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‘This is war’: Trump allies use Charlie Kirk’s death to stoke violence [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-09-11
Lawmakers from both parties spoke out against political violence in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing. But while Democrats zeroed in on the country’s lax gun laws, President Donald Trump and many of his allies on the right wasted no time in blaming the “radical left.”
Minutes after Kirk, a close Trump ally, was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on Wednesday, the far-right corners of the internet exploded. Influencers, extremist communities—and even onetime co-president Elon Musk—flooded social media with calls for revenge.
“This is a war, this is a war, this is a war,” Alex Jones, the school-shooting conspiracy theorist, declared on Infowars, setting the tone for the night.
Police said a “person of interest” was briefly detained and released, and a motive had yet to be identified. That didn’t slow the blame game. Within minutes, right-wing influencers and GOP officials were pointing fingers.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Charlie Kirk during a Generation Next White House Forum on March 22, 2018.
That included Trump, who directly blamed the left.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in the country today.”
The response from Trump’s most notorious supporters was even more extreme. Stewart Rhodes—the Oath Keepers founder who was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy before Trump pardoned him and his fellow Jan. 6 insurrectionists—used the moment to announce he’s rebuilding his extremist militia.
“I’m going to be rebuilding the Oath Keepers, and we will be doing protection again,” Rhodes said on Infowars. “If my security team had been at that event, if they had been up there on the high point, looking for potential threats, they would have saved Charlie Kirk from being shot.”
Then Rhodes escalated further, calling on Trump to “do what’s right, what’s necessary” and invoke the Insurrection Act.
“You should declare the left in this country is in obvious open rebellion against the law of the United States. They’re committing insurrection, they’re aiding and abetting an invasion, and they’re blocking the execution of federal law,” Rhodes said.
Here’s what Trump’s handpicked pardon attorney Ed Martin, a conservative activist and former acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted on X: “For it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’”
Musk eagerly joined the pile-on with his post: “The Left is the party of murder.” He also seemingly agreed with a post blaming “the left-wing mainstream media, as well as figures like [California Gov.] Gavin Newsom” for radicalizing people against right-wing figures like Kirk, replying simply: “Exactly.”
Related | Of course Trump uses Charlie Kirk's murder in the most disgusting way
Other MAGA luminaries followed suit. Katie Miller, a Musk ally who worked with him at the Department of Government Efficiency and is married to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, claimed that even liberals condemning the attack had “blood on their hands.”
Fox News’ Jesse Watters suggested Republicans are “at war” with the left.
“They are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate?” he asked. “This is a turning point. And we know which direction we are going.”
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who admits that friends have called her “Trump’s Rasputin,” had a warning for her followers.
“You could be next. The Left are terrorists,” she wrote on X.
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo demanded the government “infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.”
Elected Republicans joined the chorus too. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin called the shooting “left-wing political violence” and wrote on X that “whoever does not condemn this is part of the problem. The gloves are off.” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene urged followers to “[rise] up and end this.”
And the rhetoric just kept ratcheting up. Andrew Tate, the far-right influencer and accused rapist, posted just two words: “Civil war.” Chaya Raichik, who runs the notorious anti-LBGTQ+ account Libs of TikTok, wrote: “THIS IS WAR.”
Things even got heated on the House floor. After Democrats and Republicans observed a moment of silence for Kirk on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson led a prayer. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert then called for a spoken prayer, prompting objections from Democrats, who noted there had been a school shooting at a high school in Colorado the same day. Shouting erupted, with Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna yelling across the aisle, “Y’all caused this.”
The New York Times reported that a Democrat shot back, “Pass some gun laws!”
Luna also unloaded on X.
“EVERY DAMN ONE OF YOU WHO CALLED US FASCISTS DID THIS,” she posted. “You were too busy doping up kids, cutting off their genitals, inciting racial violence by supporting orgs that exploit minorities, protecting criminals, and stirring hate. YOU ARE THE HATE you claim to fight. Your words caused this. Your hate caused this.”
The frenzy mirrors the aftermath surrounding the attempted assassination of Trump in 2024, when he and allies—including his sons—falsely blamed Democrats, a pattern experts warned could fuel more violence. Already, far-right sites like Patriots.win were calling for a “Democrat extinction event,” according to the Times.
Kirk’s sudden and very visible murder could catalyze a dangerous cycle. It’s a tragedy with the potential to radicalize more Americans and cement violence as a recurring element of today’s political landscape.
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