The Wild Reed: June 2025

Friday, June 27, 2025

A Timely and Important Conversation

Kshama Sawant is an Indian-American politician and economist who in 2014 as a Socialist Alternative candidate toppled a sixteen year incumbent who was backed by a powerful Democratic Party establishment. As a result of this and future electoral victories, Sawant served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024 as an out-and-proud socialist. During her tenure she reshaped Seattle’s political culture around demands for economic and social justice, reviving national debate around municipal socialism in the process.

I find Sawant inspiring not only for these achievements (and her work in unionizing workers through Workers Strike Back, the Socialist Alternative campaign that she founded in 2023) but also for the way she knows and shares the history of the ongoing struggle for workers’ rights and social justice in the United States. She keeps it real, in other words. And I find that refreshing and hopeful. Currently, Sawant is a candidate for Washington 9th congressional district, running against incumbent Democrat Adam Smith.

Earlier today Sawant was a guest on the Due Dissidence podcast where she shared her thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani identifies as a democratic socialist but, unlike Sawant, works within the Democratic Party, not outside of it.

Related Off-site Links:
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to “Billionaire-Backed Status Quo” in New York City – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, June 25, 2025).
“We Fight for Working People with No Apology”: Zohran Mamdani Beats Cuomo in New York City Mayoral Primary – Democracy Now! (June 25, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Win Triggers Colossal Meltdowns from Right-Wingers and Centrists – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, June 25, 2025).
Wall Street Loses It Over Zohran Victory – Breaking Points (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani’s Primary Win Has Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump Reacting – Hard Lens Media (June 26, 2025).
Zohran Mamdani Is Every Republican’s Worst Nightmare – The Majority Report (June 26, 2025).
Instead of Fearing Zohran Mamdani, Mainstream Democrats Should Follow His Lead – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Watch Epic Takedown of MSNBC’s Zohran Mamdani “Socialist” Propaganda – Jordan Chariton (Status Coup News, June 27, 2025).
Muslim Lawmakers Decry “Vile” Bipartisan Islamophobic Attacks on Zohran Mamdani – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, June 27, 2025).
Democratic Senator Gillibrand Goes on Islamophobic Rant Against Mamdani – Sharon Zhang (Truthout, June 27, 2025).
Is Zohran Mamdani "Good for the Left"? An Interview with Socialist Congressional Candidate Kshama Sawant – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, June 27, 2025).

UPDATE: Zohran Mamdani Win: Is It the Beginning of the Democrat Party Taking Over the Campaign? – Kit Cabello (Hard Lens Media, June 28, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Fighting the Rich and Their Two Parties
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Terry Eagleton: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2011
• Playwright Tony Kushner on Being a Socialist
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Capitalism on Trial
• R.I.P. Neoclassical Economics
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Quote of the Day

It looks like Andrew Cuomo will be running in the general election as an independent against the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani [right].

. . . I was angry with Bernie Sanders and all the other progressives who shamed us for years into shutting our mouths and supporting the Democratic nominee. No matter how horrific they were.

After being cheated out of the nomination, Bernie should have run as an independent or the Green Party nominee for president. Instead, he told his supporters to suck it up and support Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Same with AOC. If progressives wanted to exert their power in the Democratic Party, they should have run on third party lines after being cheated or they should have endorsed Green Party candidates.

You know who is already using this strategy? Corporate Democrats. When it looked like Bernie could win in 2020, some corporate Democrats started recruiting people like Mike Bloomberg to run on a third party line. Now, it looks like they will deploy it again against Mamdani.

Again, there is no future within the Democratic Party. As you can see, it’s where progressive and leftist movements go to die.

– Dorothy Lennon
via social media
June 26, 2025

This Moment

When you are present in this moment, you break the continuity of your story, of past and future. Then true intelligence arises, and also love.

– Eckhart Tolle

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Quote of the Day

[Trump is] violating the Constitution. You can’t, as the president, engage in strikes on a foreign country when there’s no imminent threat without coming to Congress for authorization. In this case, the missile strikes were characterized as a war on Iran. That was how it was characterized in papers across our country. That’s how the Iranian people felt it. And that’s why Rep. Thomas Massie and I introduced the bipartisan War Powers Resolution.

