I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) actually got something right. You know what they say about broken clocks, right?
During a recent appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Klobuchar weighed in on the recent assassination of a state lawmaker and her husband, saying that America’s political rhetoric has gotten so heated that it is prompting more violence against politicians and others.
The host brought up Klobuchar’s prior comments. “You talked about bringing the temperature down. It feels like the temperature is only rising, the threats against lawmakers, but at the federal, state, and local level. Can you talk a little bit about that?” the host asked.
The lawmaker responded, noting that “a number of elected leaders have received more security.” She noted that in 2016, “there were about 1,700 threats against members of Congress” and that in 2024, “there were over 9,000.”
“You're seeing the same in the judiciary with judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents and governors. You're seeing the same thing with election judges. People are reading things online,” Klobuchar continued. “This is a lot of it. Look at the unbalanced sick man who bludgeoned Speaker Pelosi's husband. They read things online, they believe them, they start acting them out. They are already unbalanced themselves, and they actually go do what they're reading online.”
She added: “That has been a contributor, as well as, of course, a lot of hateful rhetoric, and there's a lot of politicians that should be looking in the mirror and bring their rhetoric down.”
🚨Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar says her GOP colleagues "need to look in the mirror and bring their rhetoric down." pic.twitter.com/xINI6TSWqx
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) June 16, 2025
Klobuchar isn’t wrong. Political rhetoric appears to have become more inflamed in America over the past decade. The advent of social media has only exacerbated the problem. In fact, despite her comments, Klobuchar herself has employed strident and aggressive rhetoric at times. Remember when she slammed President Donald Trump for having dinner with Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, despite there being no evidence that the president knew who he was?
Just the facts:
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) March 25, 2023
“He dined w/a white supremacist. He called for termination of the Constitution. He vowed to make retribution a hallmark of a second term. He has called Putin a genius. STILL TRUMP REMAINS A STRONG FRONTRUNNER FOR THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION” https://t.co/gUEWps3PD8
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday used the assassination as an attempt to take a swipe at Trump while pretending to care about the lack of “decency” in political discourse.
Nevertheless, America does have a polarization problem, and it is leading to more violence. So far, most of it has come from the left. The LA riots, the murder of two workers at the Israeli embassy, and the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are but a few examples.
The individual suspected of committing the murders in Minnesota appears to be on the right, according to the information that is currently available. Still, with the situation becoming more heated, it is not surprising that we are seeing more acts of political violence. If the situation does not cool down, it will only get worse.
An SNF Agora/YouGov poll conducted in 2024 found that almost half of Americans (49% of Republicans and 45% of Democrats) view the opposite party as “evil.”
Still, it appears that most Americans understand where the polarization is coming from. A 2022 FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll revealed that 64 percent of respondents believed the animus is being driven by “political and social elites.” Only 11 percent felt this had more to do with how Americans think.
It is also worth noting that most of the political polarization is an online phenomenon. If you’re like me, you likely see people in real life getting along — even if they vote for opposite parties. However, the shootings in Minnesota and other forms of political violence show that what is happening online is leaking into real life.
Until something happens to cool down the rhetoric, we can only expect more violence. It could even escalate to larger attacks that harm more people, similar to the antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado. At this point, the only way forward that I can see is for people to realize who is truly fueling division. It’s not our neighbors. As the aforementioned poll suggests, it is the elites who benefit from pitting us against one another while they continue amassing more power at our expense.