"On the day of the funeral Trump was playing a round of golf"
This weekend, over a thousand mourners attended the funeral of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, who were killed in an attack that Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has called an assassination. Former President Joe Biden attended. Former Vice President Kamala Harris was there, too. But the current president of the United States was nowhere to be found.
According to Fox News, the day of the funeral Trump was playing a round of golf with Republican leaders. He also had time to rant on Truth Social, including a post asking, "WHY ARE THE DEMOCRATS ALWAYS ROOTING AGAINST AMERICA???"
Authorities say the Hortmans were killed in their home by a man impersonating a police officer and that the same man also shot and seriously wounded Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. Authorities say the killings were politically motivated; according to CNN, the vehicle he left behind at a crime scene contained "a hit list with nearly 70 names," and the names were "mostly Democratic politicians or figures with ties to abortion rights, including Minnesota lawmakers Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith." He also reportedly voted for Trump, according to interviews with his childhood friend and videos of his sermons posted online.
At a time of extreme political polarization and rising violence against political figures, Trump had an opportunity to help turn the temperature down by attending the funeral. As Johns Hopkins University political scientist Lilliana Mason has explained, political leaders have a tremendous influence on whether the public thinks that violence is an acceptable way to pursue political goals. Instead, Trump has displayed not only indifference but outright callousness in the wake of the attacks.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/melissa-hortman-funeral-trump-minnesota-killer-rcna216023
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