Vice President JD Vance On Monday, those cheering jumped into the demands of conservative sports Charlie Kirk Killing, calling on the public to talk about any offensive person about the assassination of his friends and political allies.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them up.” Vance Listeners were urged to be on the podcast of the Killed Activists on Monday. “Hell, call their employer.”
Vance’s Call also includes vows to target some of the biggest funders of some liberal causes as conservatives strengthen their targets on private comments on killings. It marks an escalation in a movement, which some warned has invoked some of the darkest chapters in American history.
“The perception of government involvement in this situation is closer to McCarthyism,” said Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, referring to the 1950s campaign to root the Communist Party, leading to false accusations and undermining careers. “This is not a glorious moment of free expression.”
Republican-controlled countries such as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas have investigated teachers accused of misstatement following the assassination last week. The U.S. military invited the public to report those who “celebrate or laugh at” the killings and said some troops had been removed from office for their comments.
at the same time, Trump administration What the vows targeted it considers is a “spread” free network that inspired the shooter, even as authorities insisted that he seemed to be acting alone and was conducting an investigation.
The movement has expanded to include those who comment on criticism Kirk His assassination was not celebrated.
The Washington Post fired Karen Attiah, an opinion columnist, who posted a post on the day of the shooting lamenting how “white Americans” were ready to resolve gun violence and cited citations Kirk Demeaning the wisdom of famous black women like Michelle Obama.
Press freedom group Pen America warned in a statement such as Attiah’s “risks have creepy effects.”
Goldstein is worried that there are many people who are just quoted Kirk Or failed to fully mourn his death. “This is one of the key symptoms of canceling culture,” he said. “Try to draw everyone with the same brush.”
Conservatives coined a word cancel culture because they claimed to be the people who persecuted their views, especially those related to the January 6, 1921 pandemic, and particularly the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which led to the campaign leaving regular personnel fired.
This is a big reason why President Donald Trum P, who promised to end the match during last year’s campaign. But afterward Kirk Killing, he and his government tilted from the right.
father of two children and a Christian conservative, Kirk He is a hero to many Trump Republicans because of his warnings about the dangers of Democrats and the dangers of organizing young voters. but Kirk Also a provocateur and supporter Trump’s attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, he left a long record of partisan satirical sarcasm that made many angry on the left.
“according to KirkEmpathy is a new era of makeup, so please keep on the joke. According to an article on X, Melvin Villaver Jr, music professor at Clemson University.
Other targeted posters, such as Army Lieutenant Christopher Ladnier Kirk On the day he assassinated. These include Kirk He called the Civil Rights Act a “beast” and “has now become an anti-white weapon,” and he criticized Martin Luther King Jr. for the price of a powerful Second Amendment for the deaths of some guns.
Ladnier, who is targeting conservative activists online, said in a Facebook message to the Associated Press that he will take action “when/if” the command chain.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott Kirkwrote: “This is a mocking Charlie Kirk for assassinating people from Texas Tech.”
Targeted people are victims of false identity.
A school district in rural Elkhorn, Wisconsin, reported that a conservative influencer mistakenly identified a classmate in an elementary school and received more than 800 messages to celebrate Kirk’s die.
Authorities say Kirk The state’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox said he was shot dead by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who grew up in a conservative family in southern Utah but was fascinated by “leftist ideology.”
Cox said investigators may reveal more about the cause of the attack after Robinson’s initial court appearance scheduled to be held Tuesday. The governor said the suspect who allegedly carved memes onto his bullet rack seemed radicalized by “the dark corner of the internet.”
on Monday, Vance Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller joined Kirk’s podcast, who vowed to crack down on what he called a “spread network of family terror” and blamed Kirk’s death.
Impressing the issue of freedom of speech, Vance Say: “Your madness is on the left, say ‘Oh, Stephen Miller and JD Vance, they’re going to follow the speech protected by the constitution.'”
But he added: “No, no! We will follow the network of NGOs that incite, promote and participate in violence,” which is a reference for NGOs.
The White House did not immediately return the request for these remarks, including which groups it might target.
The idea of retribution movements that express specific views on individuals or groups shocks many people.
“It’s only this ideology, it’s not illegal to be different from other Americans,” said Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford on CNN on Sunday.
Instead, he said any group involved in illegal or violent acts should be targeted.
exist Kirk’s exhibit, Vance The need for solidarity was spoken after the assassination, but given what he called the left’s embrace of political violence, it was then viewed as impossible. Name two foundations that fund various liberal causes, Vance “The people who fund these articles, pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizers are not united,” said the company.
Democratic officials have condemned Kirk’s murder in a full-scale manner. The Democrats are also recently victims of political violence, including the June assassination of Minnesota State Representative and her husband, and the 2022 assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at home in San Francisco.
Caitlin Legacki, who stopped the government censorship, fight against it Trump administration It is one thing for people who use governments against the use of political competitors, saying it is a disgusting statement to face the consequences.
“When we are worried, the government seems to be trying to use this tragedy to punish political opponents,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley and Chris Megerian in Washington; Meg Kinnard, Chapin, South Carolina; Juan Lozano of Houston and Sean Murphy of Oklahoma City contributed to the report.