RW disinformation re Hortman (Minnesota) assassination

[RandomNumbers]

Commentary from Minnesota Reformer
A Democratic legislator was assassinated; right-wing influencers coughed out disinformation

https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/06/14/a-democratic-legislator-was-assassinated-right-wing-influencers-coughed-out-disinformation/

Author: J. Patrick Coolican
June 14, 2025 5:06 pm

(published under Creative Commons license, but I'll only excerpt here)

Just hours after Minnesotans learned that Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman had been assassinated, right-wing influencer Collin Rugg, who has 1.8 million followers on X, posted a “report” that hinted that she’d been killed because of a recent vote on ending undocumented adults’ ability to enroll in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance for the working poor.

Mike Cernovich, another right-wing influencer who has 1.4 million followers on X, took Rugg’s post and amped it up, but in the “just asking questions” style of many conspiracy theories:

“Did Tim Walz have her executed to send a message?”

They were deeply ignorant about the MinnesotaCare issue.

Walz and Hortman — who was instrumental in passing legislation allowing undocumented people to sign up for MinnesotaCare as speaker of the House in 2023 — negotiated a compromise with Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature to end eligibility for adults, but keep it for children. They did so to win necessary Republican support in the 67-67 House to pass a state budget. Without it, state government would have shut down on July 1.

The “theory” of Hortman’s killing was further undercut by the vote of Democratic Sen. John Hoffman — who was also targeted by the suspect — against rolling back MinnesotaCare for undocumented Minnesotans.

Rugg and Cernovich’s posts were shared widely and just the start of the disinformation.

...

More at link, including about the nonsense of Boelter being a "Walz appointee".

Okay I have to include these quotes (bold added):

No matter, Cernovich wanted his new friends in federal law enforcement to act:

“The FBI must take Tim Walz into custody immediately.”

Finally, fresh off his humiliating defeat at the hands of President Donald Trump, world’s richest man Elon Musk quote-tweeted someone again falsely alleging Hortman was killed by “the left” and added:

“The far left is murderously violent.”

[sop]

1. It all reeks of desperation and flop sweat.

Trump and his henchmen own this.

[Walleye]

2. Republicans: "The people in the Democratic Party are week and effeminate"

But also murderously violent. Doesn’t make sense at all. remember the nickname, “tampon Tim”. they are afraid of tampons. It seems.

[peggysue2]

3. This stuff is disgusting

It dishonors the lives taken and glosses over cold-blooded murder and attempted murder.

There's a special place in hell for these conspiracy shit stirrers.

[choie]

4. Some old acquaintance of mind who is on facebook

claimed the assassin was a member of "ANTIFA"; Bringing out the old tropes.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. It was a kind of premature eja****. They saw "Walz appointed" and "Dem voted against 'illegals' " and ran with it

They all quickly jumped to the conclusion that shooter was a Democrat killing wayward Democratic elected officials for not toeing the party line.

I was dipping into the FReak site (maga dominant) from time to time as the story developed and you could see them falling over themselves with what they thought was a winning narrative. Now they are mostly silent.

Also interesting is that I did not see excitement over the upcoming parade and this morning I have not seen anyone there writing about the parade. Lots of posts about 50,000 protesters in NYC were "bussed in" and how miniscule 50,000 was compared to city population. Lots of whistling past the graveyard.

[RandomNumbers]

6. Apt analogy in your subject line.

Bonus points for "toeing" (correct).

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. This "person" is a MAGA asshole