WASHINGTON ― If you happen to follow Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s official account on X, you’d see his swift rejection of violence in response to last week’s horrific killing of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
“There is no place for political violence in America,” the Wisconsin Republican said Wednesday, the day Kirk was shot at a Utah event.
But on his personal account, Van Orden is giving a different message: He’s inviting war against “these leftist scumbags” as retaliation for Kirk’s murder.
“Today we remember those lost on September 11, 2001. It was the reason I went to war for over 20 years,” he posted Thursday on this account. “Yesterday is the reason I will be at war for the next 20. I will not allow these leftist scumbags to take my country.”
These messages, posted a day apart, are from the same person. But Van Orden, like some other Republicans in Congress, is using separate social media accounts — one aimed at constituents, the other aimed at political supporters – to send contradictory and disturbing messages about Kirk’s assassination. There is still no known motive for Kirk’s killing or any understanding of possible political views the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, may have.
