Minnesota's War
Stories
Trump has declared war on Minnesota for the same reason that Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated and John Hoffman and his wife were attacked. Let’s connect some dots to better recognize that. I’m sure others have gone through this same exercise, but I wanted to see it on paper and share it.
It’s not about Somalis or welfare fraud, although those give Trump hot button excuses. (The fraud deserves and was receiving appropriate attention.)
No, the war on Minnesota and Minnesotans is happening because Minnesota has come to represent EVERYTHING Trump and the MAGA crowd despise. When he looks at Minnesota Stephen Miller must retch. Our humanity, our wonderful diversity and welcoming heart, our compassion, our inclusivity are horrors to him; we represent every single post-war value he and Trump hope to destroy.
That need to destroy Minnesota came into stark focus for the MAGA crowd during the Minnesota Legislature’s glorious 2023 session. With the barest of majorities and a large surplus, Walz and Hortman and Hoffman and Erin Murphy and Kari Dziedzic rallied their DFL colleagues to go for broke. They:
• Codified abortion rights to make them more secure.
• Passed legislation making Minnesota a safe haven for LGBTQ and trans people.
• Passed free school meals for all.
• Established paid family and medical leave.
• Enacted significant gun control reforms, including a red flag law and expanding background checks.
• Legalized recreational cannabis.
• Enacted automatic voter registration and provided for pre-registration for 16 and 17-year old.
• Provided free tuition for college students from low-income families.
• Indexed school funding to inflation.
That’s a really impressive list of just the most important achievements. We Minnesotans elected the officials who accomplished this true Minnesota miracle. This is who we are. Trump and Miller could not let it stand. They could not let Minnesota remain, to borrow, with glee, a phrase from the original pillager, Ronald Reagan, a shining city on a hill, a beacon reflecting the good of America, a foothill toward Martin Luther King’s mountaintop.
We did not ask for this war, but we must win it, for the sake of the entire nation. May we do so with the non-violent grace and courage of John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr.
Brilliant framing of the real struggle here. Connecting the 2023 legislative achivements to why Minnesota became such a target clarifies the stakes beyond just soundbite politics. I saw this play out firsthand in local converstations where people didn't realize how interconnected these policies were until someone laid it all out. The indexing of school funding to inflation alone shows a level of long-term thinking that seems alien to the current federal approach.