The last week in American political news has been a whirlwind of information. The American public has been grappling with the avalanche of media commentary that the recent murder of political activist/social media influencer Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University has caused. Right winged politicians including President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) have praised Kirk for his apparent passion for free speech and open debate. Last Sunday, RFK stated at Kirk’s memorial service, “Charlie’s other passion was free speech. He understood that the free flow of information was the sunlight, the soil for democracy. He understood that democracy’s great advantage was that our policies formed from triumphs of debate and conversation.” Even Democrat Josh Shapiro praised Kirk, saying, “Americans across the political spectrum can learn from Kirk’s approach.”
If it is true that Charlie Kirk was genuinely the champion for free speech that many have praised him for being, why has the Trump administration’s reaction to Kirk’s murder been to silence any of his critics?
On Sept. 17, ABC’s late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was “suspended indefinitely for his comments about Charlie Kirk.” ABC had decided that Kimmel’s recent comments “crossed a line.” The comment that Kimmel made was that Trump’s supporters were “desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” After this episode aired, the Federal Commissions committee threatened ABC and Disney with serious consequences that led to Kimmel’s suspension.
It is important to note that in the very same episode Kimmel took time to condemn the murder of Kirk and in no way made fun of the fact that the man had been shot. Instead, the talk show host pointed out a blatantly obvious fact that the Trump administration and its supporters fabricated a narrative that the shooter was transgender. These rumors were spread from a reporter incorrectly saying that the bullets of the shooter had “transgender ideologies” engraved on them. This rumor only fed further into the false information—that the administration has been pushing for years—that school shootings are mostly perpetrated by people who are transgender.
The false narrative of Kirk’s shooter Tyler Robinson identifying as transgender proves Kimmel’s initial point. The Trump administration and, further, the conservative right community is terrified at the fact that “someone like them,” meaning white, straight, mid-twenties and male, did this. This would continue to prove that guns might actually be causing gun violence, not “gang violence” which Mr. Kirk blamed for the rise in gun related deaths, or on undocumented migrants who Trump has blamed.
The very idea that “one of them” killing “one of them” is feasible TERRIFIES the conservative right because it means that they can’t continue to falsely use all the issues in this country for their racist agenda.
Kimmel’s suspension from ABC is not only a blow for the left or people that agree with him but it is also a blow for any advocates for freedom of speech. The Trump administration has also been encouraging the firing of any employees who speak negatively about Kirk as well as the tracing of negative Charlie Kirk comments to undocumented people and using it as an excuse for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain them. The administration is very blatantly abusing their power which is especially questionable when they have been so quick to villainize countries like China for their restrictive social media and freedom of speech policies.
As the Trump administration “martyrizes” Charlie Kirk for his advocacy of free speech, they are firing and villainizing those who disagree with what Kirk stood for.
We cannot have both sides. We cannot both praise Kirk for his use of “freedom of speech” while also villainizing others who are using their First Amendment rights. The First Amendment is not only for one side of the political spectrum. Rather, it is a right of every single person in the United States. The First Amendment isn’t just of use to people who one side agrees with, it’s a right of every single person in the United States.
