(The Hill) — The White House is using the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a basis to go after left-wing groups and threaten crackdowns on certain types of rhetoric, drawing criticism from even some on the right.
Vice President Vance on Monday urged the public to report anyone they saw celebrating Kirk’s murder, comments that appeared at odds with his previous criticism of Europe for suppressing free speech.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And, hell, call their employer,” Vance said while hosting Kirk’s radio show on Monday.
Vance’s remarks did not come in a vacuum. The State Department said this week it was revoking visas for those found celebrating Kirk’s death.
And Attorney General Pam Bondi raised eyebrows when she said the administration would “go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” The attorney general separately threatened to prosecute Office Depot over an employee’s refusal to print posters for a vigil honoring Kirk.
Bondi on Tuesday cleaned up her original comments about hate speech, made on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” in the face of criticism from prominent conservatives like Megyn Kelly, Mike Cernovich and Erick Erickson, who noted hate speech was generally protected under the First Amendment.
“Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent, but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence,” Bondi posted on the social platform X, citing incidents like calling for someone’s murder or doxxing a family by revealing personal information.
“It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals,” Bondi said.
The Trump administration and Republicans have been hit hard by Kirk’s death. Kirk was a friend of Trump who was instrumental in last year’s election victory, and many in the White House looked up to him.
Top officials have asserted the crackdown on those who celebrated his killing and on left-wing groups is part of a righteous effort to honor the Turning Point USA co-founder. And they have sought to connect Kirk’s death to years of Democrats calling Trump and his allies Nazis and other terms.
But there are risks for the Trump administration in going too far, both legally and politically, and some conservatives fear the administration is echoing the kind of actions the Biden administration took that were decried as censorship.
“I’m trying to be graceful to the attorney general because she’s under a lot of pressure … but it’s not helpful for the attorney general to embrace the idea that there is hate speech in the country, because there’s not,” Erickson said on his radio show Tuesday. “And conservatives, people on the right, populists, this will be turned on you the moment Democrats take back power. If you embrace the idea there is hate speech, it will be used against you.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others have defended the right for individuals to say “crazy things,” though they have noted the distinction between being prosecuted by the government and being punished by your employer.
“This is a conservative principle and certainly an American principle – we do not censor and silence disfavored viewpoints,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “People in America are allowed to say crazy things. That said, if I’m an employer or I’m a government agency and I have someone in my employ who is online celebrating the heinous murder of an innocent person … I can make the decision that they don’t deserve to work for me.”
Those concerns about speech are also separate from vows from President Trump and some of his top aides to investigate left-wing organizations that they claim have fomented violence. While local authorities have said they believe the suspected shooter acted alone, many Trump allies have echoed the president’s broader attacks on the left.
“We need the AG focused on bringing down the left-wing terror cells, not prosecuting Office Depot for God’s sake,” conservative commentator Matt Walsh posted on X.
Concerns about overreach and squashing dissent are particularly pointed for some, given Kirk has been widely praised on the right and the left since his death for his willingness to engage in debate and speak in hostile environments.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk was a tragedy. He was on a campus doing what he had done many times before, engaging in debate with students, welcoming them to change his views,” said Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“Unfortunately the administration’s response has been disappointing and deeply chilling,” Terr added. “They have not sought to reaffirm the values of free speech, but are instead threatening to undermine them further by cracking down on Americans for what they say about Charlie Kirk or his killing.”
The threats to punish rhetoric and ideologies out of step with the administration’s policies and messaging are part of a broader trend during Trump’s second term.
The administration previously targeted students involved in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. Foreign students coming to the U.S. must go through a new social media check when applying for a visa, with any controversial content potentially blocking their path.
Trump has hit news outlets with massive lawsuits over coverage that is unflattering or that he does not like, the latest instance being a $15 billion suit accusing The New York Times and four of its reporters of defamation and libel. A spokesperson for the paper called the lawsuit “an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.”
And Trump last month signed an executive order intended to make it easier to prosecute those who burn the American flag, something the Supreme Court has ruled is protected under the First Amendment.
Trump was asked Tuesday what he thought of Bondi’s original comments about targeting hate speech, given the pushback it generated on the right.
“She’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me unfairly,” Trump told ABC’s Jon Karl. “It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”
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