Trump Jr claims trans ‘movement’ is ‘most violent domestic terror threat’

Donald Trump Jr, son of US president Donald Trump, has baselessly claimed trans people are the “most violent domestic terror threat” in the US, just days after a “right-leaning” preacher was arrested for allegedly murdering a Democrat politician and her husband.

Vance Boelter, 57, an Evangelical Christian, was arrested after a two-day manhunt described as the largest Minnesota’s history. He has been charged by the authorities with two counts of second-degree murder and attempted murder after gunning down two Democrat lawmakers and their spouses.

Boelter, who is reportedly a supporter of president Trump and once gave an anti-LGBTQ+ speech, is suspected of shooting and killing Democrat representative and speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as shooting and wounding state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

The two incidents have been described by state governor and former vice presidential nominee Tim Walz as “not random acts of violence” but “targeted political violence”, adding “it’s a dark day for Minnesota and for democracy”.

Following Boelter’s arrest, Trump Jr made the baseless comments about the trans community during a discussion with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.

“In leftist states and in blue states, they don’t want to enforce [the law] because they understand that’s their voter base, no different than immigration, so rather than follow the law, they’d rather let them get away with it so they vote for more Democrats again,” he said of Los Angeles anti-ICE protests and “No Kings” demonstrations that took place across the US.

During the discussion, Trump Jr alleged that the suspected killer is actually left-wing and carried out the shooting because “she voted against Democrat Party policy, which was the unabashed unlimited health care funding for illegal immigrants”.

Boelter’s reported manifesto has not be released by police and there is currently no publicly available evidence to confirm or deny that Hortman’s vote contributed to the shooting.

Trump Jr continued: “Just like the radical transgender movement is per capita the most violent domestic terror threat in America, probably the entire world, because you have all these shooters or murders or attempted murderers in such a tiny population of a country, yet they’re beyond reproach.”

The notion that trans people, who make up around 0.6 per cent of the US population, commit violent crime at a higher rate than the general population is a conservative conspiracy theory which has frequently been disproven.

According to The Violence Project database of mass shootingsm which uses data from the more than 190 mass shootings reported since 1966, men make up 97 per cent of mass public shooters.

“So with 0.6 per cent of the population, transgender people would expect to be involved in about one shooting,” an analysis by Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler reported in March 2023.

Further to this, By the Gun Violence Archive’s set of criteria – which counts a mass shooting if it involves a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter – states that trans people “would be expected to have committed at least 16 mass shootings since 2018”.

“Instead there are just three possible cases cited by conservatives,” Kessler wrote.

However, the misinformation that trans folks are inherently more violent and dangerous – and more likely to carry out public shootings – than other groups has gained increasing popularity with key right-wing figures in recent years, with MAGA supporters like Elon Musk, Libs of TikTok, Riley Gaines and Trump Jr himself all pushing the baseless ideas on social media following notable shooting incidents.

In January 2024, Trump Jr reshared a post from Libs of TikTok purporting to highlight the number of shooting incidents carried out by members of the trans community, writing: “Per capita is there a more violent group of people anywhere in the world than radicalized trans activists???

“Given the tiny fraction of the population that they make up it doesn’t seem like anyone else even comes close.”

Boelter faces six federal charges including murder, firearms and stalking for the crimes he is accused of committing and could face the death penalty if found guilty.

On Monday (16 June), a judge set his bail at $5 million (£3,686,090).