Friends and neighbors,

What happened, or what was allowed to happen, last Saturday evening in the assassination attempt against former President Trump was horrible, maddening, and unbelievable! My prayers and continual thoughts have been with former President Trump, the innocent victims, their families, and our country after the terrible violence at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally.

This tragic event, which increasingly appears to have been easily preventable, has deeply affected us all—and hopefully has awakened anyone who has not yet realized the struggle and friction to preserve ‘freedom’ that is ongoing in our country. It’s urgent that investigations quickly find out what happened to allow such a security gap in this presidential election.

Now, more than ever, is the time for us to come together as Americans and unite around the Constitutional rights our country was founded on. These rights and blessings have allowed us to prosper and thrive for 248 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776! Our Nation’s founders gave us our 1st Amendment rights, Freedom of Speech, meaning we need to be willing to listen to even dissenting viewpoints. Further, peaceful, fair elections have been a hallmark of why our country is the world’s longest-surviving Constitutional Republic—let’s keep it that way! We must decry such violence from entering our political discourse.

Like many of you, I’m incredibly grateful President Trump survived the assassination attempt and experienced only a minor injury. I am looking forward to hearing from him after this horrific event, and we welcome any efforts to unify our Nation.

God bless Minnesota and the USA!

Sincerely,

Torrey Westrom