. . . I have been consistent, as have a few of us, in speaking out against unconstitutional strikes, whether they’re Democratic or Republican presidents. . . . The Libya attacks [under Obama] were blatantly unconstitutional. Those strikes were also counterproductive. They incentivized countries to say, “If you voluntarily agree to give up your nuclear program, the United States may still attack you.” And the attacks on Yemen [also under Obama] were unconstitutional. Bernie Sanders and I passed the first War Powers Resolution to stop the refueling of Saudi planes.

The question for the Democratic Party is, are we going to take the mantle of being the anti-war party? That’s not pacifism. That means against these wars of choice. The American people are desperate for that. The anti-war candidate has usually won. And Trump outflanked us in 2016 and 2024 on an anti-war platform. I am pushing my party to be very clear that we will stand against these overseas wars of choice.

. . . The biggest problem in American democracy is the role of big money. It has skewed our foreign policy into bloated defense budgets, it’s skewed our foreign policy in the Middle East, it has prevented us from getting Medicare for All, it has prevented us from taking on Big Pharma and lowering prescription drug prices, it has prevented us from getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies. It is why I don’t take any PAC money. It’s why Rep. Summer Lee and I have a bill to outlaw super PACs that still would be constitutional under Citizens United. If you can regulate the amount of money that someone can give to a candidate, why can’t you regulate the amount of money someone can give to a super PAC?

– Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca-17)
Excerpted from “‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’:
Rep. Ro Khanna Decries U.S. Strikes on
Iran Without Congressional Approval”
Democracy Now!
June 24, 2025

Monday, June 23, 2025

Home to Be With Mum

I’m currently in my homeland of Australia where I’ll be spending the next three weeks with my family — my mum in particular. As some reading this will already know, mum has recently had some health issues.

Although she continues to make a good recovery from the stroke she experienced two months ago (just a day after my return to the U.S. after a month-long visit), mum will be moving into the assisted-living section of the retirement village in Port Macquarie that’s been her home since 2013, first with dad and then, after his passing in 2019, on her own.

The time is right for this move, and I’m looking forward to helping it go as smoothly as possible. I’m also looking forward to supporting mum during this time of transition and change, and to spending meaningful time with my family.

Following are some photos of my journey from Minneapolis to Guruk (aka Port Macquarie).

Above: Late-spring light in my attic apartment in south Minneapolis on the morning of my departure for Australia – Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Right: My dear friend Kate drove me to the airport on Thursday. On the way, we had a delicious lunch at Wise Acre Eatery in Minneapolis.

Above: Californian hills outside of San Francisco.

Above: Leaving the U.S., with the lights of San Francisco in the distance.

Above: Flying over the wharf of the former Kurnell Oil Refinery (now an import terminal) in Botany Bay. We were coming in to land at Sydney Airport – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

After landing at Sydney Airport’s international terminal, I made my way to its domestic terminal (above and below). Here I boarded my flight with QANTAS to Port Macquarie.

Above: Shortly after takeoff, the plane that took me to Port Macquarie yesterday morning flew right over Sydney Harbour. What a spectacular view I was treated to! . . . It was just over two months ago that I had a much more up-close experience of this world famous harbour.

Above: A view of the beautiful Mid North Coast of New South Wales – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Above: Mum — Saturday, June 21, 2025.

I think this photo is a lovely one of mum, but she’s not so enthusiastic about it, saying she looks like an “old lady.” 🤣

While in Port Macquarie I’m staying at mum’s villa in the independent-living section of her retirement village. For almost a decade now, this very spacious villa has been home for me whenever I’ve returned to Australia from the U.S. for a visit. It’s definitely strange to be staying here alone. Indeed, I realized on my first night that I’m here with my father’s ashes and my mother’s absence.

It is without doubt a challenging time for my mother. Yet in certain ways it’s also a time of transition and change for our entire family, myself included. Now that mum is in assisted-living, my days of having a “home” in my homeland are coming to an end. With such a realization there comes a range of emotions. And yet I remain hopeful . . . for both myself and mum.

Interestingly, within an hour of arriving at mum’s villa, I came across a book in the kitchen/dining area. It was Julia Cameron’s Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life, a book that Cameron herself describes as “a companion in challenging times.” A page was bookmarked, no doubt by mum, and I immediately experienced the prayer on this page as a blessing, one that I continue to hold in my heart; again, for both myself and mum.

