Minnesota Republicans continue their power grab despite quorum deficit, protests
Plus, podcast recordings of Pete Hegseth provide insight into the nominee’s extreme Christian beliefs.
Though lacking the proper number of lawmakers to conduct government properly, House Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature have continued to move forward with their power grab. Last week, the state’s GOP ignored a Democratic Farmer-Labor (DFL) boycott, which put the total number of acting lawmakers at 67. The Minnesota Constitution requires 68 House members to operate legally.
Instead, Republicans decided that their temporary 67-66 mini-majority, which will likely evaporate following a March special election, grants them the ability to dominate the political body for two years. The GOP and the DFL had originally planned to share power until exceptional circumstances surrounding two House elections temporarily gave Republicans the temporary one-seat advantage.
However, disregarding the legal conflict, Republicans have tried to move the new legislative session forward. In response, protestors gathered in St. Paul on Tuesday to voice their disapproval of the GOP and to disrupt a Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee hearing.
“That’s quite enough of that bulls—. We’re done with this,” one activist was quoted as saying. “This is an illegitimate committee. You don’t have quorum in the House. You know this is bulls—.”
But GOP lawmakers like Rep. Walter Hudson claimed that the DFL had astroturfed the protest. "Eight hours prior to it taking place, [Rep. Leigh Finke was] actively promoting it. The representative was actively promoting it on Twitter," Hudson claimed. "The participants in it are known associates of Rep. Finke." Finke denied any wrongdoing despite sharing the event on social media.
“Finke did not direct or participate in the protest at the Capitol on Jan 21. She simply promoted a rally that was happening at the Capitol, as legislators from both parties often do,” a DFL spokesperson said regarding the controversy.
Disorder continued on Thursday as the state's Supreme Court began hearing arguments concerning the quorum dispute; it found on Friday that the House does indeed need 68 members for quorum. All the while, GOP lawmakers continued to operate the Minnesota House — as well as mock the death of former Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards.
A “Stop the Minnesota Coup” rally, which is scheduled for Jan. 27, has been formally promoted by multiple DFL lawmakers.
As Trump’s nominee for secretary of Defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, awaited his Senate confirmation vote, The Guardian revealed new recordings of the controversial nominee speaking about “sphere sovereignty” have come to light. Much has been made about Hegseth’s proximity to the Christian nationalist ideology, but the 2024 podcasts that feature him provide a more concrete insight into the one-time Army Major’s broader social philosophy.
In the recording, Hegseth, alongside far-right podcast host Joshua Haymes, discusses the evils of public school and how they are creating an “egalitarian, dystopian LGBT nightmare.” Hegseth also deplores “cultural Marxism,” feminism, “critical race theory” and mass democracy, something Hegseth says “our founders blatantly rejected as being completely dangerous”.
Such left-wing projects undermine what Haymes calls “authorities that are outlined in God’s word, that are natural authorities that we must submit to as humans.” That’s where sphere sovereignty comes in: the state, the family and the church.
However, according to Haymes, “the state’s role is not to do good.”
“It’s not their responsibility to educate your children. It is the family’s responsibility. Helped along with the church.”
All of this is spoken about within the context of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), a community of religious organizations that advocates for the supremacy of the church over the state.
“When these guys say they believe in the separation of church and state, they’re being duplicitous,” Julie Ingersoll, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, told The Guardian. “They do believe in separate spheres for church and state, but also in a theocratic authority that sits above both.”
These views are colored by Hegseth’s involvement with far-right theocrat Doug Wilson, who spearheads a religious movement that revolves around CREC-affiliated churches. “We want our nation to be a Christian nation because we want all the nations to be Christian nations,” Wilson wrote in a 2022 blog post.