As the manhunt for the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk stretched into Thursday evening, his death ignited a wave of fury on the far right, where some Trump supporters cast the murder as a political flashpoint and threat to conservative power amid a broader reckoning over rising violence. Some supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump blamed the political left, casting Kirk\u2019s murder as the culmination of years of hostility toward Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again movement. On social media, they pointed to posts that appeared to celebrate Kirk\u2019s death as evidence of conservatives increasingly being targeted. \u201c They couldn\u2019t beat him in a debate, so they assassinated him,\u201d Isabella Maria DeLuca, a pardoned January 6 rioter and conservative activist, wrote on X. Mike Davis, a Republican lawyer and prominent Trump supporter, said in an interview Kirk\u2019s ability to galvanize a new generation of conservatives posed \u201can existential threat to the future of leftist ideology and
power.\u201d Jen Golbeck, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland who studies right-wing online activity, analyzed more than 3,000 posts on two websites \u2013 X and the pro-Trump forum Patriots.Win \u2013 in the 24 hours following the shooting. She found a volatile mix of grief, rage, and signs of growing radicalization. With the shooter\u2019s identity and motive still unknown, Golbeck said Trump supporters were \u201cgrabbing on to a narrative that fits what they want.\u201d On Patriots.Win, calls for vengeance surged. \u201cThe entire Democrat party needs to fucking hang now!\u201d one anonymous poster wrote. \u201cThis is the Reichstag Fire,\u201d another anonymous user said, referencing a 1933 arson attack that helped usher in Nazi rule in Germany. \u201cIt\u2019s time to end democracy.\u201d Reuters was unable to reach a representative of Patriots.Win for comment. One anonymous user on X called Kirk\u2019s death a breaking point, warning that the nation was \u201cteetering between a political rupture and civil war.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re past words,\u201d the
post read. Amid the fury, some voices urged restraint. \u201cStop trying to stoke violence,\u201d one Patriots.Win commenter wrote. Kirk, 31, founder of Turning Point USA, was a prominent figure in the MAGA movement, known for his ability to mobilize young conservatives. Trump has blamed the \u201cradical left\u201d for Kirk\u2019s murder and told reporters on Thursday that \u201cwe just have to beat the hell out of them.\u201d Trump also said that Kirk \u201cwas an advocate of nonviolence \u2014 that\u2019s the way I\u2019d like to see people respond.\u201d U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, told reporters after the shooting on Wednesday that \u201cDemocrats own what happened today.\u201d Trump added that law enforcement was making \u201cbig progress\u201d in the investigation. While officials have not disclosed a motive, Trump hinted he had insight into the suspect\u2019s intentions. \u201cWe\u2019ll let you know about that later,\u201d he said. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who decried the shooting as \u201chorrific,\u201d
pushed back on criticism that Democrats needed to tone down their political rhetoric. “Oh, please. Why don’t you start with the president of the United States? And every ugly meme he’s posted and every ugly word,” she told reporters. Numerous Democratic leaders urged for calm and condemned Kirk\u2019s murder. \u201cPolitical violence is NEVER acceptable,\u201d U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the attack on Kirk \u201cdisgusting, vile and reprehensible,\u201d and urged Americans to \u201creject political violence in EVERY form.\u201d \u201cWE CANNOT BACK OFF\u201d On his War Room podcast, far-right commentator Steve Bannon called Kirk \u201cthe America First martyr,\u201d claiming Kirk had been under constant threat from \u201cevil people\u201d on the left. \u201cWe cannot back off. We cannot flinch,\u201d Bannon said. Some chapters of the Proud Boys, the far-right organization that played a leading role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, refrained from
calls to arms but posted accusations on the Telegram messaging app that left-wing activists were mocking Kirk\u2019s death. The Tennessee chapter of the Proud Boys shared a video montage of people laughing at Kirk\u2019s death compiled from social media sites. Chaya Raichik, a right-wing influencer known for her Libs of TikTok account, posted screenshots of social media users who allegedly celebrated Kirk\u2019s death. Ryan Nichols, a January 6 rioter pardoned by Trump, urged followers to identify and harass those individuals. \u201cTag them, their employers, and make it so uncomfortable for them to even leave their house,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThis is the way!\u201d Nealin Parker, executive director of Common Ground USA, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce political violence and polarization, said she worried that radical voices on the fringes were stoking hate and fear, with potentially violent consequences. \u201cRight now people are willing to believe terrible things about the other side,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening online<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the manhunt for the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk stretched into Thursday evening, his death ignited a wave of fury on the far right, where some Trump supporters cast the murder as a political flashpoint and threat to conservative power amid a broader reckoning over rising violence. Some supporters of U.S. President Donald […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n