(ST. PAUL, MN) — Today, Minnesota State Senator Scott Dibble (DFL–Minneapolis) issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s shocking call for the hanging and death of Democratic lawmakers who released a video urging members of the United States military to refuse unlawful and unconstitutional orders. Senator Dibble also condemned Speaker Mike Johnson for defending and justifying the President’s words:
“President Trump’s call for the execution of his political opponents is abhorrent, dangerous, and fundamentally incompatible with democracy. No President—no elected official in this nation—can ever call for the death of fellow Americans for exercising their constitutional rights. That Speaker Mike Johnson would defend and excuse such an incitement is equally disgraceful and disqualifying.
For me and for Minnesota, this is not an abstract concern. We have lived the devastating consequences of violent political extremism fueled by this rhetoric.
Last year, my dear friend, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark were assassinated by a Trump supporter. That same individual attempted to murder my colleague Senator John Hoffman, his wife Yvette, and their daughter Hope. My own name—along with the names of many of my colleagues—was on that assassin’s target list.
We know all too well where this type of speech leads.
Data has long shown that right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and more deadly than violence from any other ideological source. The President’s words today pour gasoline on an already raging fire. Each time Republican leaders defend, excuse, or remain silent in the face of such rhetoric, it encourages those who believe violence is justified and patriotic. It puts families, communities, and public servants directly in harm’s way.
Enough.
Every elected official—especially Republicans—must say clearly and unequivocally that this language is unacceptable and that violence has no place in our democracy. Any politician who cannot bring themselves to condemn what President Trump and Speaker Johnson said today is complicit in this growing threat and is not fit to serve in office.
We owe it to Melissa and Mark. We owe it to the Hoffman family. We owe it to the countless Americans already harmed by political violence. And we owe it to the future of our democracy.
Minnesotans—and all Americans—deserve leaders who protect the Constitution, not those who undermine it through threats, intimidation, and calls for bloodshed.”
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