The ‘tolerant’ Left

Judging by their actions, ‘tolerant’ is false advertising.

The Minnesota House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee scheduled a meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21, to kick off the 2025 legislative session with an update from the three primary law enforcement groups in the state: the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, and the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association. The House Republicans attended the meeting, performing the business Minnesota voters sent them to do. Their DFL counterparts refused. I was there to hear the concerns from this lobby.

The presentations served as an important opportunity for committee members to hear firsthand about the issues facing our law enforcement community, including a continued recruitment and retention crisis, increased assaults on officers, and a general increase in lawlessness.

Just before the committee meeting was called to order, a group of two dozen mostly masked individuals entered and quietly took seats together in the gallery. The quiet part wouldn’t last.

Shortly after the MPPOA presentation began, one person from the group — a self-described 400-pound trans “lady” — pulled a small bullhorn from his purse and interrupted the hearing, saying, “Alright, that’s about enough of this bullshit.” That was the high point.

Over the next 25 minutes, the man leveled profanity-laden insults at the committee members, many of whom were newly elected Representatives attending their first committee hearing.

The attention of the group’s leader focused on committee member Walter Hudson, who began videoing the disturbance with his cellphone. The man walked up and stood over Rep. Hudson, calling him a “chicken-meatball-headed motherf*****.”

Even as the committee chair attempted to restore order, the group leader continued the disruption, yelling, “Don’t bang your gavel. Listen while the adults are talking, motherf***er.” He then started to chant, “F*** you! F*** you! F*** you!”

The Sergeant at Arms and the Minnesota state troopers who maintain security at the Capitol promptly responded and coordinated with the committee chair. A decision was made to call a recess to the hearing while the state patrol escorted the group out of the Capitol. It’s unclear whether the group was cited for trespassing or their conduct at the Capitol, though that may have occurred later.

The incident brought the issue of security at the Capitol to the forefront. It has been a long-standing practice to ensure unfettered public access to observe the legislative process. Unfortunately, this group of protestors and their uncivil, rude, and disruptive actions may make it far less likely a group can attend legislative business in the future.

The entire episode should be an embarrassment to those on the left who claim to support tolerance and the democratic process. Their intent to shut down the good-faith testimony of people with different perspectives and views from their own betrays the boundary of their “tolerance.” Nothing was tolerant or democratic about this behavior, and the action only wasted the finite time our elected officials had to hear from pertinent constituencies and debate important issues. If they claim to be on the side of tolerance, they certainly have an odd way of showing it.