Among the weighty roles and responsibilities placed on the American president’s shoulders, the least controversial is the practice of calling other politicians, in the face of personal or public tragedy, to make sure that they have everything they need. If a president wants to go above and beyond that lowest of bars, they offer condolences, and act like a human instead of a partisan hack.

This week, after a spree shooter killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband, and severely injured state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, President Donald Trump hasn’t bothered to pick up the phone to speak with Minnesota’s head of state.

Shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Rolling Stone asked Gov. Tim Walz’s office if he had received a call from Trump yet. A spokesperson for the Democratic governor replied, “We haven’t heard from him,” adding that former President Joe “Biden called yesterday midday shortly after all the news broke.”

Asked if Trump had ever called Walz, who took office in 2019, in previous moments of crisis or emergency, to speak cordially or professionally, the governor’s spokesperson said, flatly, “Yes.”

On Monday, Walz told reporters that he had yet to hear from President Trump in the aftermath of Saturday’s murders, which resulted in a state-wide, two day manhunt before the suspect — 56 year old Vance Boelter — was apprehended.

By Tuesday morning, it appeared the president was not just committed to giving Walz the silent treatment, but to openly spurning the governor, who ran against him and J.D. Vance as the vice presidential candidate on the 2024 Democratic ticket

Speaking to reporters Tuesday on Air Force One, Trump stated that he had no interest in calling the former vice presidential candidate. “I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling,” Trump said. “The guy doesn’t have a clue, he’s a mess… so, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?”

This wasn’t a one-off moment of being loose-lipped with reporters. A source with direct knowledge of the matter says that Trump has been relentlessly trash-talking the Minnesota governor behind the scenes since the horrific news broke. “He’s not letting up,” the source said. Editor’s picks

When Trump asserted to reporters on the presidential plane that he had no interest in speaking to Walz, he justified himself by claiming that the governor had “appointed this guy to a position,” seeming to suggest that Walz himself may bear some responsibility for the tragedy. Boelter — who allegedly had a hit list of over 45 local and state lawmakers, including Walz — previously served as a political appointee on the Minnesota governor’s Workforce Development Board. The appointment did not originally take place under Walz, but under his predecessor — former Governor Mark Dayton, also a Democrat. Walz renewed Boelter’s term in the low-profile political position in 2019.

The Trump administration has made a show of pursuing hardline policies against politically motivated violence. Attorney General Pam Bondi has charged individuals who vandalized Tesla cars and dealerships with terrorism, she is seeking the death penalty for alleged United Healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione, and her department charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) with assaulting a federal agent after a chaotic incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

But this public fixation on combating political violence has always been incredibly self-serving. Terrorism charges remain conspicuously absent from the federal indictment against Boelter, and Trump was not the only GOP lawmaker to downplay the assassination. Trending Stories Trump Parade Turnout Swamped by Millions Who Protested at ‘No Kings’ Rallies Trump’s Military Birthday Parade Was a Gross Failure Beyoncé Thanks Paul McCartney for ‘Writing One of the Best Songs Ever Made’ ‘Superman’ Director James Gunn: ‘You Don’t Want Everyone to Root for You’

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on X that Boelter’s actions are “what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.” In another post, Lee joked that Bueter — who wore a halloween mask to commit the murders — was a “Nightmare on Waltz Street.”

Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat, tracked down Lee in the U.S. Capitol and confronted him directly about the posts. “I wanted him to know how much pain that caused me and the other people in my state, and I think around the country, who think that this was a brutal attack,” Smith told reporters of their conversation. “I needed him to hear from me directly what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague.”