Minnesota Lawmaker Shootings: How We Got Here
June 16, 2025
Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses in politically motivated assassinations, was taken into custody Sunday. Controversy and conspiracy are steadily growing as two people were killed and two others seriously wounded.
The murder of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassination of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, was a horrific act of political violence—but it wasn’t a shock. If you’ve been paying attention, this tragedy was inevitable.
Vance Boelter was no lone madman. A 70-person hit list filled with pro-choice officials, local Democrats, federal judges. This is the fruit of a decade of radicalization which is blooming into domestic political terrorism.
The Timeline of Escalation
2014-2016: The Bundy Standoff/Malheur Wildlife Refuge
The armed militia movement hits a tipping point as the Bundy family faces off with federal authorities.
In 2014—Cliven Bundy, A Nevada cattle rancher and his son, Ammon, squared off with the Bureau of Land Management over $1 million in unpaid grazing fees to the federal government. The protest was over the Bundys being charged for their cattle grazing on federally owned land.
The Oath Keepers would become involved in the protest and standoff after the younger Bundy got in contact with leader Stuart Rhoades. The eventual arrest of Ammon and others led to federal charges that ended in acquittal.
After another group of ranchers—Dwight and Steve Hammond—were sentenced to five years for a similar situation, the Bundys saw an opportunity.
In January 2016, a group of militia men led by Ammon Bundy occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon. Bundy and others used the Hammonds as a precursor for their occupation over what they believed was a constitutional requirement that federal public land be turned over to the states.
By early February all of the militants had been arrested or withdrawn from the occupation. The end result was about a dozen members pleading guilty in late-2017 to charges that resulted in probation and house arrest. Ammon Bundy was once again acquitted of federal charges.
This early rising of perceived powers of militia groups fighting the federal government was treated more like a spectacle by the national media than a cause for concern. When real accountability was needed—acquittal was the answer.
2017: Charlottesville
Under the auspices of protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue, white supremacists and militia members bound together for a show of force in Charlottesville, VA.
Tiki torches, swastikas, confederate flags, and young white men invaded the small college town chanting “Jews will not replace us” throughout the night.
Things came to a head the next day as counter-protesters turned up and James Alex Fields Jr. — a self-identified white nationalist — deliberately rammed his car into the crowd, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens.
President Trump would later speak to the press, saying:
“You had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
Charlottesville marked a turning point — a signal that right-wing violence was no longer part of the fringe and that the president would rather equivocate than confront.
*Fields was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years. But the ideological movement behind him gained confidence after having seen their terror given moral cover.
2020: Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping Plot
As tensions rose over COVID restrictions, members of a Michigan far-right militia named Wolverine Watchmen, planned to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer and put her on “trial.”
These men conducted surveillance on Whitmer’s vacation home. They planned to blow up a bridge to slow the law enforcement response. And they stockpiled weapons, built explosives, and practiced paramilitary tactics in advance.
Right-wing media and MAGA figures immediately spread conspiracy theories about an FBI setup. Trump never meaningfully condemned the plot to kidnap a sitting Governor and doubled down on attacks against her while the media was distracted with a global pandemic.
The plot to kidnap a sitting governor was the most bold domestic terror attempt against an elected official in recent memory. It showed exactly how deep armed extremism had seeped into the American political landscape and how rhetoric was fueling real-world violence.
2021: January 6
After the 2020 presidential election and certification of Joe Biden’s victory—Trump escalates the rhetoric and flames even further with claims of a fraudulent win.
Right-wing militias, MAGA, neo-nazis, and anti-government groups have escalated to placing gallows on Washington D.C. streets and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” before breaking in and defacing the United States Capitol.
*After retaking office in 2025, Trump pardoned the January 6 criminals — a final reward for their loyalty.
2022: Paul Pelosi attack
After somewhat of a legal crackdown post January 6, conspiracies start to grow about the federal government. A MAGA-fueled conspiracist—David DePape— invades the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacks her husband Paul with a hammer.
