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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump ramps up rhetoric against ‘radical left’ in the wake of
Charlie Kirk’s killing
By Kaanita Iyer, CNN
Updated:
8:12 PM EDT, Sat September 13, 2025
Source: CNN
In the days since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie
Kirk, President Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks on “the
radical left,” whom he blames for his friend’s death and for
broader political violence — a sharp contrast from his responses to
violence against Democrats.
Speaking to NBC News on Saturday, the president said he wants the
nation to “heal,” but added: “We’re dealing with a radical left
group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.”
Trump’s Saturday comments echo remarks he made Wednesday in a video
from the Oval Office hours after Kirk was fatally shot. The president
said in the video that rhetoric from “the radical left” is
“directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our
country today.”
“My administration will find each and every one of those who
contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including
the organizations that fund it and support it,” Trump said in the
video. The president went on to list other acts of political violence
— including the attempted assassination of him last year in Butler,
Pennsylvania — but didn’t mention attacks against Democrats, such
as the in June or the arson attack of Democratic Pennsylvania .
On Friday, Trump further escalated his attacks, telling Fox News that
and implied right-wing radicals are not.
“The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they
don’t want to see crime,” the president said on “Fox &
Friends.” “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re
vicious and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”
While the president did issue a brief statement condemning the killing
of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, his reaction
to Kirk’s killing marks a more forceful approach compared with his
responses to political violence against Democrats. Trump did not attend
Hortman’s funeral, but has said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral.
And when campaigning in California in 2023, Trump mocked the 2022
assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home,
, saying: “We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San
Francisco — how’s her husband doing, anybody know?”
He added, “And she’s against building a wall at our border, even
though she has a wall around her house — which obviously didn’t do
a very good job.”
In recent days, other Republicans have followed the president’s lead,
vowing to go after anyone who made light of Kirk’s killing.
Secretary of Defense said Thursday that the department is “tracking
… very closely” instances of military personnel celebrating or
mocking the incident.
Meanwhile, Rep. who sits on the House Oversight Committee, said he will
“use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech
platforms to mandate” lifetime social media bans for anyone who made
a comment or post “that belittled” Kirk’s death.
“I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil,
sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” the
Louisiana Republican added.
Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights
and Expression, told CNN that such an effort would be unconstitutional.
“The government does not have the power to dictate to private social
media companies what content they can or cannot have on their private
platforms,” Creeley said, adding: “When government officials put
pressure on private companies to do their bidding and censor unpopular
views, that violates the First Amendment just as plainly as it would if
the government itself was doing the censoring.”
that there is an online effort among Republicans — including elected
officials like and activists such as , who has close ties to the
president — to spotlight social media posts and messages that make
light of Kirk’s death and punish the posters behind the message.
Dozens of people have reportedly been fired as a result of this effort.
In one example, Transportation Secretary announced Saturday that
American Airlines pilots who were allegedly celebrating Kirk’s
killing “have been immediately grounded and removed from service.”
“Any company responsible for the safety of the traveling public
cannot tolerate that behavior,” he said.
Creeley told CNN that such retribution will have “a chilling
effect.”
“You may not like somebody celebrating the death of a political
figure, but that is fully protected speech and, unfortunately, given
the response from lawmakers, I think too many folks are going to bite
their tongue,” Creeley said. “We’re going to see a chilling
effect, which, again, is deeply depressing and unconstitutional.”
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