The MAGA movement is divided over how to respond to the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Some of the president’s aides and allies have floated a crackdown on “hate speech” they believe fuels political violence, while others, pointing to Kirk’s defense of the First Amendment, have focused on NGOs and left-wing groups they say have long funded violence against Republicans and law enforcement officials.
The varying approaches demonstrate how nearly a week after President Donald Trump called for targeting organizations and blamed the “radical left” for the killing, the policy response is still very much in flux.
“There are a wide range of options on the table,” said a White House official, granted anonymity to speak about ongoing policy discussions.
And the debate over how far to go underscores the tension on the right as the administration works to channel the outrage over Kirk’s death into a tangible policy response without running afoul free-speech champions inside the GOP.
The White House official said discussions are focused on targeting “organizations that are inciting or funding or organizing violence,” including launching investigations into groups and revoking tax exempt status for those accused of orchestrating illegal doxxing campaigns and arranging drop points for weapons and riot materials. The official pointed to attacks on Tesla dealerships and against immigration officials as examples.
“It’s not about speech,” the official said. “It’s about violence and criminal actions.”
Still, some Republicans questioned how far social media users should be allowed to go in their rhetoric, with Vice President JD Vance suggesting people call the employers’ of those celebrated or make light of Kirk’s killing.
The debate escalated on Tuesday when Attorney General Pam Bondi walked back her vow that the Justice Department would go after anyone who uses hate speech to target others, saying “there’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech.” The comments faced steep backlash from both liberals and conservatives, and Bondi quickly clarified that she was referring to “hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence.” But that did little to tame some Trump allies who said her words went directly against Kirk’s beliefs.
“The First Amendment absolutely protects speech,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Tuesday at POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit in Washington. “It absolutely protects hate speech. It protects vile speech. It protects horrible speech. What does that mean? It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.”
Other top administration officials, including FCC chair Brendan Carr, were quick to reject the idea of a crackdown on online discourse.
“I think you can draw a pretty clear line, and the Supreme Court has done this for decades, that our First Amendment, our free speech tradition, protects almost all speech,” Carr said at the POLITICO AI & Tech Summit.
Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist and War Room podcast host, told POLITICO the administration is considering a number of actions, including designating “antifa,” a loose term used to describe far-left anti-fascism activists, domestic terrorists. He also said the administration is looking at declaring martial law in a part of Portland, Oregon, in response to protests, and investigating left-wing groups and others who conservatives accuse of funding political violence.
“The biggest thing is to broaden the assassination investigation from a single murder to the broader conspiracy,” Bannon said. “If we are going to go to war, let’s go to war.”
The White House official said the administration is not limiting itself at this point.
Authorities on Tuesday charged Tyler Robinson, 22, with aggravated murder, discharging a firearm and obstruction of justice. Robinson could face the death penalty.
Investigators are still working to confirm a motive in the death of Kirk, as Trump and his allies suggest the suspect, Robinson, is part of a coordinated movement on the left driving violence against conservatives. The country has recently seen a wave of political violence targeting members of both parties.
Vance said the administration’s crackdown would be focused on “radical left lunatics,” suggesting the early targets could be The Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, the nonprofit run by Democratic megadonor George Soros.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has suggested the administration would use the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to go after leftist “terror” networks who organize doxxing campaigns, violent street protests among other actions, told reporters Monday that the vice president was talking about a “whole network of organizations.”
“The key point the president has been making, somebody is paying for all of this. This is not happening for free,” Miller said. “So under the president’s direction, the attorney general is going to find out who is paying for it and they will be criminally liable for paying for violence.”