DePape told police that he intended to kidnap the Speaker, interrogate her, and “break her kneecaps” to send a message to other Democrats.
Instead, DePape found the only person home was Paul and attacked him with a hammer—fracturing his skull and causing serious injuries.
MAGA conspiracy theorists immediately attacked—turning the attack into a punchline of gay lover jokes rather than treating it as a warning sign of violent escalation.
2022-2025: The Fuse Grows Shorter
January 6 prosecutions stalled or resulted in light sentences, emboldening extremists.
Armed intimidation at school boards, election offices, and statehouses became routine.
MAGA rhetoric escalated at Trump rallies and online—dehumanization of immigrants, Democrats, and journalists.
“Deep state” “traitors” and “enemy of the people” language saturated right-wing media.
Law enforcement warned of growing domestic terror threats but political will to act was absent.
Trump’s return to power and mass pardons gave fresh license to violent actors.
June 2025: Minnesota — When the Threats Became Bullets
Disguised as a police officer—a cowardly assassin broke into the homes of Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman on the same night, killing Hortman and her husband, and critically wounding Hoffman and his wife.
In a press conference after the eventual capture of the suspect, Police officials reported evidence including: a hit list with around 70 names including local Democratic officials, judges, and pro-choice advocates. They also found a manifesto linking the act to MAGA conspiracies, anti-government rhetoric, and culture war grievances.
Videos online have already surfaced of Vance Boelter, the accused, at religious conferences spouting nonsense about sky daddy saving everyone.
Officials widely condemned the violence, but partisan responses quickly took over with elected officials like Senator Mike Lee taking to social media to inflame tensions.
Meanwhile, the public is once again left to ask:
“What is it going to take before someone acts?”
Why This Keeps Happening
It keeps happening because we let it.
Right-wing politicians and media continue to stoke the fire as fascism gains its hold on our society. From Trump to Tucker to fringe online figures, they’ve built entire careers on demonizing political opponents as enemies of the people, child traffickers, or deep state agents. As their lies lose potency, their rhetoric becomes even more extreme to satisfy an increasingly violent fringe.
Weak institutional responses from both elected officials and media alike emboldens them. No consequences for the militias, Charlottesville, the eventual pardons of January 6 members, Whitmer plot conspirators being portrayed as fools rather than domestic terrorists…
Each failure to punish or condemn sends a message: You can get away with it.
Violence is baked into the culture now. MAGA, gun worship, and conspiracy theorists are all one in the ideological movement at this point. From AR-15s on Christmas cards to public meetings turning into war zones. The blend of guns, paranoia, and grievance creates a prime playing field for the next attacker.
This Isn’t Fringe Anymore
Based on the speed of news cycles and trends on social media— we tell ourselves these killers and acts of terror are outliers. That political murder is the work of the unstable few. But these days, that’s a comforting lie.
Vance Boelter wasn’t an outlier. He was the foot soldier. A product of a decade of normalized threats, dehumanization, armed intimidation, kidnapping plots, and propaganda.
Armed intimidation is now part of public life. School board meetings where parents come with holstered pistols. Men with ammo pouches in line at Subway. Statehouses where militia men in tactical gear stand as silent enforcers of a new order.
This is the landscape that let a religious nut like Boelter believe he was acting as a patriot and not a terrorist.
The Call
This isn’t the beginning of something. The fuse is almost out. The violence is here and it will get worse.
No more soft sentences or drawn-out exhaustive media coverage. No more “both sides.” No more shrugging at threats. We need policy, laws, prosecutions, and public officials who will treat this as the national emergency it is.
We need courage.
Not just from politicians, but from the media as well. There is no neutrality in naming the truth: right-wing domestic terrorism is the greatest threat facing this country.
We the people, need to demand they speak the truth, to demand action, and to defend democracy before it’s too late.
Until next time,
Underground.
Great reporting Evan!