MAGA World Fabricates Leftist ‘Deep State’ Conspiracy after Minnesota Assassinations

It took barely 24 hours following the weekend assassinations of Democratic lawmakers from Minnesota, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the attempted murders of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife. While the suspected killer was still on the run, a swarm of far-right pro-Trump voices scrambled to spread conspiracies pinning the blame on the left and ‘Marxism’ while speculating about a so-called plot by the ‘Deep State’ and ‘psyops’.

The Maga libels circulated despite evidence and firsthand accounts identifying the charged murderer, Vance Boelter, as a radical Christian nationalist and Trump voter who opposed abortion and LGBTQ rights and had a list of 70 people, all Democrats as potential targets. Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah went on a social media tirade labeling Boelter a “Marxist.” In one post, Lee shared an image of the suspect in a mask with the caption “Nightmare on Walz Street,” a swipe at Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who was Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election. “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” Lee claimed, pinning the baseless claim to the top of his X feed. The posts drew widespread outrage at such blatant exploitation and twisting of the murders of Democratic politicians. Minnesota Senator Tina  Smith confronted Lee and told him his posts were “brutal and cruel”.

Elon Musk chimed in early, reposting false claims that the far left was responsible, adding, “The far left is murderously violent.” Pro-Russian disinformation merchant Benny Johnson described Boelter as a “left-wing Tim Walz appointee”. The US President’s son Donald Trump Jr. insisted without evidence and despite the fact that he was never registered as a Democrat, that the suspect “seems to be a leftist.”  Another far right influencer Mike Cernovich asked on X: “Did Walz have her executed?”. A friend and roommate of the charged killer told CBS News Boelter “would be offended if people called him a Democrat.” His brief stint on a state workforce board, cited by far right commentators as proof of his supposed ties to Walz, was not a political appointment, according to the governor’s office.

Meanwhile, President Trump himself declined to offer any comfort, calling Minnesota’s Walz “a terrible governor” and “grossly incompetent” instead of denouncing the violence or offering condolences.

MAGA loyalist and Trump insider favorite Laura Loomer falsely claimed Walz was friends with the shooter and should be investigated. She also questioned whether the suspect in custody was even the same man pictured by authorities. “Is it just me or does the man in the mask who they keep saying is the Minnesota shooter look totally different and about 70 pounds skinnier than the fat slob in a cowboy hat the media keeps saying is the shooter?”, she posted on X. Loomer also alleged that “Walz’s goons are now assassinating lawmakers who support legislation Walz opposes” and called the Democratic party “a terrorist organization”. As Conspiracy Watch contributor Mike Rothschild noted in an interview with WIRED, these tactics follow a predictable pattern. “The conspiracism about the Minnesota shooting, particularly the allegations that it’s a psy-op or false flag, have become the norm with violent incidents of a political nature,” he said. “When someone on the far-right commits a violent act, [right-wing conspiracy theorists] have to deflect the blame elsewhere, and do it by constructing convoluted conspiracies about the deep state being involved or the left wanting to ‘distract’ from something else—because they've convinced themselves and their followers that nobody in their movement could possibly carry out any act of violence,” Rothschild added.