In this episode of The Stakes, host Brad Rourke speaks with Minnesota State Senator Zaynab Mohamed and UMass professor Alexander Theodoridis about the accelerating trend of politically motivated violence in America. In Minnesota, respected leaders were shot in their homes in a clearly political, premeditated attack. Mohamed, whose name appeared on the killer’s hit list, describes a state reeling from grief and fear. She draws a direct line from the murder of George Floyd to her own decision to serve and warns that today’s climate may stop the next generation from stepping up at all.

Theodoridis describes how extreme partisanship is warping moral boundaries, allowing people to justify violence if it serves their side. Together, they dissect how rhetoric from political elites paves the way for bloodshed—and why silence from leaders makes it worse. If fear chases good people from public life, who will be left?