White House Officials Call for Crackdown Against Liberal Groups

Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr.

In the early afternoon on Sept. 10, Americans were left shocked and frightened as the latest act of political violence plagued the nation; Charlie Kirk, a well-known right-wing conservative political activist, had been assassinated while on his American Comeback tour at Utah Valley University.

In a way, Kirk’s death symbolizes a distinct collapse of the well-known American value of expressing one's political opinion. In the mere few hours following Kirk’s assassination, rather than mourning a horrible situation and taking the moment to advocate against political violence, many political representatives chose to do what they seem to do best: point fingers and place blame.

Before the shooter, 22-year-old Kyler Robinson, was even identified, Republican figureheads stated that the killer was of leftist ideology and a member of the democratic party. Of these Republican figureheads, many were high-ranking officials. Perhaps the most notable member to make such a claim was Vice President J.D. Vance and President Donald Trump himself.

However, the federal investigation that is currently ongoing has yet to find a link between the alleged shooter and the left-winged groups that the Trump administration has pledged to crack down on. 

Trump and his top allies immediately suggested that Kirk’s murder was a coordinated movement that had been used against conservatives; there has been no other plausible evidence to support that such a network, nor a plan, exists.   

It seems that during such a hysterical time, the Trump administration is acting accordingly. Their claims that leftists and democrats are inherently violent and always have been are thus attacking conservatives, which does not evidently track. Since 2002, right-wing ideologies have fueled more than 70% of all extremist attacks and domestic terrorism plots in the U.S.

The Justice Department also did its own research just last year on the number of attacks committed by the far-right in this country. The research concluded that the far-right outspaced all types of terrorism and violence. However, this study has been removed from the Justice Department's website for a few days now, coincidentally. 

Now, regardless of the entourage of evidence that suggests the far-right causes the majority of the political violence in this country, the Trump administration is calling out the left and making broad claims, all due to Kirk’s unfortunate death. 

It is unclear how the administration could proceed with cracking down on leftist groups without violating the First Amendment, but it is very clear that violating the First Amendment is not one of the president’s concerns.

While the White House claims they are only exploring restrictive actions against leftists who commit violent acts and not those exercising free speech, that has proved to be untrue. 

Trump, Vance and many Republicans alike have made it evidently clear that they believe political violence is a liberal issue, not a conservative one. This is the message Vance spread on the Charlie Kirk podcast last Monday, that divided, we stand.

What is baffling to many representatives, mainly democrats and many Americans alike, is how instead of Republican lawmakers and Trump using Kirk’s horrible demise as a turning point against political violence and insurrection, they are using it as a campaign against democratic ideologies and anti-dissent rhetoric. 

What the president himself and Republican representatives are falsely spreading about Kirk’s assassination, with little evidence known about the perpetrator, is dangerous. They are villainizing an entire population of Americans rather than even attempting to focus on the larger issue: that someone, who was once a person, is now a statistic, yet another victim of gun violence.

Perhaps in their eyes, it’s easier to blame people than to admit that the perfect country that is America has an ever-growing crack in its foundation, one caused by constant gun violence without change.

Perhaps it’s easier to pit Americans against each other, to make them believe one side is inherently violent and evil, so they are not focused on the fact that America is struggling.

Perhaps our nation is no longer able to come together and act against political violence; rather, we all take part in the seemingly ever-lasting cycle of violence, blame, forgetting and even more violence. 

This cycle does not seem to be ending anytime soon; instead, the severity of impact is only growing. Political violence will never end if our president is inciting such actions and spreading hate along with misinformation.