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OPINION

After every heinous crime in the United States - like the recent attacks on two Minnesota politicians and their spouses or Trump’s use of military force in Los Angeles to quell non-existent “riots” - folks go on television and try to make sense of hateful actions. They invariably do an awful job.

We hear the familiar choruses of “This isn’t us,” and “America is better than this”…neither of which - by the way - is true. The politically motivated assassinations of Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the attempted murders of Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, by Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old self-proclaimed religious husband and father of five children…is very much America.

These acts reflect the real America far better than fictional accounts of George Washington chopping down that cherry tree or throwing a dollar across the Potomac River. Killing and revenge and lawlessness and political hatred are as American as apple pie and baseball.

Saying otherwise is not only an excuse - and a poor one at that - but we shouldn’t be so foolish as to not accept a truth shown to us so often?

(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

What are we to make of Vance Boelter? Minnesota doesn’t require voters to identify or register as Republicans or Democrats or any other political affiliation. But Boelter self-identified…voting for Donald Trump in 2024…and listing 45 Democrats and people who support Liberal and progressive causes for assassination.

A larger question: why did Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, post jokes and lies on social media about the murders for more than 10 million people to see and re-post? Hold up a mirror America…this very much…is you.

God knows how many people are out there like Vance Boelter. Some might call him crazy…but the truth is he knew exactly what he was doing. He had a detailed plan…and his hate has been fuelled for years by people like Donald Trump and JD Vance and Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi and Mike Lee.

Fox News and The Alex Jones Show and Sean Hannity and One America News and Joe Rogan and a hundred other podcasts, radio shows, websites and cable shows…as well as Russian, North Korean, Chinese and Iranian lies…all spreading hate…a Niagara Falls of daily lies and misinformation.

So, after two decades of Far Right media and politicians fuelling divisiveness people have become more willing to attack people - not only on social media - but in real life. The Right - Republicans - have been far more active in acting out hate crimes than the Left…or Democrats in recent years.

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion was broken into and partially destroyed by fire and causing Gov. Josh Shapiro - a Democrat - and family to evacuate the home in the middle of the night. Cody Balmer - a 38-year-old unemployed MAGA supporter had posted threats to both former president Joe Biden and Shapiro.

A man arrested for shooting the Arizona Democratic National Committee offices on three occasions had more than 120 guns and 250,000 rounds of ammunition in his home.

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer by a Trump supporter who broke into their San Francisco home in 2022. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat, was the target of a shooting attempt at his campaign headquarters on Feb. 14, 2022 but was uninjured, although a bullet grazed the sweater he was wearing.

Of course, more than 1,500 Trump MAGA supporters were convicted of felony crimes from storming the Capitol in 2021, injuring 174 law enforcement officers, with 9 deaths attributed to the attempted coup…then pardoned by Trump.

Right Wingers plotted the kidnapping and assassination of Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Of course, there have been some Democrats guilty of hate crimes, like James Hodgkinson, who shot Sen. Steve Scalise at a baseball practice in 2017. He was killed by police.

And at a Pennsylvania campaign rally last July, Trump was grazed on the ear by a bullet or shrapnel from an anti-Trump gunman. The gunman killed one Trump supporter and badly wounded two others. Again, police killed him on sight.

Republicans - by and large - don’t protest…but rely on someone who shares their views to become inflamed by rhetoric…and then target Democrats who have been demonized. Democrats tend to protest peacefully the controversial actions of the Trump Administration…and don’t target Republicans as often.

Reasonable people agree…all hate crimes are despicable…regardless of political affiliation. Aspirationally, attacks of folks because of their beliefs should never happen. The reality is that they do…and people who fuel such hatred know what they are doing.

What’s not debatable is that this is what America is…until folks change. Sadly, demonization and hatred are things America exports freely to Canada. We should put a huge tariff on them…Canada would be much better for it.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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