How the Right is Using Kirk’s Death to Stoke Fear and DivisionDonald Trump and many of his followers are using the tragic death of MAGA mouthpiece Charlie Kirk to declare war on Democrats and anyone who criticizes the young man who spewed hate against anyone who is different. And that’s not just hyperbolic rhetoric.
“We have to have steely resolve,” said Trump’s pal Steve Bannon. “Charlie Kirk is a casualty of war. We are at war in this country, We are.”
“If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die,” Elon Musk posted on X.
Then, there was Trump, who said Kirk’s assassin should be executed by Utah authorities and that the trial should be immediate, just like in China. And, Trump says Kirk will be given the Medal of Freedom posthumously, which would be a disgrace. Wrapped in his Bible, Kirk was a major propagandist for Trump and his hate-filled MAGA-supported policies, and he worked to rally young Americans to that cause. To give him the nation’s highest civilian honor would be a travesty and demeaning to all those patriots who have been so honored in the past.
Kirk, 31, was the co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative campus organization. He often spoke on college campuses and hosted media programs and conferences. It was at such an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. that he was fatally shot in the neck, ironically, just after discussing the 2nd Amendment and gun rights.
“Live by the sword, die by the sword,” wrote one commenter on X..
Where were these critics In June when Minnesota Democratic state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in a targeted political act? Not a word. Where were they when Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his Family suffered an arson attack in their home in April, when a man broke into the mansion and started multiple fires while they slept? Not a word.
But now, as one of their own is gunned down, they are declaring war on Trump and MAGA critics, and many in independent media have been receiving death threats and are rightfully afraid for themselves and their families.
Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC) was a lone voice of reason when he told National Journal he “was really disgusted” by some conservatives who used Kirk’s death to say “we’re at war” to bolster support, calling it a “cheap, disgusting, awful way to pretend like you’re a leader of a conservative movement.”
Tillis didn’t name Trump in those comments, but they certainly seemed to hit the mark.
Meanwhile, there continues to be a chorus of Republicans who, in effect, are declaring war on their perceived enemies. As Substacker Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) wrote:
“These are calls for mass political violence, against all Democrats. They openly call for the bombing of “Democrat” cities and for the jailing or killing of Democratic politicians. They are from some of the most influential voices in right-wing politics. Will anyone say anything?”
Rep. Clay Higgins (whoever heard of him?) (MAGA-LA), said yesterday that he will seek to have social media companies place lifetime bans on users who celebrated Kirk’s assassination.
“I’m going to use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Higgins wrote in a post on the social platform X. “If they ran their mouth with their smarta– hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution… those profiles must come down.”
Higgins said he will lobby Big Tech to “have zero tolerance for violent political hate content.”
Go back to whatever cave you crawled out of in Louisiana, Higgins.
As independent journalist Thom Hartmann wrote on Substack today, “Here’s the hard truth that the bullshit-embracing “both sides” punditry won’t say out loud: calling for Democrats to “tone it down” has become a permission slip for Republicans to keep stoking hate, flirting with violence, and treating fellow Americans as enemies rather than opponents.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) got it right when she posted this on Bluesky about people who say Democrats should tone down their rhetoric:
“Oh, please. Why don’t you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he’s posted and every ugly word.”
Good idea.
