A rousing Minnesota unwelcome for Donald Trump

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Before Minnesotans decisively rejected him on Election Day 2020, then-President Donald Trump — at a Duluth campaign stop — uttered music to our ears: “If I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back, I don’t care. I’m never coming back!”

That wasn’t the first lie that Trump told Minnesotans and it certainly won’t be the last as he prepares to headline a fundraiser for the Minnesota Republican Party on Friday. After being swept out of power in 2022, the Minnesota GOP should be sprinting away from Trump and his MAGA agenda. Instead, they continue to dig themselves into a deeper hole by tying their fate to Trump and his unpopular and extreme agenda.

Trump’s record on abortion has proven especially unpopular and damaging to Minnesota Republicans. Two-thirds of Minnesotans believe that reproductive care should be accessible for women who need it. And in 2022, they punished Republicans up and down the ballot who want to ban abortion. Thanks to those election results and the hard work of our DFL state legislators and Gov. Tim Walz, protections for abortion rights — including the right to travel for reproductive care — are now enshrined in Minnesota state law. This is a sharp contrast to Trump’s dangerous, anti-freedom agenda that aims to ban abortion nationwide. After orchestrating the fall of Roe v. Wade during his presidency, Trump recently claimed that the horror-inducing bans in Republican-led states are “working very brilliantly,” including the same bans across the Midwest that have made our state a refuge for abortion care. Make no mistake: If Donald Trump became president again, he would lead the charge in banning abortion in Minnesota and override the will of Minnesota voters.

Trump’s anti-abortion politics aren’t the only subject where he is wildly out of step with Minnesota values. Again and again, he has promised to “terminate” the Affordable Care Act and rip away health insurance from millions of people who depend on the law for access to high-quality, affordable health care. If he follows through on this vow, over 1.3 million Minnesotans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP would lose their health care coverage, and more than 2.3 million with pre-existing conditions would no longer have protections that keep insurance companies from refusing them care or charging them more.

That’s a harsh split-screen between, in the other panel, both DFLers who have made expanding health care access a priority and President Joe Biden, who has overseen skyrocketing enrollment in the ACA marketplace and lower prescription drug costs for our most vulnerable. In fact, the number of uninsured Minnesotans has plummeted to record lows, dropping to just 3.8% — one of the lowest rates in the whole country. Minnesota needs to build on that progress and work to make health care more affordable and accessible for everyone, but another Trump presidency would take us in the wrong direction.

By promising to rubber stamp Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, the Minnesota Republican Party is making it impossible for them to rebrand. Vulnerable Republican candidates and legislators in swing districts will owe their voters answers as to why they are aligning themselves once again with Donald Trump’s dangerous vision for Minnesota and for America. The party can bow down to Trump and play into his delusions all they want, but the truth is that they’re only pushing Minnesota voters even further away. Minnesotans support Biden and our Democratic candidates up and down the ballot because of their dedication to defending our democracy, protecting reproductive freedom and creating a better future for working families. If Trump knew better, he would follow through on his promise not to return — now, he’s in for yet another rude awakening this November, when Minnesota voters will reject him for a third time. Someone needs to tell Donald Trump that the third time is not the charm.

Ken Martin is chair of the Minnesota DFL Party.