John Hinderaker thinks it’s clear Rep. Ryan Winkler has a problem telling the truth. Hinderaker has been President of Center of the American Experiment since 2016. He spent 41 years as a litigator with Faegre & Benson and its successor Faegre Baker Daniels, during which time he tried hundreds of jury cases across many states.
He had this to say in response to Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler’s (DFL-Golden Valley) lie that a white supremacist intentionally tried to murder peaceful protestors on Sunday:
“DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler has a long history of deceitful, divisive behavior. His conduct is contrary to Minnesota values and the last thing we need in a legislative leader. Rep. Winkler is unfit for office and should resign.”
Hinderaker highlights only several of Winkler’s false, inflammatory comments in the past.
In 2013, Rep. Winkler tweeted a racial slur against the only black member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas. Winkler fired off an angry tweet after the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to void a key portion of the Voting Rights Act: “VRA majority is four accomplices to race discrimination and one Uncle Thomas.” In his autobiographical documentary, “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words,” Justice Thomas regularly comments about the explicit racism that surprisingly comes from the mouths of Democrats.
In April of 2020, he was caught on video, acting in a childish manner, giving the middle finger to a Republican senator during a press conference. Ryan Winkler “is seen off to the side extending a middle finger toward Chaska Sen. Scott Jensen, the lead Senate GOP negotiator on the insulin bill.” Minnesota Senate Republicans tweeted a video of Winkler’s gesture Tuesday, saying it looks like Winkler “didn’t like our message today” on insulin.
On Sunday, he slandered a hardworking immigrant truck driver on Twitter, calling him a white supremacist who “drove into a crowd and intentionally ran into them” despite none of the protestors being injured. Sunday’s comment was retweeted hundreds of times before being deleted by Winkler.
The truck driver Bogdan Vechirko, a Ukrainian, had neither any Confederate or white supremacist paraphernalia at all. Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said Monday that it did not appear that Vechirko intentionally drove on the highway and tried to cause harm.
