During an interview on NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) was pressed on whether the shooter’s gender dysphoria could have played a role in the tragic incident. Instead of addressing the question directly, Frey gave a familiar political response: “I can’t speak to what is in a different individual’s brain or mind. Obviously, we love our trans community. They’re suffering. We love our Catholic community. They’re suffering.”
Host Elizabeth Vargas pointed to the shooter’s history, noting, “As you know, there has been a lot of focus on the fact that the shooter was born a boy, but identified recently as a girl. He changed his name several years ago from Robert to Robin. You have said it’s not important to villainize the trans community, but couldn’t it also be true that his or her gender dysphoria may have played a role here?”
Frey replied, “Look, villainize the person that committed this horrific act. It was cowardice. It was evil. There should be no dispute there. But anybody that is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community has lost sight with a sense of common humanity. Operate not out of hate for any community out there, any community, operate out of love for our children. And when we love our children, we make the necessary change so that something like this doesn’t happen again and it’s not just lip service.”
Vargas pressed further, citing disturbing journal entries reportedly uncovered by the New York Post: “‘I am tired of being trans, I wish I [had] never brain-washed myself.’ ‘I can’t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat.’ Could this have been contributing to his depression, to his suicidal ideation, even, perhaps?”
Frey again avoided the issue, repeating, “I can’t speak to what is in a different individual’s brain or mind. Obviously, we love our trans community. They’re suffering. We love our Catholic community. They’re suffering. There was just [fire opened] on a church and we need to be doing everything possible to [be] supporting them. We’ve got to stop making this about groups of people every single time one of these things goes down. We’ve got to stop having the conclusion that we each want to arrive at and then reverse-engineering the facts to meet the conclusion that we’ve already determined. This is not about what team you’re on. It should be team kids. It should be team children. We should be on team love. And the antidote to all this hate that we’re seeing nationwide is not more hate, it’s not villainization of a whole group. Villainize the act.”
The mayor’s comments reflect a broader pattern we’ve seen across the political establishment: sidestep uncomfortable realities, dismiss questions about mental health, and deflect from deeper cultural issues that may be fueling these tragedies. Instead, the focus is shifted to broad platitudes about “team love” and vague calls for change.
But the uncomfortable truth remains—when individuals openly wrestle with severe identity struggles, when their own writings reveal despair and regret, it raises real questions that deserve honest discussion. Dismissing those questions in the name of political correctness doesn’t help communities heal, nor does it make children safer.
The country doesn’t need more empty words from politicians. It needs leaders willing to confront reality, even when it collides with progressive narratives. Until then, families remain caught in the crossfire of cultural denial and political posturing.
Yes,but they can regurgitate the same old gun control issues. The killers don’t get the blame, it’s the guns. It’s not this group or that group it’s the weapons! Everything can be a weapon like the latest semi accident or knife attacks or anyone driving drunk or people on drugs who totally flip out and use anything they lay their hands on (sticks/crowbars/ broken bottles). These are objects incapable of working on their own accord, it’s the people that make them work. It just so happens that many of theses events are consistent with transgenders, so why not call it mental illness? Why not say that they choose or were groomed for this lifestyle and it isn’t working for them. Protecting an illness doesn’t help them, you’ve become an enabler. What impression does it give young children watching the mentally ill parading down the street in pretty little outfits for women and disgusting sexual outfits on men,especially when they’re humping on a float designed like Satan?? How about dressing children up in vagania outfits? To accept this makes one just as sick as them or even more so thinking that society should accept it. This is ungodly behavior and not welcome in our country.