Vice President JD Vance jumped into a conservative movement on Monday Demandable outcomes For those who cheered on the murder of Charlie Kirk, he appeals to the public to attract people who say something offensive about the assassination of his friends and political allies.
“If I see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, I’ll call them,” Vance urged listeners on the podcast of the activist who was murdered on Monday. “And hell, call their employer.”
Vance’s call also included a pledge to target some of the biggest funders of liberal causes when conservatives stepped up them. Personal Targeting For them Comments on the murder. It marked Campaign Escalation Some warned that it evoked some of the darkest chapters of American history.
“The government’s involvement in this is approaching what appears to be McCarthyism,” said Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression, referring to a campaign in the 1950s, eradicating communists who had erroneous allegations and career-damaged. “It wasn’t a glorious moment of free expression.”
The campaign spreads to people who cite Kirk critically
Republican-controlled states such as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas have begun investigating teachers accused of inappropriate statements after last week’s assassination. The US military has invited its citizens to report people “celebrating or ocking” the killings, saying some troops have already been removed for their comments.
At the same time, the Trump administration vowed to target authorities to claim that he was a “spread” liberal network that influenced the shooters, even if they claimed he was acting alone and that an investigation was ongoing.
The campaign expanded to include even those who are critical of the statements against Kirk without celebrating the assassination.
The Washington Post lamented opinion columnist Karen Attia for the shooting day post citing “White America” not ready to resolve gun violence and revealed the intelligence of prominent black women like Michelle Obama.
Pen America, a freedom group for press, warned in a statement that it was fired like Attia’s fire, which was “risks that create cold effects.”
Goldstein was worried that there were many cases of people who simply cited Kirk or intended to mourn his death. “It’s one of the key symptoms of cancelling culture,” he said. “I’m trying to paint everyone with the same brush.”
Conservatives coined the term cancelling culture, particularly by claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic and their opinions related to the attacks on January 6, 2021, was persecution of the right people, leading to a campaign to fire ordinary people.
That was The key causes of President Donald Tram P, pledged to end it during last year’s campaign. However, after Kirk was murdered, he and his administration were replaced by I leaned against it from the right.
Heroes to conservatives, provocators to many Democrats
Kirk, the father of two and a Christian conservative father, was a hero of many Trump Republicans due to his fierce warnings about the dangers of Democrats and the ability to organize young voters. But Kirk also left a long record of partisan Quips, a provocateur and supporter of Trump’s attempt to overturn the losses of the 2020 election, infuriating many on the left.
“According to Kirk, empathy consists of a new era of tenure, so keep on making the joke. That’s what he wanted,” says Melvin Villaver Jr., a music professor at Clemson University, read one post from X, who reposted the day of the murder, according to a screenshot of the University Republic calling for the murder. Clemson eventually fired one staff member and halted Villabar and another professor after putting strong pressure on South Carolina Republican officials.
Other target posters, such as Army Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Radier, simply cited Kirk on the day of his assassination. This included Kirk calling civil rights law a “beast” that “now turned into an anti-white weapon,” his criticism of Martin Luther King Jr., and his statement that some gun deaths were the cost of a robust second amendment.
Radiye, who was targeted online by conservative activists, said in a Facebook message to the Associated Press that his chain of command responds to action.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott approved a video of a Texas Tech student arrested Friday after a confrontation on Kirk’s campus vigil, writing, “This happened to someone who was oc-loling the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Texas Tech.”
Some of the targeted people were victims of false identity.
A rural school district in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, reported that it received more than 800 messages after a conservative influencer mistakenly identified the primary school’s vice principal as celebrating Kirk’s death.
Republican leaders vow to chase “domestic terrorist networks”
Authorities say Kirk was shot dead by 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. He says he grew up in a conservative family in southern Utah, but was caught up in “left ideology.”
Cox said investigators may reveal more motivation for the attack after Robinson’s first court appearance scheduled for Tuesday. The governor said the suspect, who was allegedly etched a meme into the casing of his bullet, looked radical by the “dark corner of the internet.”
On Monday, Vance was joined by Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, on Kirk’s podcast.
Indicating concerns about freedom of speech, Vance states: “On the far left, there’s the madness saying, ‘Yeah, Stephen Miller and JD Vance.’ They follow constitutionally protected speeches. ”
However, he added: “No no! We’re going to chase NGO networks that promote, promote and engage in violence” – reference to non-governmental organizations.
The White House did not immediately return a request to clarify what the statements could be targeted, including which groups could be targeted.
The idea of retaliation campaigns against individuals or groups to express a particular perspective is wary of many.
“It’s not illegal to believe that simply because you have that ideology and unlike other Americans,” the Republican senator from Oklahoma told CNN on Sunday.
Instead, he said groups involved in illegal or violent acts should be targeted.
Killing political rivals as an excuse
On Kirk’s show, Vance spoke about the need for unity after the assassination, but later dismissed it as impossible given what he described as a left-handed embrace of political violence. Vance named two foundations that fund a wide range of liberal causes, saying, “There is no unity in those who fund these articles. We pay the salaries of these terrorist sympathizers.”
Democrat officials roundly condemned Kirk’s murder. Democrats were also victims of political violence, including the June assassination of Minnesota lawmakers and her husband, and the 2022 assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at a San Francisco home.
Kaitlyn Legakki, who will suspend government censorship, has been formed to combat the Trump administration’s use of government against political rivals, saying that it is for people to come up with consequences by making abominable statements.
“When we worry, it seems like there’s a cooperative effort by the government to use this tragedy to punish our political enemy,” she said.
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Associated Press authors Collin Binkley and Chris Megerian of Washington. Meg Kinnard of Chapin, South Carolina. Juan Rozano of Houston and Sean Murphy of Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
