Victim-blaming, rationalizing violence becomes pattern on the left during Trump era

Sympathy from the left in the wake of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk's assassination has been less than overwhelming. While many prominent Democrats paid lip-service to the heinous nature of the murder, there are hundreds of examples of their constituents victim-blaming Kirk, as well as President Donald Trump, for the deranged, life-ending actions of the murderer. 

Since Kirk’s assassination, prominent liberals and progressive voices and publications have argued that the rhetoric of both Kirk and President Donald Trump fostered the volatile environment that led to the tragedy. In short, they caused their own victimhood. Kirk was killed by a sniper during a speech at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, prompting some on the left to claim his debates on progressive values, including critiques of immigration policies and DEI programs, contributed to the hostility that ended his life. 

"You need conservatives to be afraid of getting killed"

TownHall reported that prominent leftist YouTuber Stephen Bonnell a.k.a. "Destiny" said in a broadcast just days after the assassination to his large audience, "You need conservatives to be afraid of getting killed when they go to events so that they look at their leadership to turn down the temperature. The issue is, right now they don't feel like there's any fear."  

Elon Musk reacted by saying, “Incitement to murder and domestic terrorism is a felony crime. For that, he should go to prison."

Left-wingers claim that Trump's aggressive leadership style and so-called inflammatory comments against political opponents helped create the climate of violence. Brian Klaas, writing for The Contrarian on Substack said that "The United States continues to lurch toward authoritarianism under Donald Trump—and his repeated incitements to violence have dangerously normalized the use of deadly force against politicians."

A congressional staffer for Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., posted on her Instagram a statement that Kirk was a "casualty of the violence he incited." The Indiana Capitol Chronicle reported that several state employees have been terminated from their public jobs for expressing similar comments. 

On Wednesday, TPUSA hosted an event on campus at Virginia Tech. Podcast host Megyn Kelly fielded questions from the audience, one of which came from a student blaming Trump for Kirk's assassination. The student asked, "Why do you support a president who contributes to the rhetoric that got your friend Charlie killed? He said, 'I hate my enemies.'" 

Kelly responded that his statement was a blatant lie and defamatory, to which the student tried to correct himself and said, "No, I said that he contributed to the political atmosphere." The student closed by trying to tidy up his debate and said, "Let's say this guy is a leftist, even if that's true, does that make it okay for the sitting President of the United States to incite violence against liberals?"

ABC's The View co-host Ana Navarro appeared to insinuate similar victim-blaming sentiment when she said during an episode of the show in the days after Kirk's assassination, "Look, you know a lot of people are out there trying to portray Charlie Kirk as if he was spreading pixie dust around the country. A lot of people, to use the word of Governor Cox, found what he said inflammatory or worse."

Sen. Cruz: "They don’t kill you because you’re a Nazi, they call you a Nazi so they can kill you"

Mother Jones magazine, named for the woman who organized the Socialist Party of America in the 1890's, said even before Kirk's murder that by pardoning the January 6 rioters, "Trump has emboldened political violence and extremists." After Kirk's murder, the same magazine obligingly called his murder "awful," and the same sentence says "Here’s the problem: Kirk built that movement with falsehoods. And his advocacy was laced with racist and bigoted statements." 

The between-the-lines argument that killing Kirk was bad but he "had it coming" appears with alarming frequency.  Cutting to the core of the issue, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently said on television and on his Instagram account that "They don’t kill you because you’re a Nazi, they call you a Nazi so they can kill you."

The far-left Guardian cherry-picked quotes attributed to Kirk out of context for the sole purpose of painting him as a bigot. Instead of acknowledging his role in fostering open debate, the paper described him simply as "the far-right commentator and ally of Donald Trump, [who] was killed on Wednesday doing what he was known for throughout his career – making incendiary and often racist and sexist comments to large audiences."

Many in academia have expressed death wishes for the president by way of talking about Kirk's death. According to Gainesville, Fla. TV station WCJB, the University of Florida cut ties with Jeffrey Harrison, a former law professor, after he wrote on social media that “There is a lot of commentary about Charlie Kirk. It’s not that complicated. He was [an] evil person [spouting] all kinds of hateful messages. I did not want him to die. I reserve that wish for Trump. But let’s face it, even members of the Gestapo and guards at the concentration camps had children. That does not make them [heroes], nor does it make Charlie Kirk someone to be admired.” 

Assassination culture more commonly accepted by liberals, poll shows

A YouGov poll in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination shows that not only do some liberals in the United States justify political violence; they celebrate it. The September 10 poll revealed that a vast majority of Americans—77%—view it as always or usually unacceptable to take pleasure in the death of a political figure they oppose, compared to just 8% who find it acceptable. 

Digging down into the data, the rationalization by liberals becomes clearer: 16% of liberals, including 24% of those who identify as very liberal and 10% of less staunch liberals, say it’s usually or always acceptable to feel joy over an opponent’s death, compared to only 4% of conservatives and 7% of moderates. 

The poll also highlights a generational gap, with younger Americans roughly twice as likely as older ones to defend feeling joy at a political foe’s death.