utah Senator Mike Lee Faces Criticism for Disparate Responses to Political Violence
WASHINGTON – Utah Senator Mike lee is facing mounting criticism for expressing grief over the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk while being perceived as having offered little sympathy following the June 14th shootings in Minnesota that killed state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Following the news of Kirk’s death on wednesday, Lee posted on X, stating Kirk had recently texted him about visiting Utah and praising his “boundless energy and great love for his country.” This prompted numerous responses from X users questioning lee’s silence after the Minnesota shootings. One user rhetorically asked, “what has changed” given Lee had “expressed no sympathy” previously. Others echoed the sentiment, wishing he had “shown that same respect to Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.”
The backlash stems from Lee’s posts promptly after the Minnesota shootings. He initially wrote on X, “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” accompanied by a picture of the suspect, Vance Boelter, wearing a latex face mask. Despite no evidence linking Boelter to Marxism – friends described him as right-leaning and he was previously registered as a Republican in Oklahoma – Lee’s post fueled conspiracy theories. He also posted “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” seemingly referencing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Conservative influencers had misleadingly suggested a connection between walz and Boelter, despite Walz only knowing of Boelter through a 2016 appointment to a voluntary advisory board initially made by Walz’s predecessor, Mark Dayton, and renewed by Walz in 2019.
Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota confronted Lee two days after the Minnesota shootings, telling him his posts were “brutal and cruel” and urging him to consider the implications of his words, as reported by CNN. Lee reportedly appeared surprised by the confrontation but subsequently deleted the posts.
Smith posted about Kirk’s death on Wednesday, nearly an hour before Lee’s tribute, stating, “Horrific. We all need to condemn these acts of political violence that are becoming far too commonplace in this country. We can’t continue like this.”
