Attorney General Pam Bondi has doubled down on her attack on free speech after a MAGA backlash, vowing to use the full force of the law to crack down on left-wing people using violent rhetoric to silence conservatives.
After being reminded by MAGA world that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, Bondi pushed back on Tuesday, declaring that anything that crosses the line—such as doxing a conservative family or swatting a GOP member of Congress—will be punished.
“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime,” she posted on X.
“For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”
The move comes amid an apparent campaign by Trump and his allies to silence opponents in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The White House has framed Kirk’s killing as a left-wing attack, despite a motive from the alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, remaining unclear.
But since Kirk was murdered last week, Trump has threatened to use racketeering laws to imprison Democratic donors he claims are funding agitation against the right; White House aide Stephen Miller has vowed to “go after” liberal non-government organizations believed to be targeting conservatives; and Vice President JD Vance has urged people to report anyone seen as celebrating Kirk’s death.
“Call them out,” Vance said on Monday as he hosted Kirk’s podcast. “Hell, call their employer.”
Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime. For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.Under 18 U.S.C. §…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) September 16, 2025
But Bondi’s crackdown on hate speech, something that Kirk himself did not believe in, was met with a backlash by MAGA world on Monday.
“Our Attorney General is apparently a moron,” conservative host Erick Erickson wrote on X.
Right-wing influencer Auron MacIntyre called Bondi’s remarks “the worst possible framing for what is a legitimate action against terrorist networks.”
Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume added: “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this.”
Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech.And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.Keep America free.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 3, 2024
Kirk was also known as a free speech absolutist, saying on X last year: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”
However, Bondi doubled down on Tuesday, saying that the US Code made it a federal crime to transmit “any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.”
It was also a felony under the code to threaten public officials, members of Congress, or their families, she said.
“You cannot call for someone’s murder. You cannot swat a Member of Congress. You cannot dox a conservative family and think it will be brushed off as “free speech.” These acts are punishable crimes, and every single threat will be met with the full force of the law,” she said.
“Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence. It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals.”
In reality, however, violent rhetoric and political violence, has come from both sides.
In 2020, for example, Trump reposted a video of a supporter saying “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
Two years later, he joked about an intruder attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer, telling supporters, “How’s Crazy Nancy’s husband doing, anybody know?”
His son Don Jr even retweeted a picture of a hammer and a pair of underwear with the message, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” (Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home in the middle of the night.)
And on January 6, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” to stop Joe Biden’s victory from being certified, leading to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Speaking during a Congressional hearing with FBI director Kash Patel on Tuesday, Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar noted that only last week, a report from the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, published a study that found terrorists from the right were responsible for six times more deaths than people from the left.
“I actually don’t want to go tit-for-tat on this, but what I am asking for is that this rhetoric of blaming one side or the other stop,” she said.
The post Bondi Doubles Down on Free Speech Attack: ‘That Era Is Over’ appeared first on The Daily Beast.