All change can be expansive in potential. The choice is ours. As I open my heart to accept change, my heart softens and grows larger. Every experience carries the seed of transformation. Every event can bring blossoming and wealth. My personal will can resist change or embrace it. The choice is mine and determines the life I will have.

Today, I choose to embrace change. I open my heart to its hidden but abundant blessings.

– Julia Cameron
Excerpted from Transitions: Prayers and Declarations
for a Changing Life
p. 3

Above: For the last two mornings I’ve watched the sunrise from this bench on Port Macquarie’s Shelly Beach. It’s been a very grounding, very anchoring way to start each day.

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Solstice Dawn

At this sacred time of solstice (balance) I have journeyed from the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere to the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere.

Yes, I have returned to my homeland of Australia for three weeks. I’ll share the reason for this visit in a later post.

For now, here are some wise and beautiful words from Julia Cameron to accompany the picture I took at dawn on this solstice day.

The natural world teaches us the power of change. As seasons shift, I see the purpose and beauty of life’s cyclicality. I see the promise of spring, the ripening of summer, the bounty of harvest and the mysterious containment of winter. All seasons work for the good. So it is, too, with the changing cycles of my life. As I surrender to the wisdom of a higher plan, I discover in all circumstances the opportunity for growth and expansion. There is no season in my life that does not unfold my highest good. Challenged by difficult times, I consciously choose to affirm the goodness of life's timing.

– Julia Cameron
Excerpted from Transitions: Prayers and Declarations
for a Changing Life
p. 6

NEXT:
Home to Be With Mum

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Beneath the Solstice Sun
• Thomas Moore on the Circling of Nature as the Best Way to Find Our Substance
• The Guidance of Higher Forces
• Balance: The Key to Serenity and Clarity

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Friday, June 20, 2025

“No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”

Ben Burgis has an important article over at Jacobin, a piece that reflects the message on the sign I made for last Saturday’s “No Kings” march and rally in St. Paul (above).

“Last weekend’s massive ‘No Kings’ rallies proved Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity,” writes Burgis. “But Trump should be opposed as a symptom of America’s vast warmongering, oligarchic elite, not a simply a grotesque anomaly.”

Following is more of what Burgis says about this important issue.

__________________

Trumpism came into existence precisely because we live in a wildly unequal and increasingly economically precarious and unequal society, and this made the neoliberal centrism of the dominant wing of the Democratic Party increasingly unappealing. Trump was able to scapegoat immigrants (accused of stealing jobs or smuggling fentanyl) or foreign nations screwing over the United States in bad trade deals for problems actually caused by our own domestic oligarchs.

Democrats and liberals largely responded to the rise of Trump with an empty defense of procedural democracy per se without tying this defense to any real sense of how democracy can be used to improve the lives of ordinary people. Hence, we had years of relitigating every detail of the January 6 riots even as Democrats pretended to be powerless to even overrule the Senate parliamentarian to raise the national minimum wage. That strategy failed so catastrophically that now Trump is back in office.

Trump’s right-wing authoritarian demagoguery is a particularly dangerous symptom of a much deeper rot. Those early “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies had the virtue of identifying that rot, and putting forward an alternative message about the same underlying social problems that bred Trumpism in the first place.

It’s very good that so many people are outraged at the administration’s authoritarianism. The turnout at the rallies was inspiring, and I hope that we see much more of the same going forward. . . . Our message needs to be clear. No Kings? Absolutely. But also No Oligarchy.

To read Ben Burgis’s article “Don’t Lose Sight of the Oligarchy” in its entirety, click here.

Related Off-site Links:
Making “No Kings” a Turning Point – Christopher D. Cook (Common Dreams, June 19, 2025).
The New American Oligarchy: Creating a Country of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich – Andy Kroll (The Indypendent, December 3, 2010).
Why You Should Hate the Rich Even More: An Interview With Rob Larson – The Chris Hedges Report (June 18, 2025).
The Right Wing’s Goal of Repealing the 20th Century Is Now Within Reach. Who Will Stop Them? – John Tarleton (The Indypendent, February 13, 2025).
“End the Oligarchy”: Sunrise Movement Launches Campaign to Confront Trump and Fossil Fuel Barons – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, April 26, 2025).
“This Is What Oligarchy Is About”: Republicans Plans to Slash Medicaid to Offer More Tax Cuts to the Rich – Democracy Now! (May 12, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Protesting Is What Patriotism Looks Like in Public”: The “No Kings” Protests of June 14, 2025
• Norman Solomon: Quote of the Day – June 16, 2025
• Peter Bloom: Quote of the Day – June 10, 2025
• Ted Rall on What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

They are not law enforcement; they are goons. They are not enforcing the laws; they are breaking them. They are not our protectors; they are in essence Gestapo-like secret police.

