaker is framed as obedience to God. His worldview was shaped by a culture that no longer hides its authoritarianism behind dog whistles. MAGA doesn’t pretend anymore. It promises vengeance. It glorifies death. It turns everyday grievances into permission for slaughter.
Melissa Hortman believed in something better. She gave her life to public service, trying to build a more humane Minnesota. She believed politics could improve people’s lives. Her murder should not be sanitized. It should be named for what it is: the execution of a public servant for daring to stand up to fascism and the forces of reaction.
The man who killed her was evangelical, far right, and conspiratorial. He was not an outlier—he was the outcome of the very forces Trump has unleashed and celebrated. From the pulpits to the podcasts, from CPAC to Mar-a-Lago, the far right has cultivated this violence. They may not always pull the trigger, but they write the script. They set the tone. They supply the enemies. Then they have the gall to act shocked when blood is spilled.
There will be some who try to draw false equivalences. They’ll bring up the rare acts of violence carried out by someone on the left. They’ll mention Luigi Mangione, or the 2017 congressional baseball shooting. They’ll say, “both sides.” But it’s a farce. There is no organized left-wing movement built on glorifying political murder. There is no constellation of elected officials, megachurches, media giants, or think tanks cheering on assassins from our side. To pretend otherwise is to deny reality.
Capitalism in crisis breeds fascist movements
We live in a system that is cracking under its own weight. Capitalism in crisis breeds fascism. It breeds despair, rage, and bloodlust. And when those feelings are channeled by a political movement with guns, money, and a leader like Trump, the results are inevitable. Not random. Inevitable.
We cannot reason with fascism. We cannot coexist with it. And we cannot treat these killings as isolated tragedies. We are in a new phase of American political life—one where the right no longer pretends to believe in democracy. Their politics are about domination. And their goal is to use terror to make us afraid to fight back.
We cannot afford fear. We cannot be silent. We cannot be neutral. Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered because they represented a future the fascists want to destroy. A future where women control their bodies, where queer and trans people live freely, where abortion providers are honored not hunted, and where people’s power matters more than a billionaire’s portfolio.
We must mourn. But grief without struggle is surrender. If this tragedy has shown us anything, it is that the time for equivocation is over. The time for building a truly democratic society—free from the violence of capitalism, of white supremacy, of patriarchy, of fascism—is now.
No more false balance. No more appeasement. The blood is on the hands of the fascists. The task before us is to organize, to fight, and to win a world where this kind of political terror is not just unimaginable, but impossible.
Melissa Hortman deserved better. We all do.
As with all news-analysis and op-ed articles published by People’s World, the views reflected here are those of the author.
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