"Why Don't You Go Kill Yourself?" - Two GOP Candidates Assaulted In Minnesota

Police say they've identified two suspects who allegedly attacked two Republican candidates for Minnesota's state legislature over the past week - attacks that have helped justify President Trump's warning that the Democratic Party has become the "party of Mob Rule" in the wake of the widespread outrage and street demonstrations provoked by the confirmation of SCOTUS Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

According to the National Review, Republican state representative Sarah Anderson was punched in the arm last week after confronting a man who was vandalizing lawn signs promoting Republican candidates. Over the weekend, Shane Mekeland, a first-time Republican candidate, received a concussion after he was sucker punched while speaking with constituents at a restaurant in his assembly district.

Republican state representative Sarah Anderson

Anderson said she was terrified by her assailant, who only backed off when she climbed back in her car and drove away.

"It was just insane. He was charging at me, saying, 'Why don’t you go kill yourself?' To have someone physically coming after you and attacking you is just disheartening."

Charges against the suspects, who have not been publicly identified, will likely be filed in the coming days, according to local police. Meanwhile, Mekeland has continued to suffer memory loss and sensitivity to light stemming from the concussion he received during the assault.

"I was so overtaken by surprise and shock, and if this is the new norm, this is not what I signed up for," Mekeland said.

The attacks occurred in the days after the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party suspended a member of its communications staff for a week after he wrote in a Facebook post that Democrats would [bring Republicans] to the guillotine" during the upcoming midterm election, per the Washington Free Beacon.

Mekeland expressed disappointment with Democrats for not condemning his attacker and for not doing more to punish the communications staffer.

"He's a political staffer so you'd think if anybody should know boundaries, I think that'd be it," he said.

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