There is no reason to think that when they’re done traumatizing, terrorizing, and otherwise damaging the lives of immigrants, that they will not be coming for the next people on their list.

– Marianne Williamson
via social media
June 20, 2025

This picture makes a pretty good allegory for democracy under assault by authoritarianism. It's as powerful, effective, and well-composed as a history painting, except the assault was real, and the assaults continue, and we're deciding how the rest of the history goes.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Exploring the Meaning and History of “Two-Spirit”

The Wild Reed’s 2025 Queer Appreciation series continues with an excerpt from a very informative article from the website of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Written by Scott de Groot, this article focuses on the Indigeous term “Two-Spirit,” its history and meaning.

__________________

In the beginning, Turtle Island was queer. Put another way, gender and sexuality were not understood in binary, “either/or” terms before the arrival of Europeans.

Across Indigenous North America, some people lived their lives as neither men nor women. Some were seen as combining – even transcending – masculine and feminine characteristics. They performed important social roles, held knowledge, led ceremonies, reared children, married and lived in same‐sex relationships.

Of course, Turtle Island was not simply a queer nirvana. Various customs and taboos governed gender and sexuality. Social norms varied greatly between First Nations. But a common thread throughout these nations was the lack of strict division of people into two opposing camps of men and women based on biology. No single system of morality forbade and condemned same‐sex and same‐gender relationships. These things only appeared later with Christianity and colonialism.

Indigenous languages have many words and expressions for people we would now call Two‐Spirit. Cree contains at least six. In Anishinaabemowin, there are at least four.

. . . [In the mid‐20th century] the Red Power movement arose to demand sovereignty and self‐determination for Indigenous peoples throughout Turtle Island (what is now Canada and the United States). Simultaneously, the Gay Liberation movement challenged homophobia, asserted gay pride and encouraged queer people to come out of the closet. Queer Indigenous activists were influenced by these two movements, but also experienced marginalization within both of them. Gay liberationists tended to denounce colonialism abroad – such as in Vietnam – while ignoring settler colonialism at home. They sometimes expressed racist attitudes and colonial standards of beauty. Red Power circles tended to be homophobic and emphasized macho gender roles, while ignoring Indigenous forms of sexual and gender diversity.

Drawing on some aspects of these movements while abandoning others, queer Indigenous activists opted to create independent organizations that would better address their needs. The first of these groups, Gay American Indians was founded in San Francisco in 1975. Others included American Indian Gays and Lesbians in Minneapolis, Gays and Lesbians of the First Nations in Toronto, WeWah and BarCheeAmpe in New York City, and Nichiwakan in Winnipeg.

Queer Indigenous activists on both sides of the Canada/United States border saw the need for greater communication, relationship‐building and coordination. They established an annual international gathering. In 1988, the first was hosted by American Indian Gays and Lesbians in Minneapolis. A second was held at a wilderness site in Wisconsin in 1989.

These events brought queer Indigenous people together to socialize, share their experiences and ideas, engage in cultural and spiritual practices, and learn from one another. A third gathering was held in Manitoba in the summer of 1990. It took place at a wilderness site outside Winnipeg, near Beausejour, Manitoba, along the banks of the Brokenhead River.

. . . At this gathering, participants discussed and debated Two‐Spirit as a term. It seemed to link contemporary LGBTQ+ experiences with Indigenous traditions, histories and worldviews. And it arrived at the perfect time. Many community members were already searching for alternatives to offensive, colonial terms such as berdache, which had been used by missionaries and anthropologists. Ultimately, attendees at the 1990 gathering embraced Two‐Spirit as a new and positive expression of who they were. They did not seek to define Two‐Spirit in a narrow way.

