I've been researching some leads related to agriculture in Minnesota and South Dakota, but haven't surfaced from that dive enough to post about the material .
In the meantime, a story from the Minnesota Reformer that sums up the state of North Star State politics this June.
However, Bluestem remembers that Ingraham wasn't from around here went he writes in the article below:
The contrast between White and Jim Newberger, Republicans’ choice to challenge Klobuchar in 2018, couldn’t be starker. Newberger was an experienced state legislator who worked across the aisle with Democrats and gave emergency first aid to DFL governor Mark Dayton after he collapsed during the 2017 state of the state address.
That's not the Jim Newberger Bluestem remembers from posts like 2012's Scary MN: Representative-elect Jim Newberger totally freaks about EQB & Citizens Forums (an Agenda 21 fear); Captured on the Minnesota House floor: Pat Garofalo reacts to Jim Newberger, in which Garofalo indicates with hand signal that his colleague isn't mentally well; In prolonged rant on anti-bullying bill, Jim Newberger plays Orwell & Hitler cards and In the ultimate dumpster fire, Jim Newberger campaign torches own yard sign to own the libs:.
Yep, the otherwise always excellent data journalist wasn't around to witness that about the past Klobucher challenger. Or the time the St. Paul Pioneer Press'd great Rachel Stassen-Berger reported Minnesota legislator reprimanded for intervening in judgment.
The latest chapter in Minnesota Republican United States Senare candidates, from the Minnesota Reformer:
GOP-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate mistakes drinking fountains for crime in map mix-up
By Christopher IngrahamOpe.
On Tuesday evening Royce White, the Minnesota GOP-endorsed candidate to challenge U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, posted a map to Twitter, now X, with the following caption: “Crime in Minneapolis…Out of control. Come on now. Refund the police! #Godspeed”
The sentiment was standard fare for a political party that often seeks to make crime a centerpiece of its election campaigns.
The map, on the other hand, didn’t show crime at all, but rather the locations of 195 public drinking fountains in the city.
It’s the latest in a long line of embarrassments for a candidate who has himself pled guilty to theft and disorderly conduct, endorsed conspiracy theories, denigrated women and LGBTQ people, described himself as an “antisemite,” fallen behind on child support, and played fast-and-loose with campaign finance laws.
It also reflects poorly on the state political party that endorsed him in May despite much of his history being public knowledge, and which so far has stood by him as new revelations have surfaced.
“He’s a very engaging guy,” Minnesota Republican Party chairman David Hann told KSTP late last month, after the campaign finance irregularities surfaced. “I think we have to give him the opportunity to make the case. He’s the first African American for Senate Minnesota has had and he’s a Republican. That’s a very good thing, and we’re going to try to work with him and see what we can do.”
After the Reformer reached out to White’s campaign requesting comment, he replied to this reporter directly on X, saying “You’re a cuck. We’re leaving the plantation… You and your weird liberal buddies read it and weep.”
White appears to have lifted the drinking fountain map from X user “Mpls Dad,” who jokingly posted it on Monday with the caption “Crime is absolutely out of control in this city.”
Precisely one minute later, he posted a reply revealing the map actually showed drinking fountains.
“I didn’t expect anyone to actually believe it was a crime map,” Mpls Dad, who wishes to remain pseudonymous, said via direct message. “I can’t believe SO MANY people fell for it, especially a GOP-endorsed US Senate candidate.”
After users informed White that the map showed drinking fountains, not crime, he edited the post to include a different unlabeled image. The new map showed the locations of shots fired in the city in the last seven days.
But that map doesn’t support a message about “out of control” crime either: data from the city shows that shots fired are down by about 17% year-over-year, and by more than 33% when looking at the three-year average.
White has been active in the replies to his post, responding to mockery by calling users “groomers” and “cucks.”
The contrast between white and Jim Newberger, Republicans’ choice to challenge Klobuchar in 2018, couldn’t be starker. Newberger was an experienced state legislator who worked across the aisle with Democrats and gave emergency first aid to DFL governor Mark Dayton after he collapsed during the 2017 state of the state address.
Since elevating Donald Trump in 2015 the national Republican Party has increasingly welcomed extreme figures who had previously been restricted to the margins of the party. Until recently Minnesota Republicans were more skeptical of the party’s hard-right turn, an acknowledgment of political reality in a state where no Republican has won statewide office in nearly 20 years.
But that string of losses has stirred up anger and resentment among the GOP base, leading to clashes between mainstream figures urging restraint and hard-right activists calling for war. The party’s continued embrace of a scandal-plagued candidate like White, one who has difficulty getting basic facts straight, suggests the activists are winning the battle for the heart and soul of Minnesota’s GOP.
This Minnesota Reformer article is reported online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Photo: Royce White, from a June 12 campaign town hall event post.
Related post
In a perfect world, state rep Jim Newberger's challenge to Klobuchar would be a sure thing
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