Letters from an American - June 16, 2025

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

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June 16, 2025. At a news conference today, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, who was appointed by President Donald Trump just two weeks ago, said that Minnesota suspect Vance Bolter went to the homes of two more politicians than the two he eventually shot, along with their spouses. One was on vacation with her family, and at another home, a police officer apparently scared him off. Thompson said Bolter had voluminous writings that showed he had been planning the attacks

for quite some time. But, Thompson added, I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him. Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people. They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it's just way too speculative for anyone that's reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues. Zoe Satili of CNN reported that Bolter is facing federal charges of two counts of stalking, two counts of murder, and two

counts of firearms offenses. He is facing state charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and attempted murder. MAGA loyalists have continued to radicalize in the wake of the shootings, spreading disinformation that blamed the violence on Democrats or joking about the event. Walker Ornstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune debunked the information spread by MAGA loyalists, noting that Boulder was not close to Walz, who simply okayed his reappointment to a bipartisan board that then-Governor Mark Dayton had put him on in 2016. According to his roommate, Boulder was a strong supporter of Trump. Emily Anderson Stern and Robert Gerke of the Salt Lake Tribune called out Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah,

for his behavior in the aftermath of the shootings. Lee joked about the killings and falsely blamed the violence on his political opponents, tying the shooting to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat of Minnesota, responded, this was an incredible woman, her husband, her two kids. Yesterday on Father's Day there was no Father's Day for them. They lost both their parents. This is not a laughing matter and certainly what we're seeing is an increase in violence and this evil man who did this This is not a joke of Lee's behavior

Influencer George Takei wrote Utah voters. Are these really your values? Mike Lee is the best you can do After Lee pinned one of his disturbing tweets to the top of his social media timeline, Tim Miller of The Bulwark wrote, "...this is less of a political matter than a sign of deep mental illness." As of this afternoon, Trump had not called walls, calling him a terrible governor and a grossly incompetent person. Trump drew criticism of his own incompetence today at the meeting of the Group of Seven, or G7, in Cananaskis, Alberta, in Canada. The G7 is a form of democracies with advanced economies that includes Canada, France, Germany,

Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union. During today's meetings, Trump seemed to think the United Kingdom and the European Union were the same thing. Trump also parroted Russian talking points, telling reporters, the G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in. And I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in.

And you wouldn't have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago. In fact, the members of the G7 kicked Russia out of the forum after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014. And former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn't take office until 2015. On Friday, Canadian shock jock Dean Blundell reported that Washington insiders and observers from abroad had noticed how rarely Trump appears in public and how often he falls asleep when he does, prompting speculation that he is not physically able to do the work of the presidency. Blundell suggested Trump's team would look for a way to get the president out of the G7 early to avoid exposure.

After today's meetings, at which it appears the US was delaying a joint statement in which G7 members called for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, Trump posted on social media, Iran should have signed the deal I told them to sign. Although it was Trump who pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal that limited Iran's nuclear program. He continued, what a shame and waste of human life. Simply stated, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I said it over and over again.

Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran. More than 9 million people live in Tehran, with more than 16 million in the metropolitan area. Then the president's team announced the situation in the Middle East required the president to leave the G7 a day early. Twelve minutes after his post about evacuating Tehran, Trump reposted a Newsmax story saying that Trump deserves an A-plus for his job performance so far. And less than an hour later, he posted an attack on right-wing personality Tucker Carlson and then posted, America first means many great things, including that fact that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Make America great again. Just before midnight,

he posted an attack on California Governor Gavin Newsom. It's unclear what Trump's abrupt departure from the G7 indicates for events in the Middle East and U.S. involvement in them. As Brian O'Neill of The Contrarian noted, Trump had said he hoped to negotiate a deal with Iran, and indeed talks were scheduled for Sunday in Oman when Israel launched its attack on Iran's nuclear facilities on Friday. O'Neill notes that when Israel struck Iran last Friday without U.S. coordination, the Trump administration was left scrambling to respond. Being sidelined in foreign affairs,

at the same time as the American people turned out in huge numbers to protest his administration, and as his military parade fizzled, shows Trump has less power than he tries to project. How decisions are being made in the administration is unclear. Notably, after Trump wrote last Thursday that changes are coming in deportation orders because it made no sense to deport workers who had been here for a long time and were vital to farms, hotels, and restaurants, the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, today reversed that decision. Carol D. Lenig, Natalie Allison,

Marianne Levine, and Lauren Kaori Gurley of the Washington Post reported that after Trump's post and comments to reporters, a DHS official told agents to pause raids on agriculture, including meatpacking plants, as well as restaurants and hotels. But on Sunday, DHS leadership suggested a reversal was coming because, as the journalists write, the White House did not support the new policy. In a call this morning, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, told agents to continue immigration raids at the businesses Trump

had said he was going to protect. This shift makes it seem as if White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a white nationalist who insists that the U.S. must deport a million immigrants this year, is determining White House policies, just as he did on the signal chat about the military strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, when his statement that Trump wanted a strike appeared to shut down any further debate of the question. If Trump is leaving the work of the presidency to others, his family is certainly using the prestige

of the presidency to make money. In what it says is in honor of the 10th anniversary of Trump's trip down the Trump Tower escalator into presidential politics, the Trump Organization has launched a mobile phone service. As Nikki McCann Ramirez of Rolling Stone explains, the plan is essentially another licensing deal with the disclaimer specifying that the service simply uses the Trump name after contracting with another provider. The announcement claims that new Made in America Gold phones will be available in September, but as David Pearce of The Verge notes, the photoshopped image of the phone and the wonky

specs on it, as well as the impossible promise to make them in America within three months, mean the phone looks both bad and impossible. The phone, too, is simply branded with the Trump name. The family business will not design or manufacture it. The family was evidently in a hurry to get this venture up and running. Kelsey Griffiths of Bloomberg reported that the Trump Organization only applied for the trademarks for it last Thursday. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson.

It was produced at Soundscape Productions, dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss. ["Dead in Massachusetts"]