“Psyop”: The far-right conspiracy theory about Minnesota shooting evolved to protect the Magazine

In time rear Vance Belter was appointed as a suspect In the fatal shooting of Democrat Minnesota representative Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark Hortman, a far-right conspiracyist and a Republican influencer, claimed he was a violent leftist Democrat.

“The far left is murderously violent,” Elon Musk said. I wrote it On Saturday X, there are posts remaining on the site and appearing over 50 million times.

When the facts of the story emerged – the suspect was registered in another state Republican PartyIt was said that he voted President Donald Trump And as a wired one It has been reportedjoined evangelical ministry where he preached against abortion and demonized the LGTBQ community. The conspiracy theory never stopped. Instead, they just changed. The poster then argued that the incident was a false flag carried out by a deep shadow state, and tried to avert the shooters from their relationship with the president and the broader Maga movement.

For years, in the wake of massive shootings and politically motivated violence, the far right has tried to portray the perpetrators as leftists. Antifa members, Part of the LGBTQ communityOr extremist violence Usually done by far-right actors.

On Saturday, a manhunt of suspected gunmen was ongoing, conservatives almost immediately claimed that the suspect had somehow linked Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, and that the shooting was part of a grand plot to target Republicans and Democrats who recently voted for. That’s what the suspicious shooter was Reappointed He was assigned to Walz’s Workforce Development Committee in 2019. There is no evidence We propose a closer link between the pairs.

This did not stop the term “Walz Appitione” trend On Saturday’s X, Right-wing influencer declare Be confident The suspicious shooter was a Democrat.

“Did Waltz execute her?” Right-wing commentator Mike Selnovich I wrote it X cites a post from a well-known explanation of conspiracy theory that highlighted Hortman’s vote for Republicans.

YouTuber Benny Johnson, who has nearly 5 million followers on the video sharing site and X has over 3 million followers. It is positioned The shooting as part of the growing trend of left-wing violence on X’s long screed described the gunman as “appointees of left-wing Tim Waltz.”

“Everyone talks about Minnesota, but they’re not talking about how the guy looks like a leftist,” Donald Trump Jr. I said in the interview With News Nation. “The man who committed those atrocities this weekend was a Democrat who worked for Tim Waltz.” When pushed by an interviewer who replied, “He voted for your dad,” Trump Jr. said, “When I saw it, I’d believe it.”

On Sunday, David Carlson, who had known the shooting game from his fourth grader and described him as his 57-year-old best friend, dismissed allegations that the gunman was a Democrat. Tell reporters on Sunday He said, “If people call him Democrats, they’d be offended.”