Man murders Republican teen after Biden, officials express violent rhetoric; set free on bail

A 41-year-old North Dakota man who murdered a teenager on Sunday because the latter was Republican was set free on bail Wednesday. 

Shannon Brandt told police that he deliberately ran down 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson with his car Sunday because Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group,” a phrase Joe Biden and other Democrat officials have been repeating often in recent weeks with increasingly threatening and violent rhetoric. 

Brandt and Ellingson had gotten into a political debate earlier at a street dance, where Brandt allegedly threatened the young man and urged others to attack him as well. Ellingson phoned his mother, saying that Brandt was chasing him. By the time she arrived, her son was dead. 

Brandt was held at Statesman County Jail for a few days and walked out Wednesday after posting a $50,000 bond. He has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. 

While Trump has been blamed incessantly for his “violent rhetoric” sparking the January 6^th protest – in which the only two people killed were his supporters – it is so far unclear if mainstream media or Democrat officials will be performing the usual pearl-clutching over recent remarks made by Biden and others. 

Biden has been tweeting relentlessly about “MAGA extremists” and “MAGA Republicans” and declaring them enemies of the state. In a speech last month being referred to by some as a “Hitler impression,” Biden stood against a blood red backdrop flanked by US Marines and lashed out against the “threat” of Trump supporters. 

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” 

“But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.” 

“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.” 

“They spread fear and lies –- lies told for profit and power.” 

“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution.  They do not believe in the rule of law.  They do not recognize the will of the people.”  

“[They] believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail,” he continued, adding that if not properly dealt with, "MAGA extremists” will turn the country into “a nation of fear, division and darkness.”   

Biden also accused his political opponents of having placed a “dagger to the throat” of the country’s way of life and urged the masses to “stop the assault” being perpetrated by “MAGA Republicans.” 

Then last week, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), urged people to “kill and confront” the “MAGA movement”, and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) called for a literal “call to arms” against Americans who are pro-life. 

“The word ‘hypocrites,’ it doesn’t even go far enough to call them out on what they’re doing,” said Hirono before calling for “literally a call to arms in our country.”  

Friends of Cayler Ellingson’s family have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help support the family and their son’s funeral costs.