Two‐Spirit was not intended to supplant other LGBTQ+ identities. It can easily coexist with terms such as gay or trans in an individual’s self‐understanding. Similarly, it was not meant to replace specific terms for non‐binary sexuality and gender in Indigenous languages. Rather, it acts as a contemporary umbrella term that fosters pan‐Indigenous interconnections.

Simply put, Two‐Spirit was (and is) about self‐determination, rejecting colonial labels, building community and reconnecting with long‐suppressed aspects of Indigenous histories and cultures, including spirituality.

– Scott de Groot
Excerpted from "What Is Two‐Spirit?
Canadian Museum of Human Rights
March 26, 2024

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Naming the Pattern . . . and Its Source

– Image: “I’ll Handle Them, Mr. President”
by Tom Gurrahan (2019)

The recent shooting in Minnesota wasn’t just tragic – it was politically motivated. And it fits a pattern about domestic terrorism we keep pretending doesn’t exist.

Here’s what the data says:

• About 98% of mass shooters in the U.S. are men.

• Since 9/11, 73% of deadly extremist attacks in the U.S. were committed by far-right extremists – most of them white.

• Incidents involving people of color, women, or left-leaning ideologies are rare by comparison.

But if it keeps happening, it’s not isolated. It’s systemic.

If we don’t name the pattern, we can’t break it.

We’ll keep having moments of shock, but never real change. Never prevention. Just thoughts, prayers, and silence until it happens again.

We need to be braver than that.

– Seth Orion Viebrock
via social media
June 15, 2025

A white Christian man assassinated a lawmaker and their spouse, and shot another politician just days ago. Where is the wall-to-wall coverage ringing the alarms over the threat of white men carrying out right-wing/Christofascist terrorism in this country?

– G.N. Cordova
via social media
June 16, 2025

There are no more warnings. Not after this weekend. Not after Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old private security firm director and self-appointed enforcer of political vengeance, shot and killed Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and left State Senator John Hoffman and his wife clinging to life. The question is no longer whether political violence defines the Trump era. It already does.

Boelter, now in custody after a 48-hour manhunt, was arrested Sunday evening near Green Isle, Minnesota, just miles from where one of his vehicles and a cowboy hat had been found earlier. Law enforcement confirmed he was spotted along a trail near his family’s farm. He surrendered without incident after being surrounded by officers in rural Sibley County. The arrest ended a tense two-day search that left entire townships on edge and in lockdown.

He now faces state and likely federal charges for what authorities have called a politically motivated rampage. Boelter is accused of murdering House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and attempting to kill Senator Hoffman and his wife. He posed as a police officer, carried tactical gear and multiple firearms, and left behind a manifesto, maps, and a hit list naming Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates. His wife, detained the day before with weapons, cash, and passports in her car, was later released. The threat wasn't theoretical. It was planned, personal, and deliberate.

That hit list included Governor Tim Walz. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Senator Tina Smith. Attorney General Keith Ellison. Abortion providers across the state. This wasn’t a break from political norms. This is the new norm, a direct outcome of years of stochastic terrorism, rising extremism, and political cowardice by a Republican Party that no longer sees domestic terrorists as threats, but as foot soldiers.

Boelter dressed like a cop. Moved like a soldier. Thought like a crusader. But he was no patriot. He was a man radicalized by right-wing propaganda, and permitted to act because no one stopped him. And let’s be honest, we all saw this coming.

His vehicle was outfitted to mimic a squad car. Inside, investigators found flyers twisted from the “No Kings” protest movement. What began as an anti-authoritarian call had been distorted into justification for murder. Boelter’s digital footprint, investigators say, was littered with content from extremist Telegram groups, militia forums, and MAGA channels steeped in paranoia and rage.

This is what happens when Donald Trump calls his opponents “vermin” and promises mass deportations and military sweeps. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compares political dissent to treason. When Elon Musk guts federal law enforcement under the banner of “efficiency” while private militias gain ground. When Tucker Carlson, now serving as Trump’s National Communications Director, uses state media to warn that civil war is inevitable and even necessary.

Boelter didn’t invent this violence. He inherited it. Consumed it. Recycled it. And acted on it.

His worldview didn’t form in the shadows. It was shaped in plain sight. He repeated the talking points broadcast daily by conspiracy platforms, podcast pundits, and cable news hosts who blur the line between entertainment and incitement. He believed what millions have been conditioned to believe, that Democrats are traitors, immigrants are invaders, and violence is patriotism.

