On the same day conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, Fox News host Jesse Watters, as well as other right-wing commentators and Republican elected officials, immediately and publicly blamed Democrats for his death. Experts in American history and politics are sounding the alarm about the dangers of this rhetoric.
Kirk, an influential right-wing activist who founded conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University as a part of a tour dubbed “The American Comeback Tour.”
In a segment of “The Five” that aired on Fox News shortly after Kirk was pronounced dead, Watters listed off other examples of political violence in recent years before he looked at the camera. “They are at war with us. Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us,” he said.
“And what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate? And that’s the question we’re just going to have to ask ourselves,” he added. “Now, Charlie would want us to put as much pressure on these people as possible.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said on Capitol Hill shortly after the shooting that “Democrats own this.”
