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.
Such solidarity is important, given that the recent attacks span ideological boundaries. Democrats and Republicans alike have been the victims. People on both the right and the left engage in making demonizing comments that attackers have used to justify their violence.
Although Mr. Trump has been a personal victim of this violence, he also deserves particular responsibility for our angry culture. He uses threatening language in ways that no other modern president has. He praises people who commit violence in his name, such as the Jan. 6 rioters, many of whom he has pardoned, despite their attacks on police officers and others. He sometimes seems incapable of extending basic decency to Democrats. Instead of calling Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota to express condolences about the killings of two of his friends, Mr. Trump insulted Mr. Walz. It is no coincidence that hate crimes have surged, according to the F.B.I., during Mr. Trump’s decade as a dominant political figure.
Some of Mr. Trump’s Republican allies also talk about violence in ways that prominent Democrats rarely if ever do. This week, Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, posted a bizarre message to social media that blamed leftists for the Minnesota attacks. “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way,” he wrote. He went on to describe the attacks as “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” presumably a snide reference to Mr. Walz, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee last year. Mr. Lee was once a principled libertarian. The old version of himself would be ashamed of his behavior this week.
The new culture of political violence is being reinforced. When we move on too quickly from an attack against our society’s organizing ideas, we normalize it. The next shooter, the next extremist, sees a society that accepts violence. Forgetting is dangerous. It encourages repetition.
The opposite is true as well, however. When we take time to remember Melissa and Mark Hortman, we honor their sacrifice for our country. We give meaning to what is otherwise senseless.
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