A group of more than 100 nonprofit leaders Wednesday pushed back against President Trump’s promised crackdown on liberal activism in response to the killing of conservative Charlie Kirk.
The heads of organizations including the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations and the MacArthur Foundation signed a joint letter decrying the reported White House plans to take still-unspecified steps to squelch what it calls “hate speech” that led to the Kirk murder.
“We reject attempts to exploit political violence to mischaracterize our good work or restrict our fundamental freedoms,” the nonprofit leaders write. “Attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving undermine our democracy and harm all Americans.”
Vice President JD Vance and right-wing White House policy maven Stephen Miller invoked Kirk’s death as a call to clamp down on liberal advocacy in emotional appearances on Kirk’s podcast Monday.
Trump himself warned ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl that Attorney General Pam Bondi might probe him because “you have hate in your heart,” suggesting a media crackdown might also be in the cards.
Trump plans to take action by executive order as soon as the coming days, White House aides say. Any order is likely to face court challenge from free-speech advocates and political critics.
Authorities say Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, 22, admitted to carrying out the killing because he believed the MAGA influencer was spreading hate.
The killing has led to widespread effort by Trump’s MAGA allies to expose and punish anyone who celebrated Kirk’s murder or denigrated his legacy, even though the First Amendment gives Americans the right to express their opinions.
Trump himself and his allies have mocked or downplayed liberal victims of political violence like the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman, the latter of whom was shot and killed along with her husband and dog by an attacker who also shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker and his wife.
Experts say the U.S. is experiencing an increase in extremist political violence from both sides of the political spectrum.
Despite the outcry over Kirk’s killing, A recent Department of Justice study said right-wing political violence is far more common than attacks from the left, and has accounted for more than five times the politically motivated killings in the U.S. since 1990. The Trump administration recently deleted that study from its website.
