Editorial | Diminishing Hortman’s death feeds a lie: The left owns political violence

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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We should be capable of mourning conservative activist Charlie Kirk without diminishing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

It is deeply upsetting in a state grieving not one but two horrific tragedies this summer that influential Fox News host Greg Gutfeld cast decency aside this week with a televised, profanity-laced rant minimizing Hortman’s killing. In doing so, Gutfeld inflicted further pain on Minnesotans still reeling from the June 14 deaths of Hortman and her husband and then, the Aug. 27 shooting claiming two students’ lives at Annunciation Catholic Church and School.

Hortman was one of Minnesota’s top elected leaders and her loss is grieved by all she served with regardless of political party. She and her home state deserved better than the message Gutfeld sent from his televised perch. With his thoughtless remarks, he seemed to suggest that since he’d never heard of Hortman, her death doesn’t count when it comes to calculating the toll of political violence or in formulating the nation’s response to it.

That’s beyond heartless. The remarks’ timing are also disturbing. Sweeping Hortman’s death under the rug helps justify the Trump administration’s just-announced initiative to target liberal groups and monitor speech in the wake of Kirk’s death. That presidential campaign relies on toxic and highly dangerous fiction: that political violence is confined to one side of the political aisle. Hortman’s death is incontrovertible evidence it is not, undermining the rationale to go after the administration’s opposition.

Gutfeld made his remarks on a show called “The Five.” He tragically missed an opportunity to use his considerable influence to strike a preemptive blow against additional violence. Emotions are running in the atmosphere’s upper reaches after Kirk’s death. Thought leaders on both sides of the aisle must act with urgency to tamp it down.

That grim reality ought to inspire something far more than scapegoating. There’s a dire need for collective soul-searching about the frightening national fractures that fueled the attacks on presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2024, and the alarming wave of political violence that continues unabated.

It’s important to point out that Gutfeld is far from alone. It’s stunning how many people cruelly and publicly responded to Kirk’s death with some version of “He had it coming.” A human life was taken in cold blood. To be that void of sympathy accelerates the erosion of civility at a time when it desperately requires buttressing.

Gutfeld’s recklessness needs to be vigorously called out. He has a huge audience. In addition to appearing on “The Five,” he hosts a popular late-night show on Fox that carries his name, one whose viewership first topped all other late-night network hosts, such as Stephen Colbert, in 2021.

With that platform comes responsibility. Gutfeld using his voice to call for calm would have had impact. Instead, he demeaned Hortman’s death on a recent episode of “The Five.” The remarks came in an exchange with Fox personality Jessica Tarlov over whether the ideological left, right or both, own recent political violence.

Tarlov seemed to suggest that it’s a both sides issue, citing Hortman’s death.

Tarlov: “So she doesn’t matter?”

Gutfeld: “Don’t play that bullshit with me. What I’m saying is: There was no demonization amplification about that woman before she died. It was a specific crime against her by somebody who knew her. You can bring up Josh Shapiro, but then you will not bring up, for example, that that was a pro-Palestine person. So don’t use your ‘what about this.’”

Gutfeld continues: “The fact of the matter is the ‘both sides argument’ not only doesn’t fly — we don’t care! We don’t care about your both sides argument. That shit is dead. For one thing, there is no cognitive dissonance on our side. On your side, your beliefs do not match reality, so you’re coming up with these rationalizations, like ‘What about this?’ or ‘What about that?’"

As of Wednesday, Fox did not have the episode online. Nor did the network respond to a request for comment. But a clip of the exchange can be seen here.

The claim that Hortman knew Vance Boelter, the man charged in the deadly June shooting spree, is part of Gutfeld’s rationale for downplaying her death. That claim lacks evidence.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has also reported that Boelter’s roommate said Boelter was a “strong supporter” of Trump.

As for Tyler Robinson, the alleged perpetrator in Kirk’s killing, details are still emerging about a motive and his political leanings. But Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who likely has access to investigative details not yet public, has said that Robinson had a “leftist ideology."

Cox led press briefings after Kirk’s killing that provide a striking example of leadership that meets this volatile moment. His remarks have been measured. He’s also correctly called out disinformation and “conflict entrepreneurs” rending our fragile social fabric.

Trump has thankfully responded with empathy to Minnesota’s latest tragedy at Annunciation, calling Gov. Tim Walz and ordering flags to be flown at half staff.

That’s a welcome change from Trump’s callous response after Hortman’s death when he didn’t call Walz or lower flags. It’s a small step forward, but one that reminds of how powerful a balm even bare-minimum humanity can be when a state is grieving two shattering tragedies in 90 days.