Senator Mike Lee's controversial posts on Hortman's murder: 'Marxism is a deadly mental illness'

There was a barrage of Democratic criticism of Republican Sen. Mike Lee for a series of posts following the murder of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

The first post came on the same day as the double murder, when Lee shared a post with an image of the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, along with the words "my guess: He's not MAGA."

He then followed up with a series of posts, all linked to crime, reading "Marxism kills Americans must reject it—always," "Marxism is a deadly mental illness," "This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way," and "Nightmare on Waltz Street" (in play on the last name of the Democratic governor where the attacks happened, Tim Walz). The latter two appear to have been deleted in the last few hours.

After a few hours of silence, he posted about the crime again on Monday, sharing a comment from Elon Musk: "The far left is murderously violent."

On his official account, he posted, the day after the crimes, a message with a more mannered tone: "These hateful attacks have no place in Utah, Minnesota, or anywhere in America. Please join me in condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families."

Although for the moment neither the senator nor his staff have spoken about the controversy over his posts, on Monday he could be seen talking with his Democratic colleague Tina Smith in the halls of the Senate. The Minnesota senator is allegedly on a list of the attacker with more than 40 names of federal and state offices.

"I wanted him to know about the consequence of his words. And I went to him and I said, you know, 'Your message on social media showed the image of the man who killed my friend,'" Smith later explained to CNN. "'You need to take responsibility and accountability for what you where saying and doing out there in the social media world.'"

Democratic lawmakers such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Amy Klobuchar condemned Lee's words. Those on the Republican side called to take the vitriol out of political discourse.

"The rhetoric that continues to come from both sides is what steams and stirs the fire," Senator Markwayne Mullin told Politico. This opinion was shared by Tommy Tuberville, from Alabama, who was pessimistic; while Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, assured that anything less than condemning the violence would be "unacceptable."

Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota went further, "Seems insensitive, to say the least, inappropriate, for sure," he said of Lee's posts. "I don’t know where he stands today on it. I just know where I do... the politics of this shooter are so irrelevant to me," he added according to Politico, and said perhaps he should have taken more time before commenting on the attacks.

At the moment, authorities have not reported on the motives for the attack, although Governor Tim Walz said it was "politically motivated."