{"id":7216,"date":"2025-09-14T08:25:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T08:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/charlie-kirk-assassination-deepens-americas-political-divide-as-online-witch-hunts-spread\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T08:25:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T08:25:45","slug":"charlie-kirk-assassination-deepens-americas-political-divide-as-online-witch-hunts-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/charlie-kirk-assassination-deepens-americas-political-divide-as-online-witch-hunts-spread\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Kirk assassination deepens America\u2019s political divide as online witch-hunts spread"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON, Sept 14 — For some Americans on the far right, Charlie Kirk died a “martyr” and any criticism of the hugely popular conservative activist must be punished.<\/p>\n

Online vitriol and grassroots persecution have exploded in the wake of the assassination of the 31-year-old who had been an electrifying presence on the US right, with the killing further deepening fraught political divisions in the country.<\/p>\n

Laura Sosh-Lightsy, assistant dean of students at a university in the southern state of Tennessee, found herself in hot water after posting on social media about Kirk’s death.<\/p>\n

“Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy,” she said on Facebook after the killing, which happened Wednesday in front of a large crowd at a university in Utah.<\/p>\n

Republican US Senator Marsha Blackburn quickly called out the comment – and Sosh-Lightsy.<\/p>\n

“This person should be ashamed of her post. She should be removed from her position,” the Tennessee lawmaker said.<\/p>\n

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Middle Tennessee State University’s president announced that same night an employee’s firing for a “callous” comment about Kirk.<\/p>\n

Kirk, who rallied his millions of followers to help President Donald Trump win a second White House term, was both revered and reviled for his pro-gun, anti-abortion and anti-immigrant rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Shooting suspect Tyler Robinson, who was arrested Thursday, is said to have engraved anti-fascist messages on his bullet casings. This has led to a large part of the American right labeling him a “far-left” killer.<\/p>\n

Some Kirk supporters have turned into online sleuths, searching out accounts that praised or celebrated Kirk’s murder.<\/p>\n

“If they have their picture on their profile, even without a name, download the picture and reverse image search it,” conservative influencer Joey Mannarino said.<\/p>\n

“Cross-reference it with their LinkedIn profile and find their place of employment. Call the place of employment, leave Google reviews.”<\/p>\n

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These efforts have targeted teachers, firefighters and even military personnel, some of whom have lost their jobs.<\/p>\n

Kirk’s murder has been condemned by both sides of the political aisle. But Trump quickly blamed the country’s “radical left,” even as authorities were only just launching a manhunt for the killer.<\/p>\n

Online trackers have targeted an Oklahoma teacher, who posted on social media: “Charlie Kirk died the same way he lived: bringing out the worst in people.”<\/p>\n

That teacher has since been investigated by the state’s Department of Education, which described his comments as “abhorrent.”<\/p>\n

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A combination of booking photos released by the Utah Governor’s Office shows the suspect, Tyler Robinson, in the shooting death of activist Charlie Kirk. — AFP pic<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Stadium memorial service<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump, who praised Kirk as a “giant of his generation,” has led the US government in memorialising the activist, with high-ranking US officials working to weed out critics of Kirk and his legacy.<\/p>\n

Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honour of his ally, and Kirk’s body was flown from Utah to his home in Phoenix, Arizona aboard Air Force Two, escorted by Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered members of the military to identify colleagues who mocked or celebrated Kirk’s death.<\/p>\n

US Under Secretary of State Christopher Landau declared that “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country.”<\/p>\n

“I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalising, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action,” he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

“Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so the @statedept can protect the American people.”<\/p>\n

Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has Trump’s ear, has been one of the most high-profile attackers of Kirk’s critics.<\/p>\n

She denounced an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who had expressed disgust on Instagram that flags would be lowered for “the literal racist homophobe misogynist.”<\/p>\n

Loomer shared the staffer’s LinkedIn profile and said: “These people hate us. They don’t belong near the levers of our National Power.”<\/p>\n

Following Loomer’s post, FEMA said the employee was placed on leave for making “revolting and unconscionable” comments.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Kirk’s organisation Turning Point USA announced a memorial service for its founder will be held on September 21 in a suburb of Phoenix.<\/p>\n

The chosen venue hints at the expected turnout: a stadium normally home to a professional football team, with a seating capacity of more than 63,000. — AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Charlie Kirk assassination deepens America’s political divide as online witch-hunts spread<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 — For some Americans on the far right, Charlie Kirk died a “martyr” and any criticism of the hugely popular conservative activist must be punished. Online vitriol and grassroots persecution have exploded in the wake of the assassination of the 31-year-old who had been an electrifying presence on the US right, with…<\/p>\n

Read More “Charlie Kirk assassination deepens America\u2019s political divide as online witch-hunts spread”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}