We Encourage Political Violence When We Look the Other Way
The surge in political violence during the Trump years has imperiled not only American lives but also our country's collective memory. The details of a new atrocity overwrite the old. Even the names of the fallen evade our best efforts to retain them.
Before the next act of political violence seizes our attention, let us pause and preserve in memory Melissa Hortman, a member of the Minnesota State Legislature, and her husband, Mark. The couple became the latest casualties of our nihilistic politics on Saturday after a gunman killed them in their home, authorities say. Let us also keep in mind John Hoffman, a state senator, and his wife, Yvette, who were wounded in the same series of attacks. Prosecutors say that the gunman, who carried a target list of other Democratic politicians, wanted to inflict fear.
The Minnesota attacks join a grim catalog of political violence in recent years. In 2017 a gunman shot four people, badly wounding Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, at a Republican practice before the annual congressional baseball game. On Jan. 6, 2021, hundreds of rioters attacked Congress as it was meeting to certify the presidential election result. In 2022 an attacker broke into Nancy Pelosi's home and fractured the skull of her husband, Paul, with a hammer. Last year two would-be assassins separately tried to kill Donald Trump. In April a man set fire to the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro while he and his family slept inside.
Fear has become a fact of life for politicians. Mark Rozzi, a former speaker of the Pennsylvania House, wore a bulletproof vest for several months because of harassment he had received. Some unelected public servants live with similar anxieties. Many federal judges have taken new precautions in recent months because of the threats against them.
Why are attacks on public officials any more worthy of space in our national memory than other acts of violence? The Hortmans and Hoffmans were hunted because of their distinct role in American life. They were parts of a government by the people.
In a different era, the country might have taken time to express its collective grief about the horrors in Minnesota. One can imagine the president and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders visiting and making a unified statement that political differences do not excuse violence.
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