We’re told he was a lone wolf. That’s a lie. Lone wolves don’t carry manifestos, impersonate officers, and target elected officials with tactical precision. Lone wolves don’t write hit lists. This was not chaos. It was choreography.

And the GOP knows it.

Melissa Hortman was not a radical. She was a public servant. A mother. A voice for working people. Her assassination wasn’t just a tragedy. It was an attack on democratic life itself.

And yet, where’s the outrage?

Trump issued a generic statement calling the killings “horrific” before immediately insulting Governor Walz as “grossly incompetent.” He refused to call him. Speaker Mike Johnson called for bipartisan unity, but the rest of the MAGA machine? Silent. Tucker. Greene. Bannon. Nothing.

The same crowd that explodes over Mr. Potato Head pronouns fell quiet when a lawmaker and her husband were executed. That silence? It’s not neutrality. It’s endorsement by omission.

This isn’t condemnation. It’s coordination.

For the MAGA movement, this isn’t a nightmare. It’s a strategy.

We are not at the brink. We are in the fire. The violence is no longer metaphorical. The bodies are real. And unless we summon the courage to name this for what it is – right-wing domestic terrorism – it will keep spreading.

As Governor Tim Walz said on Sunday, “This was not just an attack on individuals. It was an attack on democracy itself.”

So speak. Report. Vote. Organize. Or prepare to bury more of your leaders.

The sirens have already started. The only question now is whether we’ll listen, or wait for the next knock on the door.

– Tony Pentimalli
“The Silence Before the Sirens: Vance Boelter, Political Violence,
and the American Right’s Final Descent”
via social media
June 16, 2025

Vance Boelter, the assassin who shot two Minnesota lawmakers and their families, has been taken into custody after a 48-hour manhunt. As we try to piece together exactly what happened Friday night, we are reminded that the only thing that flies faster than a bullet is MAGA disinformation.

In the immediate hours after the attack, MAGA spread heinous and unfounded lies that the killer was a secret agent working for Tim Walz on a mission to impose woke transgender mice and their DEI globalist plans something something. I could care less. I will not entertain right-wing foolishness for a second.

Let’s be clear. This man is a MAGA maniac, no different than the other 99% of domestic terrorists, who in recent years attempted to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, fire bombed the Governor of Pennsylvania, committed scores of mass shootings in state after state, and organized a violent a coup against the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to subvert a democratic election.

The unsettling reality is that this man is a religious psycho and privileged pastor with a big white average family in a big white average house. A ho-hum, podunk, anti-abortion male who resorted to violence to instill fear.

The terrorist’s wife appears to have aided her husband in the attack, or at least had foreknowledge, as she was pulled over by Minnesota State Police with a bag of cash, passports, and other questionable material. As with any ongoing terror investigation, naturally she was let go without inquiry. Minnesota’s prisons aren’t filled with white people for a reason.

The term you must familiarize yourself with in this moment is “stochastic terrorism” whereby white supremacist cult leaders like Trump inspire, beckon, and fuel his mentally unstable fans to commit acts of atrocity.

What the corporate media bend over backwards to convey as “lone gunmen” are in reality a rapid sequence of like-minded attacks, with patterned, predictable, overlapping motives, techniques, grievances, and nearly identical political beliefs. They share ideas, tips, and hatreds online. They aren’t isolated gunmen; they are an Army.

We must challenge the right-wing disinformation machine while we confront the realities of corporate media from FOX, NBC, and CBS, intent on delivering a tired and contrived script falsely claiming, “we don’t know his motive.”

Please. The man left a manifesto, just like all the others.

The pastor is a right-wing religious terrorist. Mundane. One of many in recent months; one of many in recent years.

The truth is the bloody legacy of these violent white men stretches back to El Paso, Columbine, Oklahoma City, Wounded Knee, and Mystic River.

MAGA told us for years but we didn’t want to listen: “We are at war against you.”

Their terror cells stand ready for the clarion call from Fox News and their multi-millionaire talking heads who spew venom a mile a minute. These violent MAGA operate with total impunity in our country while billions of our tax money is funneled to companies like Palantir to rip immigrant families apart.

