The Moral Bankruptcy of Mike Lee
These difficult times require strong moral leadership. Instead, Utah's Senator Mike Lee chose cruelty and petty cowardice.
Every day, it seems like there is a new piece of horrific news. With the horrific news that two Minnesota state representatives and their spouses were shot, that reality becomes all the more painful. In these times, strong moral leadership is critical to strengthening the nation and uniting the citizenry. Instead, Senator Mike Lee of Utah chose to demonstrate a complete and total lack of moral conviction through a series of disgusting posts mocking the shooting of two state representatives. A shooting that killed one and critically injured another. Despite intense backlash and a confrontation with Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, he has yet to delete his ridiculous posts. His failure at this moment is reason enough to remove him from office.
What Did He Say?
On June 15th, Senator Lee posted an image of the infamous shooter, Vance Boelter, with the caption "Nightmare on Waltz Street." The post is both mocking the incident and is likely a nod to the fact that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appointed Boelter to the non-partisan Governor's Workforce Development Board. The implication is that there is something inherently wrong with that fact.
This unspoken assertion, of course, is nonsense. That board was specifically meant to be non-partisan, as far as I have been able to find. There was no reason to believe that Boelter was a threat when he was originally appointed to the board. Mark Dayton, the former governor, originally appointed Boelter, and Walz reinstated him.
Senator Lee's post is, at best, irresponsible if not an outright lie.
It would be one thing if Senator Lee posted one comment, but that is not the case. The post above wasn't even the first post mocking the shooting. The post mentioned above was posted around 9:15 AM. However, he also posted another image of the shooter at around 8:50 AM with the caption reading, "This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way." It is worth noting that Boelter was a registered Republican while living in Oklahoma. Friends and family interviewed by the Associated Press confirmed that Boelter was an evangelical conservative who attended rallies for President Trump, but that didn't stop Senator Lee from posting this inaccurate act of red-baiting.
Moral Weakness and Equivocation
Some will argue that these are just jokes or that Senator Lee is simply incorrect about the ideological leanings of the shooter. To that, I say:
How is murder funny?
He knows exactly what he is doing.
The posts by Senator Lee were made on his personal account, not his official one, and it is painfully clear why. The official account has over 800,000 followers and a far more measured tone. At the same time, the personal account, which has roughly 600,000 followers, is more blunt. Indeed, on the same day that Lee posted these horrific jokes, his official account posted a statement saying:
"These hateful attacks have no place in Utah, Minnesota, or anywhere in America. Please join me in condemning this senseless violence and praying for the victims and their families."
It is painfully obvious that Senator Lee was aware that his personal account got less attention than his official counterpart and hoped he could use that to engage in dehumanizing rhetoric without consequence. In the simplest of terms, Mike Lee is a coward.
It doesn't take an act of moral perfection to condemn violence. When President Trump was first shot, I publicly condemned the attack on my Instagram and wrote a full-fledged article warning against this dehumanizing rhetoric. As I explained:
"If we, as a society, permit ourselves to indulge in political violence and celebrate it, we further ensure that it will become acceptable in the future. Biden is 81, and Donald Trump is 78; these two candidates will likely not be at the center of our political world in ten years. What we do here and how we conduct ourselves going forward will necessarily transcend them and their concerns.
Ask yourselves this simple question: Do you want a political environment where people readily wish death on the opposing candidate or not?
The future of our country depends on us answering that question and turning away from violence. Trump is a genuine threat to the well-being of America, but if we wish to be rid of his movement, we can’t adopt their tactics."
I can simultaneously call out my political opposition without calling for their death or accepting violence. The same can't be said for a member of the United States Senate. If there is any good left in the Senate GOP, they should expel Mike Lee from their ranks. Sadly, we all know that will never happen because they, like Senator Lee, are morally bankrupt.
