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WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s threats to crack down on liberal groups and political speech following conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination aren’t going over well with some Republican senators who believe he needs sufficient evidence to do so first.
“I don’t want the government deciding what is legitimate speech or not. I just don’t,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Trump suggested on Tuesday that media outlets are engaging in “hate speech” by being “unfair” to him and that they “maybe” should be prosecuted. His top aides have also suggested classifying some liberal groups as domestic terrorists, ordering investigations and revoking tax-exempt status for progressive nonprofits like Indivisible and Open Society Foundations, which was founded by George Soros.
“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said Monday during an episode of Kirk’s namesake podcast. “It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
Laura Loomer, an extremist and a top Trump ally, said she wants the administration to get more aggressive by locking up and silencing Trump’s opponents.
“I’ve had enough of the Left only thinking we will defund them, prosecute them, lock them up and dismantle their power for generations to come,” Loomer wrote in a post online.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also vowed to go after anyone engaging in hate speech, despite it being generally protected by the First Amendment. She also indicated she could go after businesses that declined to print out Kirk posters, even though the right has for years defended bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for same-sex couples.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said during an interview on Monday on “The Katie Miller Podcast.”
Bondi added: “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
Bondi later walked back her comments, saying her effort applied only to those who include “threats of violence,” but that didn’t stop the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal from tearing into her in a scathing op-ed on Tuesday.
“Is a basic understanding of the First Amendment too much to expect from the nation’s Attorney General?” the editorial read, noting Kirk himself would probably disagree with her.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans said they agreed with efforts to name and shame people celebrating Kirk’s death, including those in public positions and those in private organizations. But they largely drew the line at prosecuting left-wing political activity without just cause or sufficient evidence tying it to illegality.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned that Trump ought to learn from the backlash Barack Obama’s administration received after the IRS investigated conservative nonprofit groups in 2012.
“I think we learned a lesson with what happens when you get involved in this political weaponization,” Grassley told HuffPost on Wednesday.
Hawley, who has been very critical of social media platforms and the Biden administration for clamping down on conservative speech they considered misinformation during the COVID pandemic, drew a line between calling out those celebrating Kirk’s death and going after them with the power of the state.
“If I see people out there saying what I think are terrible, hateful things about Charlie Kirk or about Christians or about Jewish Americans, then I’m going to forcefully condemn that and push back on that,” Hawley said. “That’s very different than saying the government is going to come in and go after you for that speech. I don’t want the government deciding what is legitimate speech or not. I just don’t. I don’t care what the context is. I don’t want to do it.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) pushed back on the notion that it was only “radicals” on the left who are responsible for political violence, especially following the killings of a pair of Democratic officials in Minnesota earlier this year.
“People are fooling themselves if they think it’s only one ideology that needs to be held accountable,” Tillis told reporters.
However, the right has embraced a crackdown on those criticizing Kirk, who often made incendiary comments on his podcast. Conservatives have shared screenshots of social media posts from people they deem to be celebrating his death, in multiple cases resulting in those people being fired. One House Republican introduced legislation this week that would defund entities employing people “who condone and celebrate political violence and domestic terrorism.” Trump’s State Department also said it was revoking visas for those found celebrating Kirk’s death.
Democrats fear Trump will use Kirk’s shooting as a pretext to crush his political opposition.
“They’re talking about shutting down progressive groups just because they oppose the president,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told HuffPost. “They’re talking about harassing and locking people up just because they say mean things about Donald Trump. That’s not allowable under our Constitution.”
“They just say things without any evidence,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) added of Miller’s threats during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It is un-American and not the way this country has conducted itself for centuries that you just make a very serious charge like that with no evidence at all.”
“This president is so different than others,” he continued. “I’m certain that George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and all the way back, every Republican president, as well as Democratic presidents, would have condemned anyone in their administration who did that. But Donald Trump seems to at least shrug his shoulders and maybe at times encourage it.”
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