Even in the rare case when MAGA terrorists are caught and prosecuted, like many January 6 insurrectionists, Trump hands them a blanket pardon and gives their families millions.

The Pentagon, DHS, and FBI spend a trillion dollars on national security a year and haven’t stopped a single right-wing killer. Coincidence?

We all need to wake up. MAGA was never solely a political party. It was always open about its character, motive, and vision – and what they would do to impose it. They even spelled it out in a 900 page document called Project 2025.

As Trump and his team scrub the accomplishments and history of Black and brown people, his fans commit to the grim task of eliminating them from earth, as we saw at a Black church in Charleston, or a predominantly Black grocery store in Buffalo, NY. And dozens of attacks in between.

As Stephen Miller erases thousands of immigrants from our communities, MAGA cells activate in El Paso and eliminate dozens of Latino lives in an instant.

As Trump targets Democratic lawmakers for arrest, assault, and detention, his loyal fans commit to murdering them in cold blood in their own homes.

On No Kings day, our movement to smash American fascism to smithereens was born in the streets – our streets.

The task that lies ahead is to identify the structure of the MAGA terror organization, its billionaire backers, their enablers in Congress and the corporate media. We will hunker down and begin the grim but essential work of dismantling their system of hatred and terror.

MAGA, we are finally taking you for your word. We see you for who you are and we are not afraid.

– Feminist News
via social media
June 16, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
A Midnight Assassin, Masked Agents and Rising Political Violence – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan (Democracy Now!, June 18, 2025).
Trump Says Calling Governor Tim Walz About Attacks on Minnesota Lawmakers Would “Waste Time” – Brianna Kelly (Bring Me the News, June 17, 2025).
Right-wingers Spew Outrageous Lies About Pro-Trump Assassin in Minnesota – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, June 16, 2025).
Sen. Tina Smith Confronts Repubican Sen. Mike Lee Over “Cruel” Response to Minnesota Shootings – Stef W. Kight (Axios, June 16, 2025).
“The Response on the Right Has Been Absolutely Deranged”: Tim Miller Reacts to Minnesota Shootings – MSNBC (June 17, 2025).
“We Loved Her”: MN Attorney General Keith Ellison Mourns His Friend Melissa Hortman, Slams Republican Rhetoric – Democracy Now! (June 17, 2025).
A Democratic Legislator Was Assassinated; Right-wing Influencers Coughed Out Disinformation – J. Patrick Coolican (Minnesota Reformer, June 14, 2025).
Trump’s Long Legacy of Inciting Violence – Mark Follman (Mother Jones, November 3, 2024).
Trump’s Extreme Rhetoric Is Echoing in Threats of Violence – Mark Follman (Mother Jones, October 24, 2024).
Trump’s Violent Political Rhetoric Threatens All Americans – John Ripton (Common Dreams, September 24, 2024).
Trump’s Rhetoric Has Caused Violence, Not Democrats Calling Him a Threat to Democracy – Donna Brazile (The Hill, September 20, 2024).
Trump and Vance Are Hypocrites About Political Violence – Will Saletan (The Bulwark, September 18, 2024).
A New Era of Violent Rhetoric Began in 2015, and We're All in Danger – Donna Brazile (Newsweek, September 16, 2024).
The Danger of Treating Politics Like War – Jennifer Mercieca (Time, July 15, 2024).
Donald Trump and the Gathering Darkness Threatening U.S. Politics – Richard Hargy (The Conversation, July 15, 2024).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Fascism Is Upon Us”
• President Trump, “We Hold You Responsible”
• William D. Lindsey: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2022
• Quote of the Day – October 28, 2018
• In Charlottesville, the Face of Terrorism In the U.S.
• Trump’s America: Normalized White Supremacy and a Rising Tide of Racist Violence
• Progressive Perspectives on the Election of Donald Trump
• Trump’s Playbook
Progressive Perspectives on the Rise of Donald Trump

The Wild Reed

Friday, June 27, 2025

A Timely and Important Conversation

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Quote of the Day

This Moment

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Quote of the Day

Monday, June 23, 2025

Home to Be With Mum

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Solstice Dawn

Friday, June 20, 2025

“No Kings”? Absolutely. But Also “No Oligarchy”

Quote of the Day

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Exploring the Meaning and History of “Two-Spirit”

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Naming the Pattern . . . and Its Source

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