Basking Ridge, N.J. (AP) – After years of complaints from the left to “cancel culture,” some conservatives are trying to overturn the lives and careers of those who lightly paraded Charlie Kirk after his death. They chase after other companies that they deem to promote hate speech, including businesses, educators, press and political rivals.
Campaigns by civil servants and others on the right have fired or punished teachers, office workers, government workers, television critics and hopes of more layoffs coming days after the death of a conservative activist.
Last weekend, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said American Airlines had grounded a pilot who said it was celebrating Kirk’s assassination.
“I hate this behavior and should be fired,” Duffy told social media site X.
Just as elected officials and conservative influencers lionize Kirk as a free expression warrior defending provocative opinions, they weaponize the tactics used to exacerbate movement, firing, exile, and pressure to see what you say.
Such tactics pose a fundamental challenge for a country where many explanations seem dangerously divided by the moral rage that helps politics and social media fuel it.
The aftermath of Kirk’s death is becoming a test of public tolerance for political differences. Republicans are pushing not only to punish alleged murders, but also to punish murderers who believe they contributed to the death or dishonored it. At the same time, some liberals on social media have criticised people such as actress Christine Chenoweth, who expressed sympathy for Kirk’s death online.
“It seems like this pattern we’ve seen for decades is happening much more than ever,” said Adam Goldstein of the Individual Rights and Expression Foundation. He dates the urge to persecute people due to their personal views on tragedy, at least on September 11, 2001, until the attack. “If we had time to support a better angel of our nature, then we would now.”
Goldstein noted that it is an unpopular speech, as it stands as the biggest test of acceptance of the first amendment, especially when government officials are involved. “The only time you really support freedom of speech is when it’s not popular,” Goldstein said. “No one is trying to stop people from loving puppies or bunnies.”
Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox warns that the motive for the assassination has not been confirmed. He said the suspect in custody had clearly identified him as a political left and expressed his dislike for Kirk before the shooting. However, he and other authorities also say that the suspect is not known to be politically engaged.
Kirk was considered the architect of President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory and helped expand his Republican outreach to younger voters. This means that many conservatives view liberal statements as promoting violence rather than as an act of political expression.
“I think President Trump thinks this is an attack on his political movement,” said NBC Sen. Lindsey Graham, who focused on two assassination attempts against Trump, as well as Kirk’s murder. “This is unique and different. It’s an attack on the movement by using violence. And that’s how most Republicans see this.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Ten, running for governor, called on social media for the shooting of Middle Tennessee State assistant Dean and professors at Austimpy State and Cumberland.
All three lost their jobs due to comments that were deemed in Kirk’s shooting that lack of sympathy or even expressing joy. Kirk said, “I made his destiny exist.”
Some NFL teams chose to hold Kirk’s moment of silence on Sunday. The soccer team has been chosen in the past to commemorate the victims after school shootings and attacks on places of worship. They also demonstrate prominent deaths of public figures, weather-related disasters and international crises, such as Hamas’ attacks on Israel in October 2023.
Conservatives previously felt that the Liberal opinion was cancelled, so on the first day he returned to his office, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting all federal governments from engaging in the act of “unconstitutionally abolishing the free speech of American citizens.”
At the Munich Security Conference in February, Vice President JD Vance criticized the previous Biden administration to “encourage people who dare to silence those who dare to say that the pandemic is obvious truth.” He attacked European countries for censoring political speeches.
“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your opinion, but we will fight to defend your right to provide your rights in the public square.
Still, the Trump administration has it Cracked About immigration and scholars for their speeches.
Goldstein pointed out by Trump’s State Department minutes after warning that Kirk’s death would cancel the visa for foreigners who celebrated Kirk’s assassination. “I can’t think of another moment when the US came out to warn people about their imminent cancellation,” Goldstein said.
The faintest partisan agreement in the aftermath of the assassination meant that social media was promoting violence and misinformation in dangerous ways.
“We can’t stress enough about the damage that social media and the internet are inflicting on all of us,” Cox said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He said, “The most powerful companies in world history have found ways to hack our brains and we are so engrossed in anger.”
However, many Republican lawmakers have targeted traditional news media who criticized Trump for his consistent rhetoric painting as his enemy, contributing to the toxic political landscape.
R-Ala on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. Senator Katie Britt of the press has denounced the press for having guests who called Trump “Faist” or compared him to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Such statements stem from losses in the election in 2020, the riot pardon on January 6th, and Trump’s attempts to overturn differences in various policies. Among them is his deportation, the deployment of the National Guard, mass shootings of federal employees, and his dim corn against his historic restrictions on the power of the presidency.
But for Britt, these expressions were unfair, inaccurate and induced violence.
“There must be consequences for those who are facing this and venting that type of hatred and celebration,” Britt said. “And I believe there will be.”
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Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press Writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report from Nashville, Tennessee.
