Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks during the confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

After the heinous, politically targeted shootings in Minnesota over the weekend, several Republican lawmakers have decided to ramp up divisive and sometimes pro-political violence rhetoric online.

On Monday, New Hampshire state Sen. Kevin Avard (R-Nashua) commented on a X post of a protester of Los Angeles being run over by a car. The caption asked, “Are you ok with this,” to which Avard responded, “Absolutely!”

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) deleted two controversial X posts he made after the attacks when he received pushback from colleagues and constituents. In one post, Lee included a picture of Boelter dressed in the police attire he donned while he committed the violent acts with the caption, “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.”

In a similar post, Lee captioned another picture of Boelter with “nightmare on Waltz street,” mocking Walz and spreading disinformation that Boelter is left-wing.

On Sunday, one day after Vance Boelter allegedly assassinated former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) blamed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) for appointing “political assassins to boards.” Van Orden was referencing the fact that Boelter was appointed to a workforce development board by Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL) in 2016, and again by Walz in 2019.

According to reporting done by CBS News, this position was essentially a volunteer role, and one of hundreds that the governor approves. The board appointments are not political jobs and the governor’s role in the appointments were described as “ceremonial” by political science professor David Schultz.

Walz’s office gave further details on these appointments in a statement to WCCO on Tuesday.

“There are thousands of volunteers of all political persuasions who serve on hundreds of these boards,” a spokesperson said. “That particular board has over 60 people on it. The Governor does not interview applicants for these roles and he does not know Boelter. They are not appointments to a position in the Governor’s cabinet. These boards and commissions have no authority to make decisions, change laws, or implement policies.”

Despite these facts, Van Orden took the opportunity to post divisive comments on his X account, calling Walz a “clown” for appointing Boelter to the workforce board and appearing to indirectly blame the shootings on the governor.

Van Orden’s office did not respond to a request for comment asking if he thinks it is appropriate to leave the comments up or if he will delete them.

Political violence has seen a sharp increase in recent years. Before the election last November, one study from the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than one in four of Republicans think political violence is acceptable.

Shortly after President Donald Trump was sworn into his second term in January, he issued a sweeping pardon to all those faced with criminal charges for their participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Many of those pardoned were charged with violent crimes against Capitol police officers, with Trump and members of the GOP ignoring their own calls to prosecute those who commit violent crimes, specifically against law enforcement. An analysis by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released earlier this month revealed that at least 10 of those pardoned have been rearrested, charged or sentenced for other crimes.