During this weekend’s manhunt for the suspected shooter who killed a Minnesota state legislator and her husband and shot another state politician and his wife, one Republican senator chose to mock the shootings and Democrats. Now, Mike Lee is being criticized by his Democratic colleagues for making light of a tragedy to attempt to score political points.
Mike Lee’s posts spread unfounded innuendo, mock Gov. Tim Walz
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted a series of tweets over the weekend relating to the Minnesota shootings even as the hunt for the suspected gunman, Vance Boelter, was still underway. In one post, Lee tweeted an image of Boelter, to which Lee commented, “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way.”
Since the suspect’s identity has been made public, a number of conservatives have attempted to paint him as a left-wing shooter despite the fact that he targeted Democrats and that there are reports from those who know him which allege he held conservative political views. Lee has shared several of these tweets in addition to his own. In another tweet, Lee posted a picture of the suspected shooter, adding the comment “Nightmare on Waltz Street” in an apparently misspelled reference to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who publicly mourned Rep. Melissa Hortman in a Saturday morning press conference only hours after the fatal shooting.
Outrage over Mike Lee’s callous posts
A number of political commentators, including some Republicans, called out Lee for his tweets, which remain posted as of Monday afternoon. Dan Pfeiffer, cohost of the political podcast Pod Save America, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Truly disgusting behavior from a United States Senator.”
Democratic strategist Matt McDermott called the shooting and Lee’s response examples of “depraved moral rot.”
Yesterday, a Trump supporter went on an assassination spree targeting Democrats.Today, a GOP Senator mocks their murder.This isn’t politics — it’s depraved moral rot. https://t.co/ezLNVf50g7— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) June 15, 2025
Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele, now an MSNBC political analyst, called on Lee to “grow the hell up.”
The GOP’s track record of condoning political violence
Lee is the latest Republican to make light of political violence. Donald Trump and other Republicans mocked and shared conspiracy theories about the near-fatal attack against Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, by an intruder to the Pelosi home who was looking for the representative. Recently, Trump suggested that he might pardon the men who were convicted in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. This would be in line with one of Trump’s first acts since returning to office: the pardoning or commutation of nearly everyone criminally charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection that disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win over Trump.
With Boelter now in police custody, more information may be forthcoming concerning the political motivations behind the Minnesota shootings. Lee’s comments have not helped the process of trying to make sense of these violent acts, nor do the Republican’s words help discourage such political violence.