Conservative chorus for silencing after Charlie Kirk killing

Some conservatives are seeking to up-end the lives of those who disparaged Charlie Kirk after his death. They’re going after companies, educators, news outlets and political rivals.

Items are left at a memorial for Charlie Kirk at the headquarters of his Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

After years of complaints from the right about “cancel culture” from the left, some conservatives are seeking to up-end the lives and ­careers of those who disparaged Charlie Kirk after his death.

They’re going after companies, educators, news outlets, political rivals and others they judge as promoting hate speech.

A campaign by public officials and others on the right has led just days after the conservative activist’s death to the firing or punishment of teachers, an Office Depot employee, government workers, a TV pundit and the expectation of more dismissals coming.

Last weekend, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted that American Airlines had grounded pilots who he said were celebrating Kirk’s assassination. “This behaviour is disgusting and they should be fired,” he said on X.

As elected officials and conservative influencers lionise Kirk as a warrior for free expression who championed provocative opinions, they’re also weaponising the tactics they saw being used to malign their movement – the calls for firings, the ostracism, the pressure to watch what you say.

Such tactics raise a fundamental challenge for a nation that by many accounts appears to be dangerously splintered by politics and a sense of moral outrage that social media helps to fuel.

For his part, Donald Trump on Sunday suggested he was already using the government to look into his political adversaries when asked if he would investigate them after Kirk’s death: “They’re already under major investigation, a lot of the people you would traditionally say are on the left.”

The aftermath of Kirk’s death has increasingly become a test of the public tolerance over political differences. Republicans are pushing not only to punish the alleged killer but those whose words they believe contributed to the death or dishonoured it.

At the same time, some liberals on social media have criticised those, such as actor Kristin Chenoweth, who expressed sympathy online over Kirk’s death.

Adam Goldstein, of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said: “The only time you’re really supporting free speech is when it’s unpopular. No one out is trying to stop people from loving puppies and bunnies